Here is my history:
-Attend a competitive silicon valley high school
-Took only 1 AP and 2 Honors classes from 9-12th grades (had significant medical complications in 11th grade so I had to drop 2 APs and 1 Honor class, was out for ~3 months). So academic rigor is not where I would have liked it to be.
-Wrote pretty strong personal insight responses
-SAT: 1510 (dec 2018) steadily kept increasing from 1390, 1440, and 1510 over the course of 8 months
-GPA: 3.81 before senior year grades (will increase as I got all As)
-GOT A SUPPLEMENTAL APPLICATION FROM UC DAVIS 2 WEEKS BACK!! submitted it at the earliest and my school assistant principal wrote the rec letter for me at the earliest as well. Was wondering if its a good thing I got a request for more info from davis. Was also wondering if the fact that my school asst principal wrote a rec letter adds more weight than a teacher doing it.
What are my chances, considering all these circumstances?
I am an in-state student. I applied to business-related majors at various UCs and CSUs:
Also note that your UC GPA is only 10-11th grades. The UC’s do not consider Senior year grades in their admission decisions unless they specifically ask for them on the Supplemental review. Did UC Davis ask for a Midyear Senior transcript?
You are a well qualified applicant
My guess from your list:
UCLA (pre-Business Econ) probably not
2. UCSD (Management Science) probably not
3. UCR (pre-business) very likely
4. UCSC (business econ) very likely
5. UCD (managerial econ) coin toss
6. UCSB (econ/accounting) coin toss
7. SJSU (finance business) almost certainly
8. Cal Poly (business admin) probably not
What NCalRent said, for the most part. The GPA and probably the rigor is a bit under the medians for the 2nd tier UCs, which we’ll have to see if your very good SAT can overcome.
Your SAT scores show that you are a capable student and a 4.0 UC Capped Weighted GPA is a solid GPA considering your school absences.
Since the CSU’s do not offer a supplemental review or any way of addressing your 3 month absence, SLO will be a tough admit.
UCD’s supplemental review and your Senior grades are going to help your chances there and I think your chances are higher than the 56% stated below for UCD.
Some UC statistical data based on UC capped weighted GPA and not major specific:
So my predictions:
UCLA (pre-Business Econ) Reach
UCSD (Management Science) Low Reach
UCR (pre-business) Low Match
UCSC (business econ) Match
UCD (managerial econ) Match to High Match
UCSB (econ/accounting) High Match
SJSU (finance business) Solid Safety
Cal Poly (business admin) High Match to Low Reach
Best of luck and hopefully some of the other UC’s will ask for a supplemental.
@Gumbymom just got an email from UCSD as well, they’re asking for senior year grades and additional info on my circumstance.
should I see it as a good thing they are asking me for supplemental information since they are interested in my application, or a bad thing that they sent it to me bc I’m a borderline applicant?
The reasons for an augmented or supplemental are as follows and not only due to being a “borderline applicant”. I would take this as a good sign.
The criteria for referring an applicant for Augmented Review include the following:
Evidence of focus on an area of special talent which may have limited a student’s time to participate in a broader range of activities.
Evidence of character traits that imply a strong likelihood of making a significant contribution to campus life.
Evidence of significant academic achievement or the potential for academic achievement at the University in spite of extraordinary or compound disadvantage or learning difference, or physical disability or other unusual circumstances.
Evidence of significant improvement in the academic record accompanied by one or both of the following: (1) reasons for the initial poor performance; and (2) sustained and in-depth participation in educational outreach programs, which demonstrate the applicant’s commitment to succeed academically within a challenging environment.
Evidence of relative lack of access to, counseling about, or support to take college preparatory, honors, Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes or required college entrance examinations.
@Gumbymom it says “Please answer the questionnaire fully, and do not refer us back to information already presented in your original application or personal insight questions.”
and the following question is “Are there any personal circumstances that have significantly impacted your ability to achieve academically? This includes, but is not limited to matters such as employment, family responsibilities, illness or school environment.
If yes, how have you tried to overcome these circumstances and how has the experience prepared you to overcome any personal challenges that might occur if you were a student at UC San Diego?”
should I just answer for the “if yes” part, or should I re-explain my circumstances to them? in the email it says the want additional information from me to complete the review of my application, and that it should take around 10 mins to complete.
Answer yes and explain more fully how you overcame your Medical issues and how facing this challenge helped your prepare to attend UCSD specifically.
Other than this question, are they asking for specific documentation for your health issues and can you submit your assistant principal LOR? They want an outside source to confirm your health issues. Do you have letter from your doctor that will substantiate your health problems?
no, they did not ask for a LOR. They did not ask for any specific documentation for my health issues either. But I can easily provide them that. but they didn’t ask for it…
also in my original UC application, I did not list 3 courses I dropped due to medical complications. They appear on my transcript. should this be a cause for concern? or will they understand since i detailed it in my application
I submitted my UC application like around November 22. hmm that’s odd…I got 2 supplemental apps so far, from UCD and UCSD. got the UCD one on December 26 and submitted it on Jan 7. Got the UCSD one today and will submit prolly today or tmw.
Out of curiosity, when did you submit your app?