Essays were on how I filmed an documentary on the LGBTQ community in my city and participated in the organization of some LGBTQ supportive campaigns. I wrote it in a relaxed way, and people around me reckon they are pretty solid. In my high school years I’ve been constantly vonlunteering in a LGBTQ support group. I’ve been elected to various leadership positions through out the years as well.
I know my GPA is bit of a downside, probably why I was rejected by Penn and UVA, waitlisted by NYU and UNC-Chapel Hill in the early applications. My principal actually called a UVA officer to know that they rejected me largely for my bad grades in the Junior year.
My principal had also send an letter to UCLA specifically inquiring how my low junior year grades would affect my applications. UCLA office replied to say that they take more considerations on the iGCSE results of British-curriculum students.
**UC Champion Comment:
Edited: Combined several chance threads into one thread. **
I am not familiar with the British system and I am not sure if you should convert your GPA into the UC GPA, but UC’s tend to be very GPA focused and Junior year is very important in terms of academics. You have a great SAT score and some interesting and focused EC’s.
Here is some UC admit data which can help gauge your chances. UC’s will consider the whole package but always consider UCLA a Reach school. UCSD and UCSB are far more likely.
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1360-1540
UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
Best of luck and being an International Full pay applicant can be an advantage.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but, with a sub 4 UCGPA - it is really unlikely you’ll be admitted into any of them.
hoping you applied more broadly.
Good luck
@NoelMonzer I know little about how international students are looked at. However, they are looked at differently and separately than California or US students.
Hopefully, the admissions office would know enough about the British system. Saying, “predicted A-Level Results: AAA” is pretty impressive, I think. What are the subjects?
Having said that, GPA from last academic year is important for UCs and if it is lower than that of similar applicants (e.g., UK system) and lower than your previous year, it will stand out.
I had a horrible Junior year (like only a few A and a bunch of B and C) and had almost perfect grades during grade 10 and 11. As I was checking the link you posted, I can’t help to notice that UCLA only calculates GPA based on the grades from grade 10 and 11;
is that the way it should be calculated?
BTW, the subjects for my A-Levels are Maths, Econ and History.
Junior year in the US is 11th grades so the UC’s, they use Sophomore year grades=10th grade and Junior year grades= 11th grade. Since you are an International applicant only AP/IB courses will count for the extra weighting.
Also unless you have a comparable GPA system to the US, you should not be trying to calculate a UC GPA.
A 4.12 UC GPA gives you around a similar chance at around 9-10% based on GPA alone. Since UCLA reviews all aspects of your application, test scores, EC’s and your essays, combined they will contribute to your chances. With an overall acceptance rate of 14.1% for 2018, it still should be considered a Reach school.
This link to the UCLA Freshman profile breaks out International admits by GPA and SAT/ACT scores with 25th-75th percentiles.
Thank you very much for your response! I don’t know should my A-Level courses be considered as ‘Honors’ so I filled it in as Not-Honor in the application. However, I did point out in the extra imformation section that A-Levels are generally considered as an equivalent to the AP courses in the British Curriculum. Would the UCs calculate my A-Level grades as if they are honors?
Like I stated, I am not familiar with the British grading system so I cannot comment on what the UC’s would consider Honors classes.
This is from the UC website:
There is no need to convert the grades. In the application, the student must report the grades exactly as they appear on their academic record from the school abroad. If necessary, the student may select “Other” for Grading System and then enter those grades manually for each course. They can use the Additional Comments box in the Academic History section to explain the grading system.
The admissions office at each campus has experienced international specialists who will evaluate the student’s international coursework. They are knowledgeable about the different grading systems and methods of reporting coursework in other countries.
Have you considered applying to some less-selective public flagships and/or liberal arts colleges? Top LACs tend to be LGBTQ+ friendly/aware and, while they offer fewer majors than universities, they offer smaller class sizes and greater access to professors generally.
Some less-selective (than UCB and UCLA), yet still awesome, public schools:
UW-Madison (U of Wisconsin Badgers)
UT-Austin (U of Texas Longhorns)
UW-Seattle (U of Washington Huskies)
U of Minnesota (Golden Gophers)
Ohio State U (Buckeyes)
Penn State U (Nittany Lions)
U of Florida (Gators)
U of Illinois (Fighting Illini)
And these are some of the top LACs. A 3.7 is a bit low for the top 10-15 but still possible; odds increase as you move down the list. Fewer international students apply to LACs, so a quality LAC tends to be easier to get into than a university of similar stature/selectivity. Unless otherwise noted these include “College” in their names:
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Pomona (California)
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Haverford
Carleton
Claremont McKenna (California)
Wesleyan University
Vassar
Hamilton
Washington & Lee
Colgate U
Harvey Mudd (STEM-oriented; California)
Colby
Davidson
Grinnell
Bates
Oberlin
Kenyon
Macalester
Lafayette
Pitzer (California)
U of Richmond
Bucknell
Holy Cross
Colorado College
Skidmore
Dickinson
Denison
Occidental (California)
Whitman
There is great variety in the US – by type (U or LAC), location/weather, school setting (rural, urban, suburban), academic vibe (curricular type, calendar, majors offered…), sports and social vibe, political vibe, etc. If you do some reading on the schools mentioned above (and others of their ilk), you may find options both less (or equally) selective than UCB/UCLA and equally or more suited to your preferences.
@NoelMonzer As Gumbymom pointed out, we call grade 10 sophomore year and grade year 11 junior year (we have 12 years of primary education). UCLA cares about these because they are the last years where all grades are available. We don’t have a system of “predicted” marks like you do. Though, I believe in IB programs they do have such a thing. In any case, since for 95%+ of students this is not the case, unis here don’t look at that. On the up side, we don’t have contingent offers like you do (generally, if you don’t fail any major classes and maintain a B average, even lower than Bs for UCs, the offer will be not rescinded).
I believe, your system is a little different where the last year of your primary education is actually year 13. Consequently, I would assume that UCLA would care about your year 11 and year 12 grades (though, I really don’t know).
In any case, as far as I know, a predicted A* in A-level maths is more impressive than a 5 on AP Calculus BC exam. I would be surprised if the admission committee at UCLA would not know that.
It’s a stupid mistake that I have mistakenly took Junior Year for Fresheman Year. The thing is, I had terrible grades in the first year of my high school, and then had A all across the board since the second year.
I feel extremely sorry to confuse you all, and still, thank you very much for your replies.
@NoelMonzer I don’t know any LACs in US that have late deadlines. Not saying that there are none, but never looked.
There are some large universities in the states with late application deadlines that seem to collect students that did not apply to a decent backup. For example, Arizona State U. and U. of Arizona come to mind.
I do know that some University Colleges in Netherlands will consider late applications. E.g., University College Amsterdam (actually, all University College programs in Netherlands are English taught, kind of LAC-ish in their set up and most will look at late applications. There are about a dozen of them and are set up as liberal arts honors colleges.)
However, I am guessing that you will do fine in the admission cycle this month. Again, best of luck.
Thank you very much for your replies, just got a conditional offer of A-Level AAB from LSE, which is super easy to manage; think my Califonia dreaming had just called its end, lol.