So im an out of state female private school with a 4.4 weighted GPA, 29 ACT, top 15% of class, and an IB Diploma student. I have several internships, played 2 sports all of HS, started a club, president of 2 clubs, in national honor society and have many school awards (4) including the Scholarly Athlete Award. Im applying as a Biology major (pre med track.) All my essays are very well written (I’m a writer, one of my hobbies.) I conducted research and started research organizations. 6 kids from my school got accepted last year
Over 250 volunteer hours
Also I moved to the US just 2 years ago so for my first 2 years of HS I lived overseas (in Dubai) attended a prestigious American private school. Also Im middle eastern (minority? not sure)
Middle Eastern is not a minority. The 29 ACT and not being in the top 10% of your class will hurt your chances. Are you a US citizen or green card holder? If not BU does not give need based financial aid.
At our visit to BU, the presenter made it very clear that they really favor ED and that students whose scores are in the middle of the pack really only have a chance by applying ED. They also said they give a slight bump to full pay students.
I will only address UCLA. If you are OOS, then you will be full pay at UCLA $65K/year since they offer little to no financial aid for OOS applicants.
The California UC’s also have their own GPA calculation. They use grades from 10-11th grades only (a-g course requirements) and will give extra weighting only for AP and IB courses taken during this time.
Average UC GPA capped weighted for UCLA was 4.23 and for OOS students it is usually higher.
Your ACT composite is below the 25th percentile for admitted students: 31-35
UCLA is a Reach and race/ethnicity is not used in their admission decisions.
UCLA considers UC GPA, Test scores, HS course rigor and personal insight essays very important. EC’s are important but do not make up for lower than average GPA and test scores.
Do you know anything about the A-G courses on the application? Is that like a cooking class and Spanish immersion program? I wasn’t sure what to write for that on the application and you seem to know the UC system
The highest capped weighted UC GPA you can have is 4.4. You also do not do each year separately, you add up all your A’s, B’s, C’s etc… for the a-g courses 10-11th and you get 1 extra Honors point for each semester of your IB classes taken 10-11th grades. If you are not sure about your UC GPA, you can PM your list of classes and I can help you calculate. UC’s do not consider Senior grades in their GPA calculation nor in their admission decisions.
Regarding A-G courses. A cooking class would not be considered an A-G course. A Spanish Immersion course if not taken in HS as Spanish Class or at a community college would also not be considered an A-G course. It would go under non A-G course on the application. Make sure you have 1 year a Visual/Performing art course also since this requirement often gets overlooked for OOS applicants.
So your parents are fine with paying $65K/year for you to attend a UC? The UC’s only require the FASFA and the FASFA only determines if you will get federal like the Pell Grant. The majority of aid provided by the UC’s is from the Cal Grant and the Blue & Gold Scholarship program which is available only for California residents.
Again, run the Net Price Calculator on all the UC’s before applying to make sure they are affordable.
Biology is a capped major at UCSD, so make sure you select a non-capped major as an alternate or you could get accepted as Undeclared.
You won’t qualify for most of the UC funding; it is limited and targeted for California residents.
There is no funding for non-residents. If you apply for scholarships, at most, you might receive $2K, but your test scores are not competitive with in-state students.
FAFSA is an application that is sent to the colleges. If you qualify for FAFSA funding, you might receive loan eligibility. (If your parents were able to afford exclusive private schools, I doubt you would qualify for Pell funding).
Pell grants only provide up to $6K per year.
@Gumbymom has provided you with good information.
If you didn’t figure out the UC application, you may be out of luck.
You are required to submit coursework that meets the A-G requirements. If your courses don’t match the requirements, your application will automatically denied.
The UC’s are tough schools. Although they don’t mind if you take an elective or two, a cooking class or Spanish elective will not meet their admissions requirements.
Honestly aid is not an issue. If it comes down to it my parents will be able to pay. Im so confused with this A-G thing I’m gonna go to my counselor tomorrow!
Like I’ve taken visual arts, public speaking, PE, theory of knowledge, video broadcasting as electives and then core classes (IB) so would those electives be the A-G courses?