<p>I know there's a lot of these popping up now as applications are coming up. I've been thinking about ucsc as a real possible college for me to attend to. I like the idea of studying in a forest. With all the residential colleges spread it, it doesn't feel crowded at all. Here are my stats: and I want complete honest answers. Thanks.</p>
<p>1)3.45 UC gpa(=[)
2)27 Act
3)540 Bio E,580 Us Hist(=[[)
4)waiter/bus boy at a restuarant(going into 2nd year) about 20 hours/week
5)210 volunteer hours at local library past 2 years
6) 90 volunteer hours from community service club in school.
7) Yearbook academics editor(11th grade)
8) Yearbook business manager(12th grade)
9) My essay is about average,not bad,but not excellent.
10) Don't need financial aid(if it matters)
11) Instate in public school in Ventura County.</p>
<p>You’ve already written your essay? Since it’s not due for another 3 months, try to improve it. Have an English teacher review it. Your stats are average, so it really depends on your essay. Make sure it’s damn good.</p>
<p>I got in last year with about the same gpa as you, so don’t worry too much about that. Definitely retake the ACT, or try the SAT I? Retake SAT II’s as well, they aren’t that useful till the 700+, remember you also need to take SAT II math. You definitely have a chance if you put everything you’ve got on the tests, as they can and will save you.</p>
<p>Don’t know if this will help, but here are my stats when I applied last year.</p>
<p>uc gpa: 3.4~
sat 1: 600 cr, 780math, 720writing (you should go for higher in my opinion)
sat2: bio 720, math 780, lit 640.</p>
<p>These tests are really not that difficult, I recommend you to take a bunch of practice tests, that way you can get more familiar with them and develop your own test-taking strategies (such as scanning, etc). I know how stressful this experience must be, but you’ll make it! :)</p>
<p>Make sure you get plenty of proofreaders for your essays. <------VERY IMPORTANT!</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m taking the act again in 2 weeks,aiming for 28+ this time. I feel like this school is a light match-small reach. My stats wont get me into any of the other uc’s except ucr and ucm.=/. Wish me luck,lol.</p>
<p>By the way, the one testing strategy that really helped me was first marking the answer in my book then going back and filling in the bubbles after a page or two. Otherwise I just lost too much time being confused by the bubbles and whatnot. It sounds stupid but no one told me to do that until my senior year, right before I took my SATs for the last time. It really improved my score by like 100 points.</p>
<p>If you go to that site and scroll down to the “Selection Policy” you can total up your points and see where you stand. I believe last year’s cutoff was 5425…</p>
<p>If you write a bomb essay (try to work in why you have a low GPA in a creative, unique way) and try to get a better ACT score, I think you would have a pretty good chance. Just keep up your grades this year!</p>
<p>You don’t need to excel on your grades this year. Its already set, so just keep a 3.0+ for sure at least. Definitely don’t write about your GPA, but rather something meaningful to you. To be honest, I think UCSC is still a reach with your statistics(though I don’t attend, I did get in). But like everyone else, your GPA isn’t low and it is competitive since UCSC has the biggest acceptance rate decline for past two years(approximately 10%) so please do be aware. Your ACTs are stellar! My friend got into UCD with a 19 ACT/1100 SATs so don’t be discourage. Best of luck to you!</p>