<p>My non CC'er friend wanted me to put his stats up for chancing because he needs a second opinion. Can you please give him honest opinions? I personally think he needs a buff or so in some places, but he won't listen to some advice I give him so whatever feedback he gets will be taken into consideration. Thanks in advance. I will chance back if you reply on here! Please check my chance thread as well!</p>
<p>Intended Major: Psychology; Alternative Major/Backup: Business Economics</p>
<p>Colleges of Interest:
[ul]
[<em>] UCSD
[</em>] UCD
[<em>] UCI
[</em>] Cal Poly Pomona
[<em>] Cal State LA
[</em>] Cal State Northridge
[li] Cal State Fullerton[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Objective:
[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (Breakdown): 1st Take: 1530 Composite (540 CR, 540 M, 450 W); 2nd Take: 1460 Composite (470 CR, 550 M, 420 W)
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] SAT II: N/A
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (9-11): 3.68
[<em>] Unweighted (10-11): 3.6
[</em>] Weighted GPA: 3.88
[<em>] UC GPA: 3.95
[</em>] CSU GPA: 3.92
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 12/423
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (1); US History (1); English Language and Comp. (1)
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: Culinary Arts, AP Calculus BC, AP English, AP Economics (Micro), Government
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None[/ul]</p>
<p>Subjective:
[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): JV Tennis (11); Freshman Baseball (9); Freshman Basketball (9); Varsity Basketball (Statistician, 11); CSF Chapter Member (11); PSP Scholars Program (7-11) [College Readiness Program/Outreach Program similar to Upward Bound but more consultation wise]
[li] Job/Work Experience: N/A[/li][</em>] Volunteer/Community service: N/A
[li] Summer Activities: N/A[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Other
[list]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA (In-State, ELC)
[</em>] School Type: Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, Poor (Average SAT score of 1200-1300), 1500 Students
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian (Vietnamese)
[</em>] Gender: Male
[*]Income Bracket: Lower Class, 45k -50k?</p>
<p>With those SAT scores, he might not get into some of the UCs. I do not know about the other schools. Sorry. Tell him to give the SAT once more and raise it up to 1900-2000 so that he might have a better chance at those schools.</p>
<p>@Dream0n and @humblefool, thank you for your responses. However, for UCI and UCSB specifically would he need 1900-2000? We have some high school alumnus with comparable stats and EC’s to his that get accepted to UCI and UCSB. He says he is aiming for a realistic goal of 1600, perhaps 1700. Is this too low of a range for the schools he aims for?</p>
<p>Is he first generation college? The economically disadvantaged situation can sometimes be very compelling. However his low scores on AP exams will make colleges wonder if he can handle the rigors of freshman year.</p>
<p>@sgopal2 sometimes I wonder that myself, if he can handle it. I guess if he gets serious when he wants he can but he just wants to enjoy high school I suppose and take it easy. He does get serious at times and he is a great person inside and out. Sadly, he is not first generation, his dad went to CSU Fullerton. What SAT range do you think he should aim for? Keeping our school in mind, most alumni got accepted to UCI and UCSB with similar stats to his. His stats are enough to be ranked 12/423.</p>
<p>A SAT score around that range doesn’t do you harm. I just mentioned that number because with the kind of difficulties your friend must have faced, it would look great on his app. It would show the colleges that he is able to work hard and not let economic disadvantage be a detrimental factor for him. Also, a very low SAT score will make the colleges wonder whether he will be able to handle all the academic rigor or not.
I would advise you to speak to someone who has proper knowledge about such things.</p>
<p>@LordTalos: honestly if he is not first gen, and has a father that went to college, it will be difficult to persuade AdComs that he is disadvtanged in anyway. Why are his stats abysmal? This needs to be explained, is it just a crappy school district?</p>
<p>I don’t know much about your chances from the standpoint you are probably looking for, I don’t know what the schools are going to think about your marks. I can tell you that from my perspective that you have done very well for yourself and should be proud of that. I was class of 2001 for high school, I can tell you that although it was competitive then to an extent, it was nothing like it is today. You are clearly very capable considering how well you have done, and an SAT test score could change depending on how you feel when you take that stupid test. Just know that your grades show a lot of maturity for your age and impress me, you deserve a shot at one of those schools you mentioned. Even if you end up going somewhere else, keep in mind that often we end up right where we are supposed to be in life even when it doesn’t seem like it. I’m sure you will do great though, and congratulations on all your success thus far, best wishes ! </p>
<p>@humblefool thanks I will relay that knowledge to him.</p>
<p>@sgopal2 Me and my friend currently attend a very bad high school district, and that is partly to blame. Our teachers are more focused on Common Core standards and neglect a college readiness environment. Therefore, most of our students at our school are not prepared or well-informed about the college admissions process.</p>
<p>GPA is the most important factor for getting into the UCs. With such a low GPA, no matter how high your friend’s SAT score is, your friend will not be accepted by UCSD, UCD, and UCI. Your friend can have a 2400 SAT score and still be rejected by UCSD, UCD, and UCI. This is how much the UCs care about GPA.</p>
<p>Scatterplots seem to suggest that UCSB is an exception among the UCs. A high SAT score may make up for your friend’s low GPA for UCSB. As a result, there is a possibility that your friend can get into UCSB if he raises his SAT score high enough. However, I doubt that he has the ability to get his SAT score to 2200+. UCSB scatterplots seem to suggest that a 2200 score is necessary to make up for a unweighted GPA of 3.6.</p>
<p>My SAT score is 2300. My unweighted GPA is 3.66. My weighted is 4.29. My capped UCGPA is 4.00. I got rejected/waitlisted by UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, and Cal Poly SLO. I was only accepted by UCSB and some safeties.</p>
<p>Yea no problem…heres some advice to you friend:</p>
<p>You’ve got a good amount of time before ur colleg apps are due so do EVERYTHING you possibly can to improve ur app. Think about it, just two more months of hard work is the difference between going to community college and going to a very solid UC school; trust me it will be well worth it.</p>
<p>Work you ass off on ur essay and get it edited by every intellectual person you know. </p>
<p>Get to know ur counselor and ask her to remedy the weaknesses on ur application by addressing them in ur rec letter.</p>
<p>Study ur ass off for the SAT; it will be worth it. Ur GPA, and class rank are good to go, but ur SAT score discredits the work u’ve done to get solid grades. Just spend a mtwo months studying, taking practice test after practice test, and I guarantee you can do MUCH better. The Math section is really straightforward and i believe with ur school record, you can easily get around 650-700 with enough studying. Writing you can also improve by studying grammar rules and u can get to 600-650, and with reading, you can definitely get better over time and taking practic tests and crack 600…Aim for at least an 1800, but probably higher (around 1900-2000), and you can have a GREAT chance of getting into UCs, even UCLA, and UCB cuz the SAT is the one glaring weakness.</p>
<p>He needs to work on sat, as others have mentioned on this thread. If he does that then he will have a better chance at most of the schools you listed. I’m not very familiar with California schools other than the UC’s so I won’t be much help here. </p>