<p>I want to apply to Cal, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, UCSB and Cal Poly SLO.
Here are my stats:
SAT I Comp: 2050
Math: 680
CR: 630
Writing: 740</p>
<p>Math 2: 680
Chem: 680</p>
<p>ACT Comp: 30</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.91
Weighted UC GPA: 4.27</p>
<p>My ECs are pretty bad.
French Club (2 years)
Archery (3 years)
Volunteering at a children's center, had experience w/ group of autistic kids (3 summers + senior school year)
STEM club aka environmental club (1 year)
AP Peer tutor program, assigned to tutor a student struggling w/ AP Calc. (1 year)</p>
<p>I want to major in engineering, but it looks difficult for Cal and UCLA since engineering is so competitive. I didn't consider private schools since I will not be able to get very good letter of recs. What other schools do you guys suggest?</p>
<p>Are you an ELC applicant (assuming you are a CA resident)? If so, apply to that “auto-admit” school as a safety.</p>
<p>I think you are a relatively solid match at all the mid-tier UCs on your list although your math score is relatively low for an engineering major and your ECs are unimpressive (by you own admission). UCSD and CP SLO are high matches and UCB and UCLA are mid and low reaches respectively. </p>
<p>Get more EC’s, definitely. And I agree with jshain^ that your math scores are kind of low for engineering…but other than that it looks pretty good!</p>
<p>Cal Poly College of Engineering Freshman 2010 Admission Profile: </p>
<p>Number Applied:9,434<br>
Number Accepted: 3,505
Acceptance rate: 37%<br>
Avg. GPA: 4.01<br>
Avg. ACT: 31<br>
Avg. SAT (CR+M only): 1368</p>
<p>You right on the cusp for Cal Poly engineering. You should probably be okay, but it also depends on the size of the applicant pool, so not necessarily a shoe in.</p>
<p>Cal Poly = High Match
UCI/UCSB/UCD engineering = match</p>
<p>i doubt SLO is more selective than UCD/UCI/UCSB even though it is a primarily engineering school. the mid tier UCs have an overall average 4.0 GPA - what does that make their engineering departments? around 4.1 to 4.2 most likely. selectivity would be equal at best. nevertheless, it is still a good option if he doesn’t get into the mid to mid high tier UCs.</p>
<p>semantics — at the very least UC discriminates on the departmental level, if not on the major level. there is a reason why some majors, if not whole departments, in certain UCs are “impacted”. this situation is also similar to the recently adopted policy to “ignore” sat 2s for UC admission; we all know they still weigh it considerably.</p>
<p>So you are saying UCs are adopted Cal Poly’s major/college based admission policy by stealth, whereas Cal Poly just come out and say it?</p>
<p>So which means a UC student from the Letter and Science college will have a hard time changing over into engineering even if that’s what they really want to study.</p>
<p>major discrimination is not unique to cal poly. this type of policy, if one could call it such, is inherent in the whole college selection system, and becomes inevitable as we approach the higher rungs on the selectivity ladder — reaching top 10 schools it becomes further convoluted. as such, regardless of any official policy, there will be a degree of discrimination in the selection process.</p>
<p>for your second question:</p>
<p>in essence, your conclusion is correct. UC students can switch majors, if they wanted to, but it will be somewhat difficult depending on the circumstances. simply put, this is the best way to handle selection to prevent one might call an exploitation.</p>
<p>Most, if not all UCs admit by school, rather than major. Admission to the school of engineering is often harder than the school of arts and sciences. Swithibg between schools is not a given. I believe SLO has historically had lower admit rates than UCD and UCSB.</p>
<p>selection percentage is not exactly selectivity, although it is proportional. e.g. having a larger pool of lower academically rated students can lead to low selection percentage but relatively lower selectivity. an example of this factor in play is the one between UCLA and UCB.</p>
<p>You may also want to look at the admit rates at all the UCs by going to the link below, click on “Custom Tables”, answer a number of questions, and enter up to 3 “mean characteristics” at a time to see what the admission percentage chances are for someone that matches your profile:</p>