Uc GPA: 4.04(kinda bad soph year…huge trend from freshman to junior tho)
Class rigorous is decent: freshman year: all honors
Soph: 1 reg academic rest were honors/AP
Junior: 2 reg 3 ap honors
Senior: 4 AP 1 ib
( incase you are wondering, total number of AP/ib is 8 after senior year, and with honors it’s 14)
Sat: 1430, 21 essay
Sat 2 math: 780
Sat history: 700
Sat physics (didn’t take yet) aiming for 750+
Strongest points: my ecs and personal statements. I feel like my extracurriculars are my strongest point with internships, club positions, state conventions, volunteer inside/outside, numerous awards, etc. my personal statements are also rlly rlly good, I’m finalizing them and everyone that read mine said they’re very good. I had a tutor help time through the process and I talked mainly about leadership for programming, favorite academic of math and comp sci(although I may not be the best I said how much I love working with others to solve problems), significant challenges, and finally how I pursued comp sci.
Major: for ucla and berkley its math applied with computation( college of letters and sciences because of how hard engineering is)
Uci, ucsd, and ucsb it’s comp Sci(thankfully all 3 admit first before major)
To sum up: GPA is on the weaker side, sat is on target not high but not low
Strongest points are ecs, personal statements and rec letters(if they count)
And rigorous course is decent
UCLA-reach
UCB-reach
UCSD- low reach
UCSB-low reach
UCI-high match
the fact that ur CS major makes everything a heck ton harder.
I have friends last year who had high stats (4.3 UC GPA, 34 ACT) on got rejected tp UCSD, UCSB, UCLA, etc…
For u…
First have a lot of safeties. Where do u live in CA?
Apply to lower UC’s like UCR, UCSC.
Also apply to CSUs, and some close to u or where u can get honors.
SLO is definite reach, but Pomona, SJSU, SDSU, are strong CS and few others are good.
What non UCs r u applying to?
If u want to increase chance at ur current listed schools…
Well u cant ur GPA. But u can do SAT. If u really have time, study a LOT and take SAT before december, and get atleats 1500+ or 33/34+ on ACT.
If u dotn have much time, just write amaxing essays.
Also it sounds like u have good EC;s so just show that ur committed to them and they are important. If u have leadership that will help a lot.
Just apply broadly, thats key.
You have competitive test scores, EC’s sound good but you did not elaborate on them in your post. Personal insight essays may set you apart from many of the qualified applicants. GPA is solid but not outstanding for the top UC’s and the competitiveness of the CS major.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 14%- Reach
UCLA: 14%- Reach
UCSD: 44%- Low Reach-Reach
UCSB: 54%- Low Reach-High Match
UCD: 58%- High Match- Low Reach
UCI: 65%- High Match
UCSC: 85%- Match
UCR: 94%- Safety
UCM: 96%-Safety
UCSB admits directly into the major and if you are not accepted and do not specify an alternate, then you could end up as Undeclared. Switching into CS would be difficult.
UCSD admits into the University first, then into the major. Since CS is a capped major so you need to select a non-capped major as an alternate or face the possibility of being accepted Undeclared. Switching into CS from another major will be done by lottery (new policy) after you complete the pre-req courses.
UCI will accept into the University first and then into the major. Again select an alternate major or you could be accepted Undeclared. Switching majors is easier than UCSD and UCSB, but there are no guarantees that even if you meet the requirements, you can switch later.
UCLA/UCB are tough either way and again no guarantees you will be able to pursue CS unless you meet the pre-req course and GPA requirements.
Would my chances increase for ucsd if I applied for math-computer science major? Ik it changed into a capped major in the last 2ish years, but I’m thinking about maybe applying to that and going to grad school after. Ik they’re both capped but will my chances increase at all? I’d assume more people would apply to the comp sci major directly than the math-comp sci major
Math-CS is a capped major at UCSD under Mathematics. Your chances for either is a Low Reach-Reach since are very popular and competitive majors.
Majors with capped status – for all students:
Biological Sciences
Economics
Mathematics
Physics
Public Health
Jacobs School of Engineering – all majors in these departments:
Bioengineering
Computer Science and Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
NanoEngineering
Structural Engineering
it sucks bc im not interested any of the alternate uncapped majors- which is reuqired if ur applying to impacted majors.
The only one that is kinda good is Chem
This is UCSD’s criteria for switching into the Math-CS major. It looks a bit easier than the lottery for the CS major.
Any student not admitted directly into a Math major as a New Freshman or Transfer student, or not currently declared as a Math major will need to complete a set of screening courses with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and apply to the program before being admitted to the major. The screening courses are:
MATH 18
MATH 20A
MATH 20B
MATH 20C
MATH 20D
Linear Algebra (formerly numbered Math 20F) or Math 31AH Calculus/Science & Engineering
Calculus/Science & Engineering
Calculus & Analytic Geometry/Science & Engineering or Math 31BH Intro to Differential Equations
The Mathematics faculty have determined that students who want to declare a math major must first complete this foundational material in order to prepare them for success in their upper-division courses.
The above criteria apply to ALL students seeking a major in Mathematics effective Fall 2016.
@Gumbymom ohhh i see…thank you so much!
I just have one more question besides major do you think I even have a decent chance for undeclared at ucsb,ucsd, ucla? If I can have a chance of actually being admitted then I can think about how hard it’ll be switching or how much chance I have more the major.
I think you have a chance for admission as Undeclared. Since you are are targeting L&S, you should go for the majors listed for UCB/UCLA just remember these will be tough admits regardless.
For UCSD/UCSB and UCI, you have a very good chance for acceptance but UCSD and UCSB will be problematic in trying to switch majors to CS. UCI would probably be the easiest of the schools listed in which you could switch majors.
The decision to be made: Is your preferred major more important than the school or visa versa.
If CS is what you want to pursue then you need to apply widely and consider not getting into the top UC’s.
Yes, cs is what I want to pursue. But math-computation major is also another path I will happily go on-given that I continue grad school for the masters degree in cs. I would love to go to ucla for Letters and Science but I am worried my stats aren’t high enough for admission to l and s. My strongest bet is on the ec and essays but like you said i will apply to other colleges just for safety.
your UC GPA is low for LA, B and SD but, your SAT. essays and ECs could offset that. They could go either way. You are a strong candidate for the rest.