PGSS is hosted at Carnegie Mellon, but students are selected by PGSS faculty and staff — not Carnegie Mellon admissions officers.
I am glad to hear you are considering it for RD if ED doesn’t work out.
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OOS honors classes are not UC approved so they are not given the extra honors point weighting in the UC GPA calculation. DE classes are included in the UC GPA if they are UC transferable and taken the summer after 9th to the summer prior to 12th. What is your capped weighted UC GPA? I also only see 10 AP classes listed instead of the 12 you posted?
I also agree you need to confirm budget before considering ED to Duke and applying RD to UCB.
What other schools are you considering since both listed are Reach schools?
For UCB College of Chemistry, the admit rate was around 15% in 2022. 2023 numbers not yet posted.
The OOS admit rate for UCB was 8.6% in 2022. For UCLA it was 8.9%.
You are a very competitive applicant but make sure you have a balanced college list including some Very Likely/Safety schools in which you are willing to attend. Best of luck.
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Sorry I forgot I took 2 honors language classes. So it’s actually 10.
As per your second question, my cc is not in cal and I don’t know where I could find out of it its transferable.
Sorry last big comment. What is my UC gpa then? Just a 4.0? Isn’t that a big disadvantage?
Your AP classes would give your UC GPA a bump, so it is likely above a 4.0. You should use the link given above to calculate your UC GPA.
So I’ve taken 10 AP Courses, 4 Honors/Academic, 2 DE (3 are being done next semester).
Do I put 16 As and 14 Honors
Out of state HS designated Honors classes do not get the extra Honors points weighting in the calculation so the 4 Honors classes will not get the extra weighting.
You get Honors points for AP/IB or UC Transferable DE classes taken the summer after 9th grade through the summer prior to 12th grade. Are you on a semester system or year long? 1 grade for each year long AP class or 2 grades for each year long AP class?
1 Semester UC transferable DE course= 1 extra honors point
If you get only 1 year long grade then 10 Honors points for the AP classes.
OR
If you have 10 AP classes year long with 2 grades/2 semesters then you get 20 honors points. 2 DE courses would get 2 honors points.
You still include all the grades of the A-G courses even the non-weighted courses to calculate your UC GPA’s.
10 AP= 10 A’s or 20 A’s if on semester + 10 or 20 honors points
4 Honors classes= 4 A’s or 8 A’s if on semester + no honors points
2 DE courses if transferable = 2 A’s + 2 Honors points
I would make sure to keep the syllabus for the DE courses so you can compare the description of these courses to the California CC courses listed on assist.org to determine if they comparable.
UCB and UCLA specifically state they will consider all 3 UC GPA’s but focus on the unweighted UC GPA and the Fully weighted UC GPA.
UCB admit rate by college and fully weighted UC GPA (3 year historic data).
2022 data
| GPA | L&S | CoE | CoC | CNR | CED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.800-4.000 | 5.5% | 2.2% | 4.1% | 10.3% | 7.0% |
| 4.001-4.199 | 8.9% | 3.7% | 7.1% | 19.9% | 11.2% |
| 4.200-4.399 | 18.5% | 8.1% | 15.8% | 33.5% | 23.7% |
| 4.400-4.599 | 28.6% | 14.1% | 28.7% | 46.8% | 30.6% |
| 4.600-4.799 | 33.3% | 18.9% | 37.2% | 46.1% | 36.5% |
| 4.800-5.000 | 32.5% | 18.7% | 34.4% | 42.6% | 41.0% |
You sound like a very interesting applicant with a strong turnaround in your academics (and the first year was not a terrible year, either). With your extracurriculars and your status as a first gen student, those will assist you as well. Your rigor is excellent, and if your school counselor makes an indication about how the class ranking does not require highest rigor, then that might mitigate the class rank. Thus, I would say that you certainly have a chance at any university in the U.S. The two schools you’ve mentioned, however, have far more highly qualified applicants than they can accept. Thus, you have a chance of admission, but you need a well-balanced list, starting with schools that are extremely likely to accept you, that your family is willing and able to afford, and that you would be happy to attend. With respect to those last two factors:
- How much is your family willing and able to afford, without loans?
- What are you interested in having your college experience be like? Do you prefer urban, suburban, college town, or rural schools? Do you have size preferences about the university? Size preferences with respect to your classes? How do you feel about the importance of intercollegiate athletic spirit or Greek life? Are there particular interests you would like to pursue in college? What kind of geographical preferences or restrictions do you have? Climate preferences? What kind of vibe would you like at the school? Knowing more about what you want will help people suggest schools where you are likelier to be happier.
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I do get ‘semester’ grades, though they are not reported on transcript. It will just be a list of grades.
Two things. Actually a couple. Thanks so much for this super well-thought out response!
I am not a first generation college student. But I am a first generation immigrant and (hopefully) the first to recieve a college education in the USA. I’m not sure that my counselor will indicate that it is easier to climb school rankings with honors classes, that looks pretty bad on the school. So I’m not sure how to address this. Maybe on supplemental information?
OK, so you calculate the GPA and will fill out the application based on how your school lists the grades and courses on the transcript.
Got it, thanks so much again!!
Thanks for clarifying that you’re a first gen immigrant, but not a first gen college student.
High schools generally send a school profile, and if they show that an honors course is weighted the same amount as an AP class, then perhaps that might help?
Any answers to the questions I asked (budget and what you’re interested in for a college)?
I’m an only child so I think money isnt as much of an issue. I have a couple thousand saved from part time and plan on working. We would be able to afford Duke w/out loans but Cal is a lil rough
Big schools are good and I do not really mind rural vs urban (I’ve lived in all of it) or weather. I’m not pursuing Greek life. I plan on pursuing graduate school or becoming a research physician. I prefer a school with a chill LAC environment (think Brown).
If Duke is your first choice and your family can afford what the Net Price Calculator shows, I would HIGHLY recommend applying ED! I think you are a competitive applicant but Duke RD is very hard. I applied Duke RD and was waitlisted and if I could go back in time I would have ED’d. I was accepted to all the UC’s I applied for, including Cal & UCLA, but I am a CA resident so I think an easier admit. All schools will take into account your upward trend. Your weakest point is your class rank, but given the upward trend in your grades I think that will be overlooked. Most colleges will be very forgiving about a weak freshman year when the rest of your high school performance is pretty perfect. You may also want to explore looking into an ED2 school in case you are denied from Duke ED1. Some ED2 schools that come to mind given your fondness for Duke and your educational goals are WashU, Vandy, and Emory. Good luck to you!
Unless you are receiving financial aid from Duke, it actually costs about 7k more per year than Cal OOS. Of course, financial aid is available at Duke but not at Cal so maybe that is what you are talking about. Have you run the NPC at Duke?
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Yes. That is what I was talking about.
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It’s great that you have a clear first choice that’s affordable for your family, per the Net Price Calculator (NPC). It’s crucial, however, to have one or more schools that your family is willing and able to afford, that you are extremely likely to be admitted to, and that you would be happy to attend. Duke only meets 2 of the 3 requirements. That’s fine for an ED selection, but not for a sure-thing. Do you have any schools that meet all 3 requirements?
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