Hey everyone,
I’m just going to jump right into my post (thanks for your help!):
FRESHMAN YEAR (Public School in PA)
Weighted GPA: 4.32
Unweighted GPA: 3.6
EC’s:
- Best Buddies Club (hang out with mentally challenged students)
- JV Ice Hockey
SOPHOMORE YEAR (Residential Treatment Center)
Cumulative GPA: 3.8994
EC’s:
- None listed on transcript.
- Tremendous amount of volunteering, although as previously stated not mentioned on transcript.
JUNIOR YEAR (Top Boarding School)
Estimated Weighted GPA: 4.3
Estimated Unweighted GPA: 3.8
SAT: 1400/1600
ACT: 32/36
EC’s:
- Ski Club
- Green Coalition Club
- Outdoor Leadership Club
- Coral reef conservation trip to Florida Keys
- JV Basketball
- Golf Team
My list ends here for now as I am a junior. As you can see, my sophomore year is quite unusual. I battled depression throughout high school, and I was sent to a wilderness therapy program from July to October. After that, I was sent to a Residential Treatment Center. These programs offered intensive therapy so I could be successful in the future.
After my experience, I decided I want to be a mental health therapist to help teenagers cope with what I went through. I am very ambitious about this, and will do whatever it takes to get there!
Chances:
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
UCR
USC (first-name basis with Assistant Director of Admissions)
Cal Poly SLO (mom attended)
Illinois (dad attended)
Berkeley
USD
Chapman University
Thanks for your help! 
Also UCSB and UCI! (Basically all the UC’s)
Psychology is not too competitive of a major, so that helps you. However, working in the field likely requires grad school. So keep costs in mind, because you could be looking at six years of college.
Berkeley and most of the UCs are going to be reaches, especially since you are OOS. Also, you won’t get any financial aid, so you are looking at $60K+ per year. Same with Illinois - you’ll have a chance at admission, but probably not much financial help. UIUC doesn’t consider legacy status, so the fact your father went there won’t help you.
You’re on track to get into Chapman and USD. Run the NPCs, though. If grad school is on the horizon, you’re probably better off going to a financial safety for undergrad and saving the dream school for grad school.
Don’t discount the volunteering you did sophomore year. Colleges like to see good character, and that is one way of showing you care about others and your community. Good luck!
@Gumbymom I would love to hear from you. I know that you are quite the expert on the UCs!
First you need to calculate your UC GPA which uses only 10-11th grades. As an OOS applicant, you only get extra honors points for AP and IB classes taken 10-11th. Please post your UW UC GPA, Capped weighted UC GPA and Fully Weighted UC GPA.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
As an OOS applicant, the acceptance rate is higher than in-state but the UC’s also required higher stats for admission vs. in-state applicants. The acceptance is higher since few OOS student enroll due to costs. You will be full pay at $65K/year to attend with little to no financial aid from the UC’s, so make sure this amount is affordable.
Your SAT scores are within or above the average ranges of all the UC’s. Once you determine your capped weighted UC GPA, I can give you my opinion but in the meantime of will list some UC stats to help you gauge your chances.
Intended major? Consider UCB and UCLA Reach schools regardless of your Stats due to their low acceptance rate.
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%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1360-1540
UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280
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
For Cal Poly SLO, they use 9-11th grades with the same honors point cap so just plug in your Freshman grades into the same calculator to get your CP GPA.
SLO does not consider legacy, so your Mom as an alumni will not help your chances. SLO admits by major so Intended major?
Sorry for the late response!
9th grade (for CP):
UW UC GPA: 3.67
W UC GPA: 4.00
UC Wiegtet and Capped GPA: 4.00
10th grade:
UW UC GPA: 4.0
W UC GPA: 4.0
UC Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.0
11th grade:
UW UC GPA: 3.79
W UC GPA: 4.13
UC Weighted and Capped GPA: 3.96
Intended Major: Business
Hope this helps!
For UCSB, UCD, UCLA, UCSD which major since they do not have a “business” undergrad school? Econ/Managerial Econ??
All the UC’s are possible just due to their competitiveness, it is wise to apply widely.
UCLA/UCB should be considered a Reach schools due to low acceptance rate.
UCSD a High Match to Low Reach since Econ is a capped major so select a non-capped major as an alternate.
UCI/UCD/UCSB are Match to High Match
UCR would be a Low Match Safety
Cal Poly SLO would be a Match to High Match and they do not consider legacy.
USC typically is a Reach school but knowing some one in admissions gives you a great boost.
USD and Chapman looks like Match schools.
Why California? Your parents have an unlimited budget?
@Gumbymom
Could I apply as Undeclared?
Yes, I have been blessed with my parents’ fortune, I have an unlimited budget.
What could I do that will boost my chances to get into UCLA/higher tier Cus?
Also, would me being able to pay the whole tuition with no financial aid boost my chances of being accepted?
Yes, you can apply Undeclared but check each schools website to determine the difficulty of declaring a specific major and going Undeclared does not make it an easier admit. Each campus has their own policies on declaring majors.
UC’s are Need Blind meaning they do not take the ability to pay into consideration during their application review so being full pay does not give a boost, but since you are OOS they will assume you are full pay since they offer little to no financial aid anyways.
At this point there is nothing you can do to boost your chances. UCB does invite a small percentage of Freshman applicants to submit LOR’s so make sure you have some ready to go just in case.
Wow, this is quite stressful.
How much do essays go into consideration? I have some very great, unique ideas.
Also, what about senior year? Does senior year really not matter? Sorry for all the questions!
Senior year grades are not considered by the UC’s or Cal States in the application review, but you need to maintain your current GPA with no D’s or F’s to maintain your provisional admission. Some of the UC’s will request a supplemental review where you can submit 1st semester Senior grades (again by invitation only).
Personal insight essays are considered very important so they could help your chances.
Writing your essays to your extremely unique situation will definitely help you out!
I’m an Illinois resident myself so I’ll speak to that specifically but the University of Illinois is extremely intensive and focused on numbers/GPA/ACT/SAT more than anything else. Your stats give you a high chance of getting in so great job!
Personal insight essays would be a huge strong suit for me! Will each UC allow me to write one for my apps?
Wow thanks! That makes me feel great!
For the UC application, you select 4 out of the 8 prompts but you cannot tailor the essays to each campus.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/personal-questions/freshman/index.html
I am a junior as of right now, would it be fair to assume that these questions will be on the application next year?
Mostly likely they will remain the same since the UC’s just changed the questions about 2 years ago.
Awesome, I’ll get a jump start on those. Thanks for your help!