Chance me for UCs, Cal Poly, and some ED/EA schools

Student Lounge International Students
1

Profile: Pakistani-American, middle class, West Coast

Intended Major: Accounting/Finance/Business

Budget: Doesn’t matter

School style: Doesn’t matter as long as it’s ranked well

3.4W GPA, 1430 SAT (19 on Essay), 32 ACT

Subject Test: 740 Math II 700 Physics

APs: Took 4 Junior year, 1 honors, 4 this year

Awards:
Regional Volunteering Award (Dedication to helping Community)
Some regional football team award
AP Scholar

ECs:
1 Year Varsity Football

3 Years captaining a club Football Team outside of school

2 years playing 1st Trumpet in the school band, and continued playing outside of school
200 hours volunteering a Jewish Youth Centre

Marketing Intern for 2 Summers at an international Fin-Tech organization, worked directly in partnerships and film production

3 Years Varsity Basketball

I produce occasional videos on YouTube, just a hobby, but have several hundred subscribers as well as a music video with thousands of hits

Vice Pres. of a psychology club where we used our club members to create a dream analysis/report and the various factors played into this

Letters of Rec (not all are used for each school):

Boss at internship (7.5-8/10)
Spanish Teacher (8/10)
Finance Teacher at a local community college (9/10)
Clergy at Youth Organization (9/10)

Essays:
I have a unique story of being homeless for a lot of my freshman year, and the experiences I gathered from that and how it’s affected my perspective of the world around me. Pretty interesting, and overall my essays are I would say a 9-9.5/10, hitting all the right points.

I know my GPA is low, but I feel like I check off every other box of what these colleges are looking for.

Schools:
ED I Lehigh
EA Purdue, University of Minnesota, UConn
UC Berkeley, UCSB, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, Cal Poly SLO
Other: Texas A&M, Penn State, Baylor

2

“Pakistani-American”

Are you a US citizen or legal permanent resident? Then you aren’t an international applicant and this post is in the wrong forum.

What do you mean by “Budget: Doesn’t matter”? Do you have a college fund of upwards of USD 250,000 available to cover all of your costs?

3

UC’s are very GPA focused so your GPA will have a negative impact. Cal poly SLO mainly admits based on GPA and test scores and again your GPA will be an issue.

UC’s use 10-11th grades to calculate their GPA. Here is the calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Post UW UC GPA, Capped weighted and Fully weighted UC GPA’s.

For SLO, they use 9-11th grades so use the same calculator but add in 9th grades. The capped weighted GPA with 8th grades is your SLO GPA.

A compelling reason such as your homelessness would help explain your GPA but since SLO does not accept essays or counselor recommendations, this issue cannot be addressed to help your chances.

For the UC’s, your academic performance can be addressed in one of your personal insight essays so this could help bump up your chances.

If you are not a California resident, you will be full pay at the UC’s at $65K/year and SLO at around $40K/year so make sure these schools are affordable.

SLO Freshman profile for the College of Business:
Average SLO GPA (capped weighted): 4.09
Average SAT: 1416

SLO uses MCA points to rank applicants by major so here is the calculator. Target 4600+ MCA points
https://mca.netlify.com/

UC admission data below:
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 7%
UCSB: 8%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 14%
UCSC: 33%
UCR: 49%
UCM: 82%

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

Best of luck.

4

For some odd reason, this cracked me up. :smile:

5

@happymomof1 I am a citizen of America. I just meant to say that I have Pakistani Descent.

And I meant by funding that I can apply for some financial aid, so that will not be the issue, and that is not important at all in what I’m asking is what I meant to imply. I’m more concerned about my chances.

6

I think your GPA is going to be an issue.

Also, if you are counting on getting financial aid, run the NPC for each of the schools on your list. Generally speaking OOS publics are not going to be generous with aid.

7

What do you think of my chances?

8

@momofsenior1 I should be good financially.

What do you think about Lehigh? My SAT score above their 75th percentile, and I applied Early Decision, and I think I have compelling essays, lOrs, and ECs as mentioned below.

9

As Gumbymom wrote above, your GPA will make the UC’s difficult for you. Your best chance there will be UC Riverside.

10

Lehigh puts as much importance on GPA as it does SAT score. I think it is a high reach for you.

11

Your chances depend on your financial state. For non need-blind colleges, applying for aid will lower your chances. That’s why we’re all bringing that up.

12

Each college and university has a Net Price Calculator on its website. Sit your parents down, and run the ones at the places on your list. Find out which places are likely to be affordable with aid that the college/university projects. Don’t waste your time and energy on places that aren’t going to be affordable if you get in.