Hi, I’m currently a Junior in Montclair Highschool (Mid-Low competitive school)
UC GPA is 3.8 Weighted and capped. I took the PSAT in August and received 1170 and I would definitely improve that score.
In the PSAT, my Reading score was 28, Writing and Language was 29, and math was 28.5.
I want to Major in Mechanical Engineering and Biology as my alternative major
I rank 61 out of 681 students
First-Generation student (I will be the first College Student from my father’s side of the family)
I will Graduate in white if that helps (plz help) (also CSF member)
I live in San Bernadino County
Passed AP Chinese with a 5
EC: 3 years of Baseball, 2 years of Robotics club, took all honors/AP freshmen to now. Currently, I’m building a 6.5 Horsepower go-kart from scratch and I hope this go-cart would improve my chance of being admitted as an ME. Also attended Health Professions Conference 2018 twice. Participated in Pomona Valley Hospital (Received a Certificate of Completion) and been on Principle’s Honor Roll for a few times.
AP tests passed: Biology (3) and WHAP (3), Currently taking APUSH (A), AP physics (A-) and AP English (B)
I want to know my chance or what I could do to improve my chance of admission
Hardships: my parents are constantly arguing with each other during my sophomore year and lived in constant worrying about them divorcing but they are talking with each other once more.
Anything helps! thank you!
Here is some UCR admission data for comparison from 2018. ME and Biology are very competitive at all the UC’s so the data listed below is not major specific. Expect these competitive majors to require above the averages in stats to have a good chance at an acceptance.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 (2017 data since 2018 data is not available as of yet):
UCR: 90.1%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCR: 3.81
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCR: 1130-1380
Aim for at least a 1300 SAT and hopefully your UC Capped weighted GPA will be closer to a 4.0 by end of Junior year.
First Generation will be considered if both parents did not attend college. Having parents that do not get along is not considered a hardship in the eyes of college admissions but having some unstabliltiy in your home life and how it affected you might make a good personal insight essay on what you learned from the experience.
Also make sure you identify at least two safety schools that are affordable, have at least an 80% chance of acceptance and you are willing to attend.
Best of luck and keep up the good work.
Thank you so much your you valuable insight. But is it acceptable to apply as an Undeclared Major then transfer to ME or Bio?
Below is the link on how to change your major from Undeclared to ME. Remember it is always easier to switch out of an Engineering major than to switch into. My advice is always apply for your choice major as a direct admit and UCR does consider your alternate major if you are not accepted to your 1st choice major.
https://student.engr.ucr.edu/policies/requirements/majorchange/me.html
This is from the UCR Website in regards to changing to the Biology major:
Biological Sciences
The Biological Sciences major is currently under a moratorium and no new change of major petitions to this major will be approved at this time.
More information on how UCR reviews applicants:
- RIVERSIDE
- Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay, Rigor of secondary school record, Standardized test scores
- Considered: Character/personal qualities, Extracurricular activities, First generation college student, State residency, Talent/ability, Volunteer work, Work experience
- Note: A fixed weight point system comprehensive review model that culminates in an Academic Index Score to determine admission for incoming freshmen.
How about Cal Poly Pomona? My 10-11 non-UC but weighted GPA is around 4.0-4.1 and I’m not sure if CPP look at freshman year grades
And I’m a local but since ME is a impacted major so idk it will be affected
UC capped weighted GPA = CSU capped weighted GPA
UC’s and CSU’s do look at Freshman grades but they are not part of the GPA calculation.
I think CPP is within Reach. CPP admits by eligibility index (CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math + EBRW). They do superscore the SAT or ACT.
Once you determine your UC/CSU capped weighted GPA then you plug in your test scores to get your EI. They will then rank you based on your EI and major and accept from the top down. Your acceptance depends upon how you compare to all the other ME applicants.
Local in-service area applicants get priority but not a guaranteed admission for impacted majors.
https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/freshman/documents/csulocaladmission-serviceareas.pdf
so here are my newest data, CSU GPA- around 3.75 and sat math 650, sat English 630. Do I have a good chance for aerospace eng. in CPP??
CPP will use the eligibility index to rank you and being local will help.
EI= (3.75 x800) + (650+ 630)= 4280. Since you are local, I think you will be competitive but it all depends upon how you compare to the other Aerospace Engineering applicants.
Make sure you apply widely and have 1 solid safety school on the list. Also CPP will consider your alternate major, but select a non-impacted major for your alternate.