Chance me for some UCs and similar

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics: Middle-class, white male, CA

Intended Majors: Mechanical (or aerospace) engineering

SAT: 1320 (660/660). Hoping to retake for a 1400 in August

GPA: 3.7 UW/4.0 W (these are total GPAs. My UC GPAs are 3.68 UW/3.97W. I also have the rising trend going for me)

Coursework: AP heavy, took 7 so far and 4 more next year. AP Calc AB/BC, Gov, Lit, Lang (5), Physics 1 (4), Enviro (5), Stats (5), Euro (4), US History (5), CSP (5).

Awards: NSDA Degree of Distinction, Semi-Final Award at a major speech invitational, BSA Eagle Scout Award

Extracurriculars: 4 years in Speech and Debate, inc 3 on the team and 2 at the Varsity Level. Also holding a leadership position this year. Also active in interest-based clubs all 4 years, starting my own next year. Did an Eagle Scout project to top off 6 years of Scouting involvement and lots of other outdoor activity. Also active in the youth ministry at my church, inc leadership commitee

Schools: Applying to: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine. Outside of UC’s I’ll be applying to Cal Poly, San Diego State, Chico State, Oregon State, and Washington. But I’m mainly interested in the UCs right now.

2

Below is some UC admit data for 2019. 2020 data should be available hopefully in August. ME will be competitive so you want your stats to be above the average UC capped weighted GPA and test scores. Also the admit rates are not major specific so for ME, you are looking at lower than stated admit rates. UCD is your only target school on your current list of UC’s and definitely not a guarantee.

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 12%
UCLA: 7%
UCSD: 33%
UCSB: 32%
UCD: 47%
UCI: 35%
UCSC: 72%
UCR: 87%
UCM: 96%

2019 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.23 (4.15-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.32)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.03-4.28)
UCSB: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCI: 4.13 (4.00-4.25)
UCD: 4.13 (4.00-4.26)
UCSC: 3.96 (3.76-4.16)
UCR: 3.90 (3.69-4.11)
UCM: 3.73 (3.45-4.00)

2019 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT totals:
UCB: 1340-1540

UCLA: 1330-1550
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1280-1520
UCD: 1230-1490
UCI: 1250-1510
UCSC: 1200-1450
UCR: 1130-1400
UCM: 1020-1290

Cal Poly Pomona or SLO? CPP would be a Match, SLO would be a Reach (also uses 9-11th grades for their GPA calculation) .SDSU would also be a Match and Chico a safety.

3

Thank you! To confirm, UC capped weighted GPA is 10th-11th grade, with only 8 AP grades? Or 8 AP courses (16 semester grades)? That ends up making a big difference for me (3.97 vs 4.14). Also, compared to ME how competitive are civil and environmental engineering?

4

The capped weighted UC GPA is 4 AP/IB, UC approved Honors or DE courses or 8 semesters. Fully weighted UC GPA would be more than 8 semesters.

Civil/Environmental would be a probably slightly easier and the majority of UC’s admit by major into the College of Engineering.

UCB:
Division (L&S, CNR, CoC, CED, CoE) matters for admission selectivity.
Within CoE (but not the other divisions), major matters for admission selectivity. Changing majors within the CoE after enrolling is not guaranteed, unless one is CoE undeclared.

UCD:
College of Engineering admits by academic department

UCI:

  • Freshman Selection:
    UCI admits into the University first and then into the major. In the case that UCI is unable to accommodate all qualified applicants in their first-choice major, those students who indicate a valid alternate major may be offered admission in that major or Undeclared.