Chance me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Its a bit early to be thinking about colleges but here:

Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian
U/W GPA: 3.67 (GPA is for beginning of 10th grade to end of 11th grade)
UC Weighted: 4.0
SAT: 2030 (750 Math/ 670 Reading / 610 Writing)

Over 150 hours of community service
Algebra 1 tutor, 4 years Varsity badminton, interact club, some piano extracirriculars, CSF members for 2 years, Taught English in Taiwan, School’s marching band for 2 years, part of a school’s dance team.

Course rigor: (AP/Honors)
Freshman year: Chinese honors
Sophomore year: AP Chinese, Chemistry honors
Junior year: Physics Honors, Pre-calculus honors, American literature honors
Senior year: AP Computer science, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics Mech.

Test Scores: (Kind of lacking)
AP Chinese: 4
SAT Math IIC : 780
SAT Physics: 730

What are my chances at UCI/UCSB/UCSD/UCD/UCSC/Cal polytechnic state? I’m thinking of applying with Computer science as a major but I’ve heard that with my gpa/scores/ethnicity, that major could kill my chances at most UC’s. Thoughts and suggestions?

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  1. SLO's GPA calculation includes Freshman grades (no extra Honors points for 9th grade classes). They also use an MCA point score which makes it difficult to predict chances. Explaination below:

The maximum GPA they will use is 4.2, even though you can have a higher calculated CP GPA. A 4.2 is worth 2250 MCA points. Thus, multiply your CP GPA by 535.7 and you’ll get your MCA points for GPA.

The next biggest thing is test scores. The odd thing, likely because they wanted it to total a nice round number, is that the max score is 1650, even though the max SAT score is 1600. Multiply the total of your best SAT CR and your best SAT math by 1.03125 to get your MCA test points. If you took the ACT, they convert and vice versa.

The third largest section is the class rigor score, worth 750 points. In this section you get zero points for meeting the minimum admission requirements and adders for more than the minimum. The bonuses in order of power are (min semesters/max total semesters/bonus per extra semester/total possible bonus): math 6/10/125/500 (note: stats and finite do not count), lab science 4/8/50/200, English 8/10/50/100, foreign language 4/8/25/100, visual performance 2/4/25/50, no bonus points for social sciences or electives. As with GPA, you can actually score higher than the maximum, but 750 is the most they will count.

Finally, work and ECs, worth 350 points. Work (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/20, 6-10/40, 11-15/60, 16-20/80, 21+/100, add 50 points if work is major related. ECs (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/30, 6-10/60, 11-15/90, 16-20/120, 21+/150, add 60 points for leadership role.

GPA = 2250
Test = 1650
Class rigor = 750
EC / Work Hrs = 350
Subtotal for accademic points = 5000

Parents education = 600
Veteran’s benefit = 700
Zip code= 500
High school = 700
Parent employed by CPSLO = 700
Subtotal for Demographic points = 3200

Max attainable points = 8200

Scores are capped at 5,000

  1. Ethnicity not considered by California publics.
  2. EC's are good just nothing outstanding for the UC's.

You are a competitive applicant and UCSC looks like a definite Match. UCSB/UCD/UCI are high Matches and UCSD will be the toughest admit for CS. If you are set on CS, then apply as CS since switching later on may prove very difficult at the impacted schools (especially UCSD). I would include UCR and maybe SJSU/SDSU or CSULB as safeties. All these schools have excellent CS programs so if you can get into the CS program directly, I would go for it.

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thx and bump

4

By high matches would you mean around the 50% chance mark, or a bit out of my reach?

5

Computer science is competitive at all the schools you listed! If I were you, I would look into some schools that don’t take major selection into consideration.

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Would you guys consider it risky to apply with Computer science with my given academics and background? Is it very likely that I would not be able to make any of the middle tier UC’s?

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@Gumbymom gave you a perfect answer. For your CS major question, you are most likely not get it because I see little to no computer related activity…plus CS is an impacted major, which means that is crazy competitive.

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Alright I’ll prob end up adding a bunch of more safety schools or changing my major for some. thanks

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@LomoKuan: My younger son applied as a CS major last year. His UC GPA 3.73 and ACT of 31. He knew going in that his GPA would be a hinderance for most of the UC’s, but knew he wanted CS no matter what. He did not apply to UCSC or UCM, but was accepted to UCR/SJSU/CSULB/CPP/CSUF and SDSU. Rejected by CP SLO/UCSB/UCD and UCI . He researched the CS programs at all of his accepted schools and finally decided on SDSU. He was very happy with his decision and is finding the CS program challenging. Like I stated above, changing into a CS major may prove to difficult to impossible for some schools, so it will come down to two choices: will you be happy at any school without a CS major or not. There is nothing wrong in applying to the schools on your list, just realize you may or may not get in. Good Luck.

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@Gumbymom Thanks. and by changing majors, I meant changing it for the initial application, not after I get admitted into the school