I’m currently a junior in high school and have started to make a list of the colleges I would like to go to. I know I want to major in Computer Science so most of the colleges I want to go to are good Comp Sci schools.
Colleges (in order of most wanted):
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Texas, Austin
University of Maryland, College Park
Penn State
University of California, Los Angeles
Ohio State
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Virginia Tech
I know I messed up on the science section last time so I will be taking it again this December, hopefully I’ll get a better science and writing score.
Extracurriculars:
-captain of school hockey team
-captain of club hockey team
-created and shipped two iOS apps to the App Store
-working with a company on their own iOS app
I have only taken one AP course so far(comp sci).
All summer I was interning for a startup in NYC, working on iOS apps.
I know my grades aren’t very good for most of these schools, but I was hoping my ECs, especially the apps would help me out a lot. What do you all think?
For UCSB:
At the end of Junior year, calculate your UC GPA: http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
You want a target UC GPA of 4.0+. Your ACT is competitive and your internship in the summer will help.
No chances until you get your final UC GPA, but unweighted GPA is slightly low.
Thanks! I did the calculator and it came out to a 3.73 since I only have one course that qualifies as a UC approved honors credit. So you’re saying this is the only gpa they will look at?
The UC’s will look at your unweighted GPA, your UC GPA (capped weighted) and also your course rigor since you are OOS and do not get the same Honors class points as the in-state applicants. UCSB’s admission review is 50% (GPA/test scores and course rigor) and 50% (EC’s and essays), so having some great essays and EC’s can definitely boost your chances. GPA, unfortunately is King with the UC’s, so you really need to put things in high gear and get good grades this year.
You also need to make sure you meet all the a-g course requirements especially the VPA (f) requirement, which trips up a lot of OOS applicants.
Also be aware that UC’s give little to no financial aid to OOS applicants, so expect to pay $55K/year for the great beach and sunshine at UCSB.
Thanks, I’ll be sure to look into everything you mentioned. What do you think about UT and UMD? Those two are really close if not even with UCSB for me.
Try to compete your junior year with better grades (in order to raise up your GPA). Also improving your ACT by 1 or 2 points with definitly improves your chances.
Good luck!