Chance me for UCs!

Chance Me / Match Me!
, , , ,
1

Hi! I’m a senior applying to UCs this fall. My dream school is UC San Diego, but I am applying to all of them. Afraid my low unweighted GPA will hinder my chances :frowning:

demographics: I’m an indian girl from a fairly competitive in state public school.

major: i’m applying for cognitive science for all as first choice major and either psychology or linguistics as my second (i put that down as my first in UCSB and UCR bc they don’t offer cogsci).

Courses/GPA (My school doesn’t do class rank)

GPA: 3.7 UW/4.4W

Freshman Year: Nothing Weighted (My school doesn’t offer weighted classes for Freshmen)

Sophomore Year: 2 APs, 2 (UC Weighted) Honors Classes

Junior Year: 4 APs + 2 Dual-Enrollment Classes

Senior Year: 4 APs + 2 Dual-Enrollment Classes

uh also aps i got 4s and 5s except one 3 in ap spanish idk.

awards

  • ap scholar with distinction
  • presidents volunteer service award
  • local singing competitions

ECs

A ton of stuff I’m involved in are relevant to my major and im pretty passionate abt them (I am particularly interested in child psychology/psycholinguistics).

  • Racked up 100+ volunteer hours at a local montessori school.
  • I did a summer psychology research internship at a sorta competitive local program.
  • volunteer research assistant at a UC Berkeley child psychology lab this summer
  • Accepted to a Stanford Summer Program centered around supporting people with neurodiverse (i myself am neurodiverse with adhd) conditions for which I helped develop a community project and will present at a panel hosted by the department in October (quite a lot of other stuff related to this program)
  • on a teen mental health council for a local hospital.
  • core officer in my school’s Music Therapy Club, Psychology Club, and Speech and Debate.
  • I’ve been very involved in the school’s drama program and productions since 9th grade.
  • i make song cover tiktoks in my free time, write songs, blog abt random stuff, and run the class discord.
2

Calculate your 3 UC GPA’s using the calculator below: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Once you calculated and posted your 3 UC GPA’s, then posters can give you their opinions.

You can also compare the admit rates for the UC’s based on the Capped Weighted UC GPA table below.

Campus 4.20+ 3.80-4.19 3.40-3.79 3.00-3.39
Berkeley 30% 11% 2% 1%
Davis 85% 55% 23% 10%
Irvine 60% 31% 14% 1%
Los Angeles 29% 6% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 98% 96% 89%
Riverside 97% 92% 62% 23%
San Diego 72% 25% 2% 0%
Santa Barbara 73% 28% 4% 1%
Santa Cruz 91% 81% 46% 9%

GPA is Very important but there are 13 areas of criteria that the UC’s use to review applicants.

Your profile can make you a competitive applicant for several campuses but the UC’s tend to be unpredictable. As long as you have at least 1-2 safety schools on your list, you should be proud of your accomplishments. Best of luck.

1 Like
3

thank you !

1 Like
4

Also want to mention that UCLA has allowed applicants to list an alternate major, but does not consider that alternate major in their admission process.

For UCB:
Note that L&S admits students as undeclared; admission to capped majors (e.g. CS, economics, psychology, ORMS, statistics, art practice, and a few others) is by college GPA in prerequisite courses (and portfolio for art practice) after attending for a few semesters.

For UCLA:
In the College of Letters and Science, the applicant’s major is not considered during the review process.

For UCD:
College of Letters and Science admits by College but within specific academic departments: ie. (Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)

For UCI:
UCI admits into the University first and then into the major. In the case that UCI is unable to accommodate all qualified applicants in their first-choice major, those students who indicate a valid alternate major may be offered admission in that major or Undeclared.

For UCSD:
The campus does not admit students on the basis of academic major or choice of UC San Diego undergraduate college. UCSD admits into the University first then into the major. Alternate majors are considered and capped majors are highly competitive. Also note: Capped majors require additional pre-req courses and specific GPA to be able to qualify if changing majors. Also if applying to a capped major, select an non-capped major as an alternate.

For UCSB:
College of Letters and Sciences: Choice of major is not considered in selection to the College of Letters and Science. The exceptions to this rule are dance and music performance majors. Both majors require applicants to complete an audition in late January or early February.

In the College of Letters and Science, students are admitted to a major or a pre-major. If admitted to a pre-major, the student must meet additional requirements at UCSB prior to being in the full major.

For UCSC:
Choice of major does not influence the selection of first-year students, except for those applicants interested in a major offered by the Jack Baskin School of Engineering (BSOE).

For UCR/UCM:
Admission by major but alternate/2nd choice major will be considered if applicant does not meet their first choice admission standards.

1 Like
5

i’ve updated my fully weighted UC GPA is a 4.4, while capped is a 4.0.

1 Like
6

You are competitive for many of the UC’s. Scrolling through the UCSD Class of 2026 discussion, there are several applicants with a similar UC GPA (fully and capped weighted) that were waitlisted for Cognitive Science but your EC’s might be the tipping point for an acceptance. As long as you have applied widely and have some solid target/safety schools, you will be fine.

2 Likes
7

2 posts were split to a new thread: How do UC’s and CSU’s handle DE courses for GPA/Application purposes?

8

Thank you so much! I am working on making my PIQs the best they can be.

9

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.