Hello,
I am currently a junior who plans to major in psychology in the future. I wanted to know how my chances are for all the UC’s (especially UCSD, UCD, UCI, and UCSC).
Here are my stats:
Unweighted GPA: 3.88
Weighted GPA: 4.16
New SAT: 1240 (R+W: 620 M: 620)
ACT: 22
Class Rank: 38/430
7 AP’s taken by end of senior year. (1 AP Soph, 2 AP Jr, 4 AP Sr)
Extracurriculars
Badminton Team: 3 years (1 year varsity)
Author’s Club: 2 years
Chemistry Club: 2 years (President for 1 year; also founded this club)
Asian American Student Union: 2 years
California Scholarship Federation (CSF): 1 years
Freshmen Mentor: 1 years
I currently have 30 hours of volunteer hours from being a freshmen mentor/helping out at orientation.
Grades
9th
Biology A/A
Geography A/A
Physical Education A/A
Geometry A/A
English A/A+
Spanish 1 A/A
10th
Chemistry A+/A
AP World History B/B
Physical Education A-/A
Algebra 2 A-/A-
English A+/A
Spanish 2 A/A
11th
AP Chemistry A-/B+
U.S. History A-/B+
AP Psychology A/A
Pre-Calculus Honors A-/A-
English A+/A
Spanish 3 A-/A
12th (future classes)
AP Computer Science
AP U.S. Government and Economics
AP Statistics
AP Calculus AB
English
Photography 1
Thank you to those who took the time to read this and possibly respond!
-Do you have any hooks?
-Are you applying ED/EA/RD?
-Legacy?
-EC’s related to major? Like Research or Internship?
-Good Essays? Killer Reccomendations?
-SAT Subject Tests? Other AP test scores 3+?
-EFC? Will you need financial aid? Will money be an issue?
I’ll preface by saying that all UC’s are difficult to get into, it seems as though you are in-state, which helps. Your UW/W GPAs are good, but my concern is your SAT score. 1250 is not competitive enough for UCs, I’d retake the SAT and aim for at least 1400+.
That being said, at these schools (especially UCLA) seeing involvement/interest in major of choice, whether that be in your ECs, research, internship, etc is key. As of now, if your SAT score improves, and you consider doing something in psych over the summer, you stand a pretty good chance of getting into some UC’s.
You have pretty close stats to mine, I got an 1120 on SAT, 3.8 UW, 4.1 W, taken 7 APs(4 of them were College classes), and was about the same rank as you. I got into UCSB,UCSC,UCR, and waitlisted at UCI. Definitely up your SAT because it’s going to get really competitive in the next application process. If you can’t retake the SAT or ACT, defiently do more community service and get more involved. The only reason I believe that I was able to compensate for my low SAT was my great EC’s and Vounteer hours. Even if you do plan on retaking the SAT or ACT, try upping those volunteer hours. Get involved with your community. And definetly do what @Elly710 says about getting involved with your major of choice. That will really help your chances. I also calculated your rank, which is about 8% which means you will be admitted to at least one UC(most likely UC Merced) if you are not admitted into any UC school. More info on that here: https://www.ucop.edu/student-affairs/programs-and-initiatives/undergraduate-admissions/eligibility-local-context.html
Best of luck!
Also, write some really good essays!
What is your UC GPA capped weighted? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Definitely consider retaking your SAT and/or ACT since you are near or below the 25th percentile for most of these schools. Add UCR or UCM to your list.
Outstanding essays will definitely help your chances and lucky for you the UC’s tend to be very GPA focused.
Psychology happens to be a very popular major at all the UC’s so it will be competitive.
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 SAT:
UCB: 1280-1490
UCLA: 1280-1500
UCSD: 1250-1470
UCSB: 1210- 1450
UCD: 1190-1430
UCI: 1190-1420
UCSC: 1170-1380
UCR: 1090-1310
UCM: 1020-1230
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-34
UCLA: 30-34
UCSD: 29-34
UCSB: 28-33
UCD: 26-32
UCI: 26-32
UCSC: 26-31
UCR: 23-30
UCM: 20-27