<p>I'm going into my senior year and I really want to get into UCSB. I'm from San Diego and I want to major in chemical engineering or chemistry. I know I have weak ECs and low standardized test scores (which I plan to retake) but here are my stats:</p>
<p>Male
Asian
Low income family
Many problems with my family (homeless uncle, divorced parents, deceased family members, gambling problems, had to live with my siblings alone for two years, etc.) which I will include in my personal statement
In state
First to go to a UC school
GPA (weighted): 4.00
SAT: 1520
ACT: 22
AP Chemistry: 3
SAT Chemistry: 640
Top 10% of my class
In Principals honor roll (or CSF)
No sports or clubs but I skateboard if that helps
Over 200 hours of community service
Taking AP Physics 1 and AP Calculus senior year</p>
<p>Any positive feedback will help and tell me what I need to improve the most.
Thanks.</p>
<p>MY AP CHEMISTRY SCORE MAY BE HIGHER THAN I EXPECTED. THAT 3 WAS JUST AN ESTIMATE.</p>
<p>Your SAT score is really low. You should bring it up to 2000+ (2100+ is even better) and you don’t have strong ECs. I’m guessing since you’re taking 2 AP classes senior year you didn’t take many the other years? I’d say reach for both but still worth a try if you bring those scores up. (I’m also planning to apply to UCSB and UCSD so good luck to both of us!)</p>
<p>@Fysiks what do you think my chances are?</p>
<p>I agree with @Fysiks: Both schools are reaches since they both look at how rigorous your High School courses have been throughout your 4 years. If you only have 2-3 AP classes under your belt, you will be competing with many applicants that have at least 7-10 and who have maintained a 4.0 GPA. Also you test scores are very low, you would need to be close to a ACT of 29+ or SAT of 2000+ to be competitive. Writing about your family problems will help, but you do not want to make it a sob story which would be a be turnoff. Your community service is good but that is all you have for EC’. CSF contributes little. Schools want to see leadership positions. You seem like a hard worker but you want to focus on schools that you will have a better chance. If you want a UC, UCSC/UCR/UCM are all good UC’s and you do have better chances. If you are in-state for California, you have 23 CSU’s to choose from such as SDSU, Cal Polys, CSUF, CSULB etc… where you could get a very good education. If your family could afford some privates, I would suggest University of the Pacific, Santa Clara, Occidental, Redlands, Chapman to name a few.<br>
This summer, really study for either the SAT or ACT and work on your essays. Good Luck
UCSB/UCSD: Reach unless you get your test scores up.</p>
<p>But i do know this guy who got in UCSD with 3 AP classes, 4.05 GPA (weighted), 100 hours of community service, no clubs, and a 1600 SAT score</p>
<p>Thats pretty similar to my stats. So do you think i still might have a chance?</p>
<p>@serevicfrode: There is always a chance so go ahead and apply. Just have some good safety schools on your list so you will not be shut out and you have some options. STEM majors are far more competitive than some humanities majors, so you yes there is always a chance. CC posters are not admissions officers, we can only predict based on past results and engineering is very very competitive… at both schools. Plug in your current STATS onto the SuperMatch feature on this site and see what schools come up. I am positive you will not see UCSC or UCSB on that list. Good Luck to you and raise those test scores.</p>