Chance me for UCSD, UCLA, & UCB?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

Hello there! I was wondering if you guys can be brutally honest in my chances into getting UCSD, UCLA, & UCB (in-state)? I am also applying to USD, USF, & Cal Poly SLO but I strongly prefer in attending a UC school. Also, please let me know if I should expand my list of colleges that I’m applying to, if so, what colleges should I add to the list? Thank you so much!

Some background, I am a California resident attending a private Catholic high school. We do not rank within my high school. My parents are both immigrants but have attended college. I’m VERY positive I was to become a researcher/go into the research field and have a strong interest in Neuroscience and Genetics. I have volunteered at two different labs at UCSD for two summers, both focusing on different fields of work so I have experienced a large amount and range of bench work. In my mind, I should be accepted into UCSD, but with it being so competitive/popular nowadays it could turn out otherwise. Also, I feel like I could get into UCLA or UCB, but it’ll probably be one or another (hopefully UCB).

Race: White (English/Irish), Asian (Filipino & Chinese), Middle Eastern (Iraqi), Latino (Spanish)

  • Jsyk, my mom is half Filipino-Chinese & my dad is half White-Iraqi

Major: Neurobiology otherwise Neuroscience/Molecular-Cellular Biology/Genetics

GPA: 3.79 Not-Weighted/4.21 Weighted

Edit: Here’s my UC GPA capped weighted & fully weighted + etc:
UW- 3.8
W- 4.30
W&C- 3.98

ACT: 30 composite (33S, 30R, 29M, 29E) (9-Writing)

SAT: N/A

SAT Subject Tests: I’ve taken the Biology-Ecology & Advanced Math 2 subject tests but got some average results that I don’t think I will submit. Please let me know if you would like to know my scores for further feedback.

Class Rank: N/A, school does not rank. (But I am considered to be a high-ranking honor student but not the very-very top)

AP Tests:
AP Computer Science Principles: 3
AP Chemistry: 2
AP Lang: 3
AP Biology: 3
AP Psychology: 4

  • I have taken College Sociology (Sociology 101 & 102) my junior year.

Senior Schedule: College English (English 205), AP Statistics, AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1, Study Hall, ASB (Student Council/Student Leadership), & Campus Ministry (A religious leadership class offered at my school)

Extracurriculars:
-NHS (11th & 12th)- Conducted an Environmental Project which required Beach Clean Up Service
-CSF (California Scholarship Foundation) (10th-12th), Treasurer for CSF within 11th, pending Treasurer for 12th.
-Lacrosse (JV 9th & 11th, will be on varsity this year but will not be on transcript due to the season being within the spring)
-Water Polo (Novice 11th)
-Drama Tech (9th-12th)
-Drama Tech House Manager (11th-12th), Drama House Assistant (11th)
-Tutoring/Mentorship (11th): Conducted an after-school art program for a charter school w/ no arts program once a month for a six-month period.
-Ambassadors for Christ (12th), basically being an ambassador for my school, representing my school and helping out at formal events
-ASB Public Relations Officer (12th)- For Student Council/Student Leadership/Associative Student Body at my school, I am the Public Relations Officer in which I handle all communications within ASB.
-Volunteer Social Media Representative (10th & 11th)- helped ran an active twitter account for a forum website and helped managed the forum website as well
-Volunteer Lab Assistant at UCSD, a Neuroscience-Biology Lab the summer before junior year & a Reproductive Medicine Lab before my senior year. I worked within the summer contributing AT LEAST 15 hours a week, my hours were not consistently set and I would assist the lab every weekday for however long they needed me for. I have experience in drosophila (fruit-flies) handling, cell culture, PCR, RNA-extraction, etc. I still remain connections with both labs and have been offered to continue working there, for the first lab I worked summer-late fall. For the second, most recent lab, I still am welcomed to continue working there after school with a lighter workload but haven’t attended the lab since school started but plan to start contributing back to the lab soon.

2

UC GPA capped weighted and fully weighted?
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Race not considered in UC admissions.

3

Here’s my UC GPA capped weighted & fully weighted + etc:
UW- 3.8
W- 4.30
W&C- 3.98

4

UW- 3.8
W- 3.90
W&C- 3.98
(Sorry for the double reply my bad)

5

Sorry missed UC GPA information in your original post. Any chance you plan to retake the ACT? You have some great EC’s and having the lab experience is a plus but with the UC’s, GPA and test scores are very important so UCSD, UCB and UCLA will be tough admits since they continue to get more competitive each year.

Even Cal Poly SLO will be tough but they also consider Freshman grades in the GPA calculation with the 8 semester Honors cap. Biology at SLO has around a 11-12% acceptance rate so definitely not a solid Match.

I really do not see any Safety schools on your list. I would suggest UC Riverside which has had some good genetic research going on for the last few years. Also consider UCSC and some other Cal states especially SDSU which has many undergrad research programs also geared toward genetics.

USD and USF look like Match schools for you.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 (capped weighted) and not major specific.

UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26

Best of luck and apply widely.

6

your capped UCgpa looks off to me - most people with a rigorous schedule pick up more and .18 with the GPA bump.
You should run it through the RogerHub calculator again to be sure.

If it really is sub 4, you will only be really competitive at UCR and UCM. The others could happen with a compelling application so, they are worth an ap.

I think USD and USF are likely to admit you but may be prohibitively expensive. I agree, you should add a couple of less competitive schools to your list. SDSU and CSULB would be good.

Good luck

7

Sorry about that! Just redid my UCgpa & I guess I did do it wrong the first time. My GPA turns out to be:
Unweighted GPA: 3.72
Weighted GPA: 4.28
Weighted and Capped GPA: 3.97

Will do & thank you!

8

I do have plans to retake the ACT, I didn’t study that long for my first ACT which is the 30 so I hope with adequate studying I can bump it up a few points. Thank you for your recommendations by the way! Also, my UCgpa from my original post and reply is incorrect. My new & correct UCgpa should be found in the other post.