Welcome to College confidential. First you need to calculate your CSU and UC GPA’s. If you have not taken any college/ DE courses then using the calculator link below, your UC Capped weighted GPA is also your CSU capped weighted GPA. The UC’s will also consider your Unweighted and Fully weighted UC GPA’s in their application review.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
SAT/ACT scores are not considered in the application review for either the Cal States or UC’s. Class rank is not considered unless you are ELC (top 9%) for the UC’s. LOR’s are by invitation only for the UC Berkeley campus. The majority of the CSU’s will not consider your EC’s and the campuses which do consider EC’s, you cannot list them in detail but only give average hours/week in which you participate.
Are you local to CSU Fullerton, Northridge or Sacramento State? As a local applicant, you get extra points in the Multi-Factor admission review or a CSU GPA bump or a guaranteed admission to the University (not necessarily your choice major) or a combination of these local applicant advantages.
Both Fullerton and SDSU are fully impacted campuses so even if local, you are not guaranteed admission to your preferred major.
All Cal states admit by major but if unsure, Undeclared is an option but can be just as competitive as listing a major at time of your application submission.
Below is a link for SDSU’s admit rates by major: Applications by Major – Analytic Studies & Institutional Research
Average CSU Capped weighted CSU GPA for admitted SDSU applicants has been around a 3.97-4.02 but it varies by intended major and this data is not available. Average enrolled CSU Capped weighted GPA is 3.87. Enrolled GPA is always lower than admitted GPA.
Here is SDSU’s admission factors and most of the CSU’s use similar criteria: MULTI-FACTORED ADMISSION: Due to not requiring test scores, we no longer use an Eligibility Index per se. Instead, as an impacted campus, admission is based on many factors. Weighted CSU GPA is the largest factor, but we also consider amount of A-G courses above and beyond the minimum, preparation towards intended major (courses and GPA), HS course rigor, first-gen, and local status.
For UCSD, below are the admit rates based on the Capped weighted UC GPA. You are reviewed on 13 factors by the 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% |
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html
Average UC Capped weighted GPA for UCSD is around a 4.16.
UC’s and CSU’s give good need-based financial aid to eligible students but merit scholarships are highly competitive and small amounts in general.
You can get an estimate of your costs by running the Net Price Calculator (NPC) for each school of interest. Financial Aid Estimator.
https://sacd.sdsu.edu/financial-aid/financial-aid/eligibility/cost-of-attendance/net-price-calculator
SFSU would be a Very Likely/Safety.
CSUN would be Safety if local. Likely if non-local.
Sac State would be a Very likely (92% admit rate).
CSU Fullerton a likely if local or Target if non-local. (66% admit rate)
SDSU is a probably a Reach depending upon major and CSU GPA. (39% admit rate)
UCSD is a High Reach depending upon major and UC GPA’s.
I would add a few more CSUs to the list for Target schools such as San Marcos, Cal Poly Pomona (again major dependent), San Jose State, Sonoma State as possible options.
Since you plan to apply to UCSD, I would add UC Riverside and Santa Cruz into the mix since they have higher admit rates than SDSU along being able to go into detail about your EC’s and personal insight essays.
Apply widely, run the NPC’s and best of luck.