Chance Me on UCs, Cal Poly SLO, and Privates?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi!

I’m an Asian female (rising senior, class of 2019) who goes to a large, competitive public school in Southern California. I’m looking to major in biology (possibly environmental science, animal biology, or marine biology). I don’t have a solid list of what colleges I’m going to apply for yet because I don’t really have a solid grasp of what schools are reach, target, and safety. I’m feeling really anxious so it’d be really awesome if you guys could chance me and give me some feedback on everything. If you have any recommendations for what schools I should apply to that aren’t on my list, that would be great too, I’m very very open. Thanks guys!

Academics:

Cumulative GPA: UW- 4.0 W- 4.5
UC GPA: weighted and capped- 4.3
SAT: 1420 (710 on English and Math) but I don’t plan on submitting
No SAT subject tests yet (are they worth taking?)
ACT: 33 (english-36 reading-34 math-32 science-29 writing- 08)

Class Size: 444
Current Rank: 40

AP Environmental Sci- 4 (I took this class freshman year, so I’m not sure if it counts for anything)
AP Biology- 4
AP Calc AB- 3
AP English Language and Comp- 5

Senior Schedule: Writer’s Workshop, Math 150/151 (community college class), AP Psychology, AP Gov and Economics, Biomedical Science (two periods, one is a class and the other is an internship at a hospital or other related research institution)

Note: I’m in a four-year high school biomedical science pathway so I was able to take an exam my junior year that gave me college credit for a year of Applied Biotech. I passed with a perfect score on the college exam so this coming senior year, I will be taking a night class at a community college in Applied Biotech. If I pass the class, I will be getting 300+ hours of labwork and graduating with a certificate of achievement which is the equivalent of an associates degree.

Extracurriculars:

JV Field Hockey (freshman-sophomore)
Violinist (6th grade-present)
Fall internship at the zoo (Fall of Junior year which is why I couldn’t do field hockey anymore)
Varsity Lacrosse (sophomore-present)
Volunteer at the science center (Sophomore-present) (I’m a volunteer mentor with 300+ hours of service, the visitor service department assistant, and Teen Volunteer of the Year 2017-18)
Education Department Intern at a history center (this summer, ongoing)
Officer of my school’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals Club (Junior-present)
Volunteer with my city’s Pride Parade and Festival (last summer and this summer)
Volunteer with VAYA (Vietnamese American Youth Association) at the annual cultural Tet Festival (freshman-present)
Part of a highly selective program run by the people who own Price Club (merged with Costco in 1993)

Hooks: Minority, first gen, low income

Schools:
UCSD, UCLA, UCSB, UCD, USD, Cal Poly SLO, Amherst College, Williams College, Northwestern

Thanks again :slight_smile:

2

Overall you look like a competitive applicant. If the UC’s have recommended SAT subject tests, then I would make an effort to take them if financially feasible. I would consider Math 2 and Biology E.

  1. Cal Poly SLO had around a 10% acceptance rate for Biology. Environmental Science or Marine Biology would be an easier admit but trying to switch majors later can prove to be difficult so apply to your 1st choice. I would say you are a Match for SLO Biology but with a low acceptance, there are no guarantees.

  2. For the UC’s, consider UCLA a Reach school but you are definitely qualified. I would say you are a Match for the rest of the UC’s along with USD.

I cannot comment on the other schools on your list but you need to have 2 safeties as backup. Add UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside or another Cal State.

Just know that the UC’s and CSU’s do not consider race in their admission decisons.

Best of luck.

3

You have strong qualifications. You should certainly end up with some good options within the UC system. Are you eyeing med school, or are you looking more toward life sciences research? Are you considering applying to the College for Creative Studies at UCSB? It’s very research-focused, and I would think your emphasis on lab work in high school would strengthen your application. https://ccs.ucsb.edu/majors/biology

USD isn’t a full-need-met school, so I’m not sure you would get the financial aid you need there as a low income student, but if they allow need-based aid and merit to “stack” up to your level of documented need, then maybe.

Williams and Amherst are similar schools, but Northwestern is very different. Do you have a sense of whether you like small liberal arts colleges as compared to large research universities with a pre-professional emphasis and lots of Greek life?

Have you looked at the Claremont Colleges? They have the advantages of small liberal arts colleges but also pooled resources to give the opportunities of a mid-sized university. I have seen Scripps students go through the Keck Science curriculum and get amazing opportunities in life sciences, marine bio (research in Australia and at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute), and other science fields. All of the 5C’s meet full need.

Reed in Portland is a top-notch school that’s among the top 10 producers of eventual PhD’s in many science fields and also many humanities and social science fields. It’s kind of the anti-Northwestern - no Greek life, no intercollegiate sports, lots of quirk and individuality. Portland is a great city for students, and Reed is a full-need-met school, and less reachy to get into than Amherst or Williams.

Speaking of consortia, have you looked at the other schools in the consortium with Amherst? Smith has amazing STEM, and Mount Holyoke has good sciences too - both meet full need and your admissions chances would be very good. And there’s cross-registration among all five campuses. (You’ve got a shot at Amherst but the admit rate is so low that it’s just hard to predict. Same with Williams.)

U of Rochester and Case Western are both great schools for musician-scientists, with top-notch research opportunities and good financial aid.

4

2017 admission rates to UCs by weighted-capped GPA, not specific to major (biology may be a more competitive major at some campuses, like UCSD):


Campus  4.20-   3.80-   3.40-   3.00-
        higher  4.19    3.79    3.39
UCB     43%     13%      2%      1%
UCLA    47%     12%      2%      1%
UCSD    84%     39%      7%      1%
UCSB    82%     45%     10%      1%
UCI     94%     52%     11%      3%
UCD     90%     56%     17%      4% 
UCSC    93%     76%     44%     14%
UCR     98%     90%     63%     23%
UCM     98%     96%     89%     57%

Be sure to check the net price calculator at each college.