Chance me at the UCs. Specifically UCD, UCSC, UCSD

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Do I have a chance at UCs specifically ucd, ucsc, ucb, and ucsd?

I’m from California and from a regular middle-class household. I have a 3.8 GPA weighted, 1410 SAT. I believe I’m in the top 12% at my school. I have taken 4 and will have taken 9 APs by the end of high school. I’m a varsity wrestler 2 years (it would have been longer but the program started only 2 years ago) I have letters of recs and over 350 hours of volunteer work (I would also like to know if volunteer work even matters) I would want to be a Business or Engineering major. I have had 5 jobs (currently 3 part-time) and am a bilingual native speaker. I would like to know if I still had a chance of getting into the UCs preferably UCD, UCSD,
UCB and UCSC, even though my GPA is low, or if it is too much of a reach.

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Congratulations on your academic record and you can be a competitive applicant.

The UC’s are test blind so your SAT will not be considered for admission purposes, only for course placement.

LOR’s are not accepted by any of the UC’s except UC Berkeley which is by invitation only.

You need to calculate your 3 UC GPA’s using this calculator:
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

You have interest in 2 different majors: Business and Engineering.

There are only 3 UC’s with Business schools: Riverside, Irvine and Berkeley. The rest of the UC’s have Business adjacent majors so you need to determine if these majors will work for you.

If you are targeting Engineering, then you need to select an Engineering major as your first choice since they admit directly into the major so you need to decide which area of interest you want to pursue, Business or Engineering. Some UC campuses do consider alternate majors so you could select the other major as an alternate.

Jobs are a great EC so definitely list these under the UC activities with an explanation of your duties.

Being Bilingual is not a hook but a plus for some post grad employers. It may also let you test out or place higher in college language courses if there is such a requirement for your major.

Below are the 2022 admit rates based on the Capped Weighted UC GPA and not major specific. Business and Engineering will be far more competitive than the overall rates so start formulating your list from the bottom up. Start with your local Cal state which would give you admission priority and include a few reachier CSU’s such as SDSU, CSU Long Beach, Cal Poly SLO or Cal Poly Pomona which have respected Business and Engineering schools.

Under a 4.0 Capped weighted UC GPA will make it challenging for the majority of UC”s.

2022 Admit rates based on the Capped weighted UC GPA.

Campus 4.00+ 3.70-3.99 3.30-3.69 3.00-3.29
Berkeley 17% 3% 1% 0%
Davis 58% 20% 5% 2%
Irvine 35% 10% 3% 0%
Los Angeles 13% 2% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 97% 95% 85%
Riverside 95% 83% 42% 17%
San Diego 37% 8% 1% 0%
Santa Barbara 41% 8% 3% 0%
Santa Cruz 69% 45% 16% 4%

Best of luck and as a California resident there are many schools besides the UC’s where you can get an excellent education.

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Well, remember that the UCs don’t look at SAT scores and letters of rec (unless specifically requested), so those are a non-factor. Volunteer work absolutely matters (as do your part time jobs) and is part of their holistic review. The PIQs are also important in telling your story - so put a good deal of thought into those and how you will present yourself.

A 3.8 weighted is on the low side. Have you calculated your UC GPA? Perhaps that will be higher and in a more competitive range?

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Welcome! If that is your real name, please consider changing it.

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Yes but not bcuz of your SAT score. They are test blind.

If you are unsure of major, you might want to find an alternative (ie OOS school) that will have more academic diversity. And I’d start with engineering. It’s easier to go to business then vice versa.

UCSC, for example, doesn’t have business and I believe only electrical engineering is abet accredited. So I’d check the academics b4 choosing a school. Ucsc, if you wanted mechanical or business - would be out.

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Out of your choices, I would pick Davis. You will love Davis!
Although the other schools are good choices, my bias is for the following reasons:
UCSC and UCSD have housing issues with Santa Cruz being a significant issue.

UCSD has some issues with competitiveness, especially in engineering and complaints of being less social than the other 2 campuses.

Davis is a green campus with 40K bikes on campus and in town. You will bike to Target, Safeway, Trader Joes, etc.
The students work collaboratively, and free tutoring occurs nightly. Everyone helps each other to succeed.
You need to visit each campus because only you will know if it is the right fit.

If you decide to visit the three schools, look at the faces of the students. You’ll see that the Davis students just seem to look more carefree and happy. When you are happy at your college, you will tend to perform better.
Students and staff are very helpful.
If you have a “fender bender” with your bike, people will stop to help you.
Our daughter loved being there!
Good Luck!

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