Chance Me For UCLA, Please?!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>I'm obviously new, but I've sort of gotten the jist of things from browsing around over the last month.</p>

<p>It's my absolute dream to be accepted into UCLA. I visited Los Angeles twice over the last two years and absolutely fell in love with the city and environment the minute I laid sight on it.</p>

<hr>

<p>The Goods:
GPA: 3.465 (Unweighted)
Class Rank: 152 of 534 (71.54% Percentile)
ACT: 26
SAT: N/A
EC: I played varsity soccer for my high school's team for the last two years (which reached a national ranking of #5, and #1 in the state this year...I'm not sure if that gets any brownie points with them, as I'm not planning on pursuing D1 soccer). I've played hockey throughout my life, and have worked for my community in refereeing youth soccer.</p>

<p>I've done some voluntary community service work, but it's only added up to around 20 hours, so it's not much</p>

<hr>

<p>I'm white and I live in Minnesota, so I'm out of state and very ethnically ordinary (which I know significantly lowers my chances unless they think I'm gonna cure cancer or something) but my essays were very good and I'm also extremely gifted in Architecture.</p>

<p>With that said, I'm planning on sending them a portfolio consisting of a couple floor plans of houses that I've designed over the last couple of years. I understand that my ACT isn't high at all, and that not taking the SAT Subject Tests is a non-verbal no-no, and I would also consider myself the absolute luckiest person that I've ever met if I get accepted, but since there isn't a standardized test that measures architectural talent or the depth of my skills, I feel that if I sent them proof of what I can do, I feel like they would be more apt to look past my low-end grades and see the true talent in me. Is this even worth my time?</p>

<p>I know you may throw the idea out there that I can go to a community college in CA, gain citizenship, and transfer within 2 years, but I've already been accepted to the University of Minnesota, so if UCLA doesn't turn out, then I'll roll with what I have and hope to transfer to Berkeley for some branch of Engineering (or attend Graduate school there) later on anyways.</p>

<p>I appreciate your time and patience. Thanks for reading through this, and thank you for taking the time to give some feedback to me.</p>

2

<p>UCLA is an extremely competitive school. Based on your stats, I would say it’ll be high reach.</p>

3

<p>There’s a few problems here. SATIIs are not optional at UCs. I’m not sure you can even be considered without them. And any portfolio you wanted to send them should have been sent with your application months ago–this is really late. Then there is the cost–$50K per year with no aid other than Federal. Are your parent’s OK with that?</p>

4

<p>First of all, I appreciate both of your responses. I’m glad I could get good, quick feedback</p>

<p>Secondly, On the money issue, I thought it was more around $40K? And my parents were okay with $40K, however we never discussed $50K. Anyways, I actually was pretty confused when I looked over the app section about the SATs. Also, I thought I read somewhere that I could send in additional info to the applications after the original due date? </p>

<p>But for a firm answer, your opinion is that I won’t be accepted?</p>

5

<p>Unfortunately, yes.</p>

6

<p>UCLA-Reach</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

7

<p>hmom5:</p>

<p>I received an email from them about three days ago saying that they have everything from my application, but would like to see an SAT score. It also says that any standardized tests should have been completed before the new year, so obviously I can’t go and take the test right now and turn it in to them.</p>

<p>What do you think I should do? Should I contact them and explain my situation?</p>

<p>Also, in your opinion, if I did take the SAT and got around a 1900-2000 (whatever’s equivalent to a 26 on the ACTs), what do you think my chance would be then?</p>

<p>Lastly, thanks michiganfall, I appreciate your time</p>

8

<p>I appreciate the responses so far, but I’d love to hear from 10+ people</p>

<p>BUMP</p>

9

<p>UCLA- Reach
Since they take such few people OOS, it is very hard to be accepted. But good luck!!!</p>

10

<p>I think they must be wanting SATIIs as they do accept the ACT.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>This is completely false and the myth needs to end here on CC. The UCs are trying to double the number of OOS students this year because they need the money.</p>

<p>The bottom line, I’m afraid, is your GPA and ACT are low for UCLA, then add in no SATIIs, and I just don’t think this can happen.</p>

11

<p>I appreciate the responses a whole lot so far, thanks for everyone!</p>

<p>Keep 'em coming though, BUMP</p>

12

<p>Probably not… I’ll be honest.
But don’t give up, try your hardest; you never know what great effort can achieve.
If you love Los Angeles that much there are always other good schools (some you might have a higher chance of getting admitted) in the Area.
Pepperdine, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, CSU Long Beach, or CSU LA…
Since you claim to be gifted in Architecture you could apply to Southern California Inst. of Arch… it’s in LA.
Granted driving through Los Angeles IS a nightmare…Their interstate system within the metro is quite odd IMO… but you could definitely go spend the weekend at the peach or in the mountains or at the club from these universities. </p>

<p>just some suggestions since you wanna end up in Los Angeles. You can Transfer over to UCLA after your freshman year if you’re not accepted.</p>

13

<p>Thank you very much ChaiMex, that’s very encouraging</p>

<p>I sort of wanted to stay away from the CSUs because I wanted a better resume in terms of the quality of education (not saying CSUs are bad, but that I am trying to get something better than that). Also, I can’t really do anything about applying to Irvine, Riverside (or Santa Barbara, and San Diego for that matter) because the application deadline was November 31st and I applied to Berkeley and UCLA for mine. I don’t believe that I can go back and re-apply to other UCs (but if I’m wrong on that, then I’d love it if someone could correct me). Regardless of which UC it is, I’m sure that a conflict would arise about not having SAT Subject Tests.</p>

<p>Thanks for your responses so far everyone, 'preciate it</p>

14

<p>UC’s rely heavily on the numbers, meaning your GPA and ACT/SAT scores. I mean you’ve got to have around a 3.8 or higher, coming straight out of high school, to usually be a competitive applicant. The lower your GPA is, the more EC’s you should have to substitute for the lack of great GPA. Even then, UC’s really only care about how rigorous your classes were and what grades you got. They say that they look at your EC’s and that it’s important, which is somewhat true, but it’s not like you can say “hey I got a 3.4, but I volunteered at my church every week, was in the Red Cross Club, played volleyball for 4 years…” and so on. That’s all great and really useful if you’re on the threshold, but the GPA has got to be high.</p>

<p>That being said, there are times when people with 3.2’s have gotten into UCLA. It’s weird and head-scratching, but it happens. People will get rejected from UCSD, which is ranked lower than UCLA, and then accepted to UCLA…so obviously it never hurts to try!</p>

<p>Going to another UC first is actually not as easy as you would think. Like some people mentioned going to another UC first and then transferring, but that’s pretty difficult. They kind of look at you like, hey, you’re already in the system, be happy. You know? </p>

<p>And obviously, you have to have the SAT subject scores. I mean you did good by taking the ACT…you don’t have to take the SAT since you did that, but you have to take the SAT subject tests no matter what. But if you were to transfer from U. of Minnesota after two years, so junior transfer status, then I’m sure you could take the subject tests by then if you wanted, and try applying then. </p>

<p>Chancing is just so you can even see if you’re in the ballpark, but in all honesty…UC’s are crazy with admissions and strange cases have happened! If you’re concerned about the subject tests, or anything else for that matter, you should email or call their ungrad admissions office. They’re really helpful and honest. I mean when I was applying this past Nov., I wanted to know if missing a prereq for my major would decrease my chances of getting in, and the counselor was honest and told me that it definitely would…so they’ll tell you how it is!</p>

<p>Good luck, and I hope I was helpful! =]</p>

15

<p>Ok honestly…Best way to do this, which I know might have already been considered. Come to LA and go to a CCC (California Community College) for two years. If your parents have already agreed to paying $50k/year for UCLA, I don’t think they would have a problem paying a significantly lower price to house you and let you go to school out here.</p>

<p>Take two years, and all the classes you can to get your major done. After that you can transfer from a CCC which has a much higher acceptance rate. If you are completely set on going to UCLA, I think that might be the best way. OOS students are rarely accepted into the Cal system. Best of luck though and I would consider what I said. Plus, if you’re mostly in love with LA, what have you got to lose?</p>

16

<p>OP –</p>

<p>You can check out the stats of UCLA and Berkeley students here:</p>

<p>[University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu/statfinder/default.aspx]University”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu/statfinder/default.aspx)</p>

<p>Go through the layers of prompts, and in the end you’ll have a report that lays out the acceptance rates by gpa band, and by SAT score band. Your 26 ACT is equivalent to a 1190 SAT CR + M , or 1780 on CR + M + W.</p>

<p>I find it best to choose Simple Table at that prompt, and then choose in another prompt: Academic, then GPA weighted, also GPA unweighted, also SAT Reasoning Total</p>

<p>You will find that the % of applicants accepted with under 3.8 weighted GPA, is less than 3%, and below 3.6 unweighted is 5%. There is <em>much</em> more latitude with SAT, where that sam 3-5% acceptance rate threshold is about 1500 on the 3part score. Clearly the UCs care more about GPA than SAT. And you can be almost certain that none of those 3% (or 5%) is a regular applicant… most probably an athlete in a revenue sport, or an exceptionally disadvantaged applicant (race cannot be considered, but life challenges CAN) upon whom the adcom is extending unusual grace.</p>

17

<p>Those numbers and the lack of SAT is going to hurt your chances. It’s very improbable that you’ll get in. :/</p>

18

<p>Hi OP, </p>

<p>Your GPA is a bit on the low end and you are also from out-of-state. The UCs have a great tendency to select in-staters (Californians) over other applicants. So truthfully it would be hard for you to get in. You should definitely try however!</p>