Chance me for 3 UCs, please! (And a few others)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Primarily looking at Santa Barbara, Davis, and Irvine. Also looking at Santa Clara University. I'm reaching for my dream school, Cal Poly SLO, but that seems like a high reach haha. Safety is University of Arizona (hopefully Honors College. I talked to an admissions officer who said I could get a great merit scholarship).</p>

<p>The main things I'm worried about here are my low test scores and sophomore grades. My whole school's test scores suck for some reason. My sophomore year sucked but after that a huge positive trend started (essays will capitalize on that).</p>

<p>Major is engineering. Not chemical for biotechnical.</p>

<p>White, Middle class, in-state, male
Class Rank: 34/462 (7.36%)</p>

<p>First SAT: 1880 (CR 610, M 630, W 640)
Second: 1890 (CR 610, M 620, W 660)
ACT: 27 (English 31, Math 28, Reading 23, Science 25)</p>

<p>Fresh GPA: 4.00
Soph GPA: 3.625; 3.75 (W)
Junior GPA: 4.0; 4.375 (W)
Senior GPA: 4.0; 4.5 (W) (as of first grading period)
Soph+Junior GPA: 3.8125; 4.0625 (W)</p>

<p>Class selection:
By graduation, I will have taken 5 PLTW Engineering courses and completed the program.
Started in Algebra 1 freshman year; doing AP Calc AB and BC this year.
1 AP, 1 Honors Soph year.
2 AP, 1 honors Junior year.
3 AP Senior year.</p>

<p>Community Service
1. Church Audio/Visual Specialist ~80 hours
2. Youth Basketball Assistant Coach ~95 hours
3. Leading a landscape architecture project at my HS campus. ~35 hours
4. Key Club - Various volunteer projects, including Diabetes Walks and canned food collection ~30 Hours
5. Leading teams to build composters and do recycling work at my school ~60 hours
About 300 total.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
1. Engineering Society (9, 10, 11, 12). Leader of "Build Club" division.
2. People of the Planet Club President (12). Environmental volunteer work.
3. Stairway to Stardom (9, 10). Summer music program. I was the main songwriter.
4. Junior Varsity and Varsity Volleyball (9, 11, 12?).
5. Still deciding on what I'll use for the last one. Would it be fine to use a one-time event that was monumental to me instead of something that displays dedication through many hours?</p>

<p>Awards & Honors (Lacking on these)
1. National Honor Society
2. Principle's List (Freshman/Junior Year)
3. Academic Merit Award (High School)</p>

<p>Essays
These will work to illustrate how a certain activity caused a huge positive trend in my grades and extracurriculars and turned me into a new person and a much better leader. Sophomore year was kind of a failure for me; I started this activity the summer between sophomore year and junior year.</p>

<p>That's about all I can think of, if I'm missing anything important let me know. I appreciate the help. Happy to chance back if I'm familiar with the school. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>This sounds kinda like my post.
Davis is also getting reaaaally competitive now so it would have been better if you took more AP but its all good. Its probably a low reach.
Irvine-close match.
Santa Barbara - im not too familiar with their acceptance rates and stuff but based on what i Do know , id say a match.</p>

3

<p>Thanks! My high school sends a ton of kids to Davis, not sure why. I guess we have a good reputation with them and we’re only about 30 minutes away. I should’ve taken more AP classes though, you’re right.</p>

<p>My preference out of these three is UCSB > UCD > UCI.</p>

4

<p>For UC Irvine and Cal Poly SLO, your chances are pretty solid except SATs scores are SLIGHTLY on the low side (don’t worry, I have an 1800, so you’re in better shape than me) but besides that, your fine! Like what Pandabear said, UC Davis looks like it’s climbing up to UC Berkeley and UCLA in terms of competitiveness, at one point I thought UCI and UCD are equal in average admissions stats but it’s just really blown up in the last few years. Chance me back?</p>

<p>talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1568862-application-weekend-ill-chance-back.html</p>

5

<p>^ Thanks man! Posted in your thread</p>

6

<p>They’re all matches, even SLO</p>

7

<p>I have a hard time believing that scderek4, but thanks for the encouragement :smiley: Would love some more opinions.</p>

8

<p>Bump, need help haha</p>

9

<p>Cal Poly engineering:</p>

<p>Avg GPA: 4.08
Avg SAT: 1388 (out of 1600)
Avg ACT: 31</p>

<p>Cal Poly only counts CR+Math for SAT. What’s your 9-11 grade weighted GPA? Around a 4.0?</p>

<p>If 4.0, then you need to get your score up. If you can raise the score, you have a solid chance for SLO. But as of now, it is a reach due to your test scores. </p>

<p>UCSB, UCD are similar to Cal Poly. So if you get into Cal Poly, you stand a good chance to get into SB and D.</p>

<p>I am going to Cal Poly engineering now, so ask me more questions if you want.</p>

10

<p>blindmonkey - thanks!
I know the stats very well and that’s why I’m considering SLO a big reach. I’m applying ED, and to fields that are less impacted. Weighted 9-11 is 4.04 I think. If I take the ACT again, scores won’t be in for ED and (according to my counselor) can’t really be used for RD. I’ll look into it though, thanks.</p>