Chance me at UCLA, USC, and then some? GPA throws me off...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Upper middle-class Asian-American from the Northeast attending a very good public school (3 of top 6 schools matriculated at were top 10 schools on USNWR). </p>

<p>I will not need FA but will be heavily seeking merit aid. </p>

<p>My school doesn't weight grades. They rank by decile only, too, and I'm in the top 10%.
Cumulative GPA - 3.4... terrible slacker freshman year literally destroyed it... I'm probably just hinging at the bottom of the top 10%.</p>

<p>UC GPA calculation system = weighted 4.06 which was surprising to me.</p>

<p>ECs:
3 year varsity debater, a number of trophies, did well on the national circuit
3 year yearbook and school newspaper editors, multiple journalism awards from Columbia University
3 year varsity science team, lots of 1st places at state, one top 3 national finish
I am dedicated to each of them very much. I routinely stay long after school and spend my weekends at fundraisers and tournaments.</p>

<p>There are also a lot of other like sports but they were only for a year or two and no significant commitment (lots of JVs, meaningless awards)</p>

<p>Lots of honors, but only 1 AP class (AP Bio, 5). My counselor put my course load down as most demanding though. I feel that this will still bring me down somehow, because my school offers some 20 AP classes but only 3 (bio, chem, ush) can be taken in junior year or before. The school profile sheet does not mention this at all :/. </p>

<p>My teacher recommendations will be good but not amazingly fantastic. </p>

<p>SAT first time (2290):
Math - 800
CR - 750
Writing - 740</p>

<p>I guess I'll be taking the SAT again...? Undecided yet. My counselor says that if I study, I have the potential to get a perfect score but I'm not sure.</p>

<p>Chance me for:
UCLA
USC
NYU
Rice
WUSTL
JHU
Duke</p>

<p>Give me some idea of what my reaches and matches would be? Thank you! =)</p>

2

<p>UCLA - match
USC - match
NYU -match
Rice - match
WUSTL - idk
JHU - idk
Duke - match/high reach</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/795504-chances-so-far.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/795504-chances-so-far.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Oh, senior year I’m taking straight APs now that I have the opportunity to. </p>

<p>SAT II:
World History - 640 didn’t study at all… bad idea
Bio M - 800
Chem - 720</p>

<p>Don’t know I want to take a language SAT test yet…</p>

4

<p>Thanks! I don’t think that’s very accurate, though. I thought I would have lower chances, to be honest, given my OOS status for the UC schools and my low GPA. I thought that NYU was very GPA-conscientious.</p>

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<p>Yes, but your SATs and EC are pretty impressive.
Plus your part of a minority which doesn’t hurt. I’ve heard if you explain why your GPA if it’s low they might by pass it. According to collegeboard.com, your GPA isn’t that uncommon at NYC. I think I would change Rice to a High Reach though.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/795504-chances-so-far.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/795504-chances-so-far.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Hmm…yes, I don’t think all of those are matches, but you are definitely competitive. Your UW GPA will hurt you, which is why it may be harder to get into 3 or 4 of those, but you definitely have a chance. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>dizzyfeet - I’d chance you but I’m not very familiar with your schools, sorry! Just saw the GPA scale for NYU, I didn’t know that before! 21% asian population there does not seem like a minority but thanks for the chancings!</p>

<p>Thanks, wartsandall! Can you give me an idea of which schools I should consider ED’ing to? I hear that ED significantly boosts your chances (and I can see why). I feel like I could fit at any school since I’m pretty flexible and go with the flow.</p>

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<p>Well, is there a particular school that you are interested in? Typically people apply ED at schools they would definitely go to if they had the chance. I would advise that you do the same, but make sure the school is attainable, meaning it’s a possible match/slight reach.</p>

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<p>We’re in somewhat similar situations (except I think you have stronger ECs), so I’d like to just say in at all :smiley:
But being more objective:
UCLA - match/high match
USC - low reach
NYU - match
Rice - low reach
WUSTL - don’t know much about Washington
JHU - high match/low reach
Duke - reach (I feel like Duke looks a lot at GPA… :)</p>

<p>Chance me? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/795732-low-gpa-good-everything-else-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/795732-low-gpa-good-everything-else-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wartsandall - I kind of can’t really decide. I love them all. I love the atmosphere at USC and UCLA, but I see myself succeeding more at JHU and but perhaps not loving it as much at the UCs. I might weed out NYU because I hear they don’t give the best aid… or is that FA and not so much merit aid? Rice/Duke… I hear that they are very intellectual and I like that and they have excellent programs. Haven’t really been there before but from what I’ve seen, very nice!</p>

<p>I was mostly thinking that I should ED to the school that I have either the best chances of getting into or the chances of getting most merit aid because I truly feel that I could “fit in” at all of them. I really am very flexible and have spent summer camps at various different types of colleges (urban, rural, large, small, etc) and loved them all.</p>

<p>shinhanbag - aha, I think you have better ECs and harder course load! Gave you a chance of what I thought. I’m not really the best person to ask, though, so eh take what I say with a grain of salt.</p>

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<p>GrimReaper, I think you may have mis-calculated your UC GPA. 10th and 11th grade only. A-G courses only. Up to four year-long AP courses are given an extra point only. (OOS students are not given extra GPA points for honors.) For you, only your one AP class is given extra weight. <a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html[/url]”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>USC uses UNweighted GPA in admissions, and the average unweighted GPA for admitted students Fall 2009 was 3.8. In your favor, however, USC places far more emphasis on test scores than the UCs. <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>ED is not available at the UCs or at USC.</p>

<p>Another note, GrimReaper: It isn’t quite clear from your posts, but I am sure you are aware that USC is not a “UC.” I thought I would mention just in case you did not know USC is a private university not affiliated with the UC system in any way.</p>

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<p>alamemom - Thank you SO much for posting. I did not know any of the things in what you said. I guess I need to research more on admission processes. </p>

<p>I’m trying to find the part that says that honors classes are not given weight for OOS… I googled it, too but did not come up with anything. Could you cite a source? Thanks. No offense meant, at all.</p>

<p>Without freshman year, I would actually have 3.8 unweighted for 10th+11th, my freshman grades included a LOT of C’s and D’s and I don’t even have an excuse for it, that’s really the part that worries me the most.</p>

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<p>No problem - it is a VERY good idea to verify any information you get on cc!</p>

<p>On the first link I gave you above, scroll down to the “Honors Courses” section below the eligibility table. You will find this important phrase:

The Univeristy of California maintains a course list for all public California high schools and most California private high schools specifying which courses are designated “honors” and granted the extra point. It is called the “Doorways” list <a href=“https://doorways.ucop.edu/list/servlet.jsf;jsessionid=6F8E67658DF8707E8E67F1B75D186C14?_flowExecutionKey=_c361C3EFF-0AB2-E761-17DA-CADFD7CBAF38_k5C0410B0-3880-6296-2768-8FA1D6494DAC[/url]”>https://doorways.ucop.edu/list/servlet.jsf;jsessionid=6F8E67658DF8707E8E67F1B75D186C14?_flowExecutionKey=_c361C3EFF-0AB2-E761-17DA-CADFD7CBAF38_k5C0410B0-3880-6296-2768-8FA1D6494DAC&lt;/a&gt; The University of California does not maintain those lists for OOS schools, so none of the OOS honors courses are “certified as honors courses by the University.” (Don’t feel too badly about this, my daughter attended a California high school and NONE of her honors courses were UC approved, only AP - just like yours.) The UC does this to level the playing field for students from schools that do not weight any classes with those from schools that weight all college prep classes.</p>

<p>An excellent post-er here on cc for the UCs is bluebayou. He may have a UC source that spells it out a bit more clearly than I just have - try a search of his posts or a PM.</p>

<p>The 3.8 sounds much better than your previous calculation! Good news!</p>