Chance me for USC, Cal Poly SLO and UC system, please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone! I am new to CC, but wanted to kinda get your input on my chances even though it’s pretty much up to the admissions committee. Here are my stats etc:

SAT I: 1550 (790 M, 760 RW)
ACT: never took
SAT II: none
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.73
Weighted GPA: 4.0
Rank: 150 out of 700 (?)
AP classes:
Sophomore Year - World History (3)
Junior Year - Calculus AB (5), Psychology (4)
Senior Year - Statistics (N/A), Government (N/A), Biology (N/A)

Major Awards: (mostly sports)
-Divisional Track and Field 4x100 champions
-Most Improved Player on Varsity Tennis
-College Board SAT Practice Gold Award

Extracurricular activities/ Work experience (by importance):
-4 years Varsity Track and Field
-2 years as a private tutor
-2 week Summer Cultural Immersion trip to Latin American Country
-8 years volunteering for professional women’s tennis tournament
-6 years Polynesian Dance (dance club and outside dance group)
-2 years Varsity Tennis
-more various clubs

ESSAYS/RECS:
Common App: I worked really hard on them, but didn’t have that many reviewers. 7/10
Supplements: Why ___? was really strong IMHO, other one was alriiiight. average 7/10
Recs: My junior year physics teacher and spanish teacher (really close to spanish teacher so hopefully that was good)

  • didn’t read either; they wouldn’t let me LOL

OTHER:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Civil Engineering, if not urban planning (Applied for small non-impacted major at USC to try for better chance)
Domestic or International (state or country in parenthesis): CA, USA
Race and/or Ethnicity: Asian American, and Spaniard
Gender: female
Income Bracket: ~200k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, Recruited Athlete, Famous, High Donor): no

WHERE I APPLIED (ranked fav to least fav):
USC (I also initiated communication with my intended major’s academic directors (undergrad and grad) and the department’s student recruiter. Visited the school to talk with them about the program and sat in on a class)
Cal Poly SLO
UCB
UCLA
UCI
UCSD
UCD
NYU
Cal Poly Pomona
SJSU

Most of these are impossible to tell, but I would especially appreciate feedback!

2

As a student at Cal Poly, I would say you definitely have good shot! Your SAT score is very good and while your weighted GPA may be slightly below the average for engineering, it is close enough to where I don’t think it would be a huge issue. I think you would have quite similar chances with most of the UC’s with the exception of Berkeley (and possibly LA, I don’t know how competitive their Civil Engineering program is). Unfortunately I can’t speak to USC as I don’t know much about the school, and none of my friends who go there are engineering students. But best of luck!

3

Thanks for the response! @bioincs