Chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

<p>As a typical angsty high school senior, I'm really worried about college admissions, particularly because of my low GPA. So I would like to gauge if I'm even a potential candidate for UCSD. Thanks.</p>

<p>SAT I: Total 2200 [740R, 710M, 750W (11 on essay)]</p>

<p>SAT II: Chemistry (640), History (730), Math II (650), Biology (710) <--taken after freshman biology</p>

<p>GPA: 3.34 (UW 9-11)...I'm too lazy to calculate weighted but Chem Honors(A's both semester), Pre-Calculus Honors (B's both semester), AP Calculus BC (C's both semester), APUSH (C first semester, B second semester), APChem (C's both semester), American Literature Honors (B's both semester)</p>

<p>AP Tests: History (5), Chemistry (4), Calculus BC (4) AB subscore (5)</p>

<p>Senior Year Classes: AP Statistics, Spanish Honors, AP Literature, Physics Honors, Ap Gov/Econ (I most likely will get an A in everything but Lit)</p>

<p>State: California</p>

<p>School: Public (...in Cupertino)</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Indian</p>

<p>EC's:
1. Violin [2nd place in local Baroque Competition, Five Years Certified by Music Teacher's Association of California (will receive senior award come summer), Played for 10 years]
2. Speech and Debate (4 years, won SCU tournament for parliamentary debate, 2nd place at Rotary Competition, PR Officer)
3. Swimming (Freshman&Sophomore Year, both school&club, won two local competitions for backstroke)
4. Mock Trial Team (Attorney role all four years)
5. Photography Club (Two years, president the second year)
6. Community Service ~400 hours
a. Worked as a receptionist/gave speeches for the housing department/president of the youth club for our local pantry (250 hours)
b. California Scholarship Federation (50 hours)
c. Art Camp Counselor in my Freshman summer (50 hours)
7. Social Psychology Course at local community college in my Sophomore summer (I received an A)
8. CSSSA (month long creative writing program) in my Junior summer</p>

<p>Other Factors: CTY student for four years, GATE, Commended Student for National Merit Scholarship Program</p>

<p>Intended Major: Cognitive Science</p>

<p>Hook: it's not really a hook, but i'm interested in joining the fashion magazine crew?</p>

2

<p>You have a LOT of Cs on your transcript. But other than that, I would say you are definitely in.</p>

3

<p>Yeah unfortunately I did not do so well my junior year…although it’s not really about fortune, is it?</p>

4

<p>Chances are very dismal for you, sorry. Your GPA is way too low, especially to receive such low grades in junior year, the most important.</p>

5

<p>I made several mistakes in my post; I received a B my first semester in AP Chemistry, and my GPA is actually a 3.4. But thank you for the harsh truth.</p>

6

<p>hmm ok, to be honest, you have a definite shot, despite what people say.
here is my reason:

  1. You need to JUSTIFY your low grades. If it was cuz you were too lazy to care, then yeh, you have loow shots at getting in.
    But if it was because of something tragic or something that is a valid and reasonable excuse then you won’t be looked at so harshly.</p>

<p>Keep in mind, UCSD is changing it’s admission process to a holistic way, so now your grades and SAT’s aren’t the sole factors. You do have a lot of E.C.'s and a bit of personal advice would be to chose the ones that are best for you, that show who you are.<br>
You have 5 slots for E.C.'s / 5 slots for Volunteer / so chose wisely :)</p>

<p>3.4 GPA is pretty decent, it is well below the average, but your SAT scores show otherwise. All in all, you will be a confusing applicant, but i think the admission officers will shed some rays of joy on you due to your E.C.'s </p>

<p>other than that, yeah. good luck with the app process. Oh important stuff: Make sure your essays are HARDCORE. LITERALLYYYY. MAKE sure that that it is the best writing you have done. </p>

<p>uhh i think that’s all. I have written many “advice posts” on C.C. [like 5 i think, idk,…] if you want links to them just PM me and yeah…
If you need any help whatsoever, be it on app advice, this or that, UCSD, etc. just PM me and ill get back to you in about 24 hours :D</p>

7

<p>1) yeah i was planning to write in the “tell us anything else you want us to know about your academic record that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in this section” about how the amount of ap’s and honors classes that i took my junior year overwhelmed me and thus lowered my gpa. that probably sounds weak because other students took the same number (3 AP’s and one honor) and passed with flying colors, but i can hardly attribute my grade slump on self-diagnosed depression in a college essay, can i? i took these classes because i love to learn (honestly, as cheesy as it may sound)…not because my parents forced me to, in fact they begged me to take less. i should have heeded their advice because i simply couldn’t handle all of them together with depression, and i got pretty terrible grades…funny thing is if i was to do my junior year again, i would probably do all those classes again (except for ap chemistry blergh). i sound like a masochist -_-</p>

<ol>
<li><p>mhm i was filling out the uc app last week, and struggling to choose 5 extracurriculars. i really think that the colleges should simply require you write a one page resume. sigh.</p></li>
<li><p>i am a creative writer. i might be struggling at the moment with the essays, but i am confident that the end result will be superb (i am frequently asked to edit people’s statements, and i know that my statement is more innovative/interesting.)</p></li>
<li><p>do you think it would be of ANY use to send a rec letter?</p></li>
</ol>

8

<p>lol.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>i think your are much better off stating how you love to learn, rather then say that the amount of AP’s and Honors overwhelmed you. I mean, think about it this way: you start with this idea of how you love to learn, which captures the reader’s attention. You shed some honesty about how you couldn’t take the pressure, and then end on how much you still love to learn. It has a special effect to it, right?
One thing to note however, AND THIS IS REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!!!
is that if you are talking about how you couldn’t handle the pressure, you must must MUST talk about how you got over it, how you learned ways you COULD handle pressure, as this will set you apart from the rest.
take for example, an essay with your topic “not being able to handle classes” and they don’t mention what they did to overcome this weakness. the admission officer will look at it and it’s a huge toss up… chances are you won’t get in though.
now take for example my suggestion. admission officers will look at the paper, sigh with sadness at first, then start nodding their heads because of the improvements, and the “risks/stuff” you did to improve yourself… this is also a toss up [like every other applicant] but chances are you will be accepted because you showed that you can do this!!</p></li>
<li><p>lol i hated doing that too. In the end, i decided to set myself apart from everyone else.
here were my EC’s from the top of my head.</p></li>
<li><p>Self Learn Sanskrit</p></li>
<li><p>HAL [physics club]</p></li>
<li><p>Indian Club [the chef]</p></li>
<li><p>SDA writers block - poetry branch president</p></li>
<li><p>FIRST ROBOTICS</p></li>
</ol>

<p>and from mine, the officer could tell, i like to learn, try new challenges, can cook, love poetry and writing, and have a taste for physics, robots etc. even though my major is pharmacy related.</p>

<p>so im saying, you should pick the ones that “show you off” the besttt!!</p>

<ol>
<li><p>keep in mind the best essay is that which is written, edited, revised, edited, revised, edited, revised,edited, revised,edited, revised,edited, revised,edited, revised,edited, revised,edited, revised, [times a bajillion :P]</p></li>
<li><p>lol don’t bother with a letter of rec. you would waste your time, your recommender’s time, and it specifically says on the UC App not to send letter of recommendations [which would show you can’t follow directions]… besides, they would just rip it to pieces with thier bare claws. :P</p></li>
</ol>

<p>good luck!!
btw what other schools are you applying to? just curious :D</p>

<p><strong>DISCLAIMER: i am not responsible for the results if you heed the above advice</strong>
^i hate do these, but you never know… :P</p>

9

<ol>
<li>who said i’ve learned to handle the pressure?! but yeah i’ll come up with something, some reason, or i’ll point to my senior year grades (although the uc app is due before they come out, grr) in order to prove that i have learned to handle the pressure (i’m taking more ap’s/honors my senior year than junior year). thanks for the advice.</li>
<li>even on this list, i excluded some extracurriculars, simply because they don’t matter to me anymore (even though i’ve done them for about 8 years…voice training both western and hindustani, if you were curious) atm the four i’m including for sure are speech and debate, mock trial, swimming, and violin. i’ll decide the last one later.</li>
<li>yes, of course</li>
<li>*bear, ok cool</li>
<li>berkeley, LA, riverside, santa cruz, carnegie mellon, pitts, rochester, northeastern, jhu, vanderbilt, and MAYBE dartmouth (most likely not)…oh and i already applied to csu fresno as a backup, watch that be the only school which accepts me :(</li>
</ol>

10

<p>lol you need much more self-confidence :stuck_out_tongue:
i applied to Irvine as my back up and im at UCSD…and I got into UCLA too [which surprised me a lot :P]</p>

<p>but hey i do have a bunch of free time between classes and personally, i would love to read your essays if that’s okay with you. im into this “editing/reading/writing” phase right now haha.
let me know!~
thanks</p>

11

<p>why did you decline ucla?
once i finish writing, i’ll send you my essays, and yeah i understand that desire to edit/read. it’s quite entertaining to tear up people’s work, much more so than writing your own haha.
by the way is there a fashion club at sd? if so, how’s it like?</p>

12

<p>no idea about the fashion club. lol it;'s week 4 and im a commuter so i barely know anything at UCSD.
i turned down UCLA because of UCSD. i mean if i hadn’t gotten into UCSD, then UCLA was the next obvious choice.
to be honest, i have no idea except for the fact that i wanted to go to only UCSD and well i don’t regret it one bit [well i sort of do, i kinda wish i went to one of those high school to accelerated pharmacy schools]
but yeah i don’t regret it :)</p>