My D high school senior & stats:
9-11 GPA 3.80, 10-11 grade UC GPA 3.83
SAT 1500
ACT 32
Lots of ECs
Major: psychology, business or economics (not 100% sure)
Whats chance at cal poly slo with MCA 4600
Also chances at UCD, UCI, UCSB, UCSC, UCR, U SanDiego, Miami Univ., Baylor Univ
General admit rates for UC’s not major specific.
Freshman admit rates (2016) for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 94%
UCM: 96%
Her test scores are excellent. Does she go to a competitive HS with grade deflation?
UC’s are very GPA focused but her best chances are at UCSC and UCR. The mid-tiers are definitely possible.
For SLO. Econ and Business would be her best chance. Psychology has a low acceptance rate <13% and the most popular major in CLA.
Best of luck.
Thanks for reply. I am new here, & try to get input from people here with college admission experiences to access my D chances to these schools.
Going through data here & I summarize SLO MCA
College MCA scores (means)
Agri 4465
Archi 4566
Busi 4602
Engin 4761
Lib art 4521
Math/Sci 4645
So MCA 4602 for Econ and Business will be average & 50/50 chances ?
I also use RogerHub UC freshman admission calculator for my D:
UC Davis
62% Undeclared major
62% Business Management
69% psychology
69% English
How to make sense of these numbers ? >50/50 chances ?
I would take the Rogerhub admissions calculator with a grain of salt along with UC admit rates I posted. These stats do not take into account essays, EC’s, awards, special talents etc.
I plugged in my son’s stats after acceptances for the Rogerhub admissions calculator and it was only correct 50% of the time.
I would say at least 50/50 at both schools. Definitely not a solid Match but definitely not out of Reach.
Correct, Rogerhub only use GPA, SAT/ACT & high school API.
With you expertise in UC admission, would you agree that apply to psychology, English major (69%) has better chances than Busi major or undeclared (62%) at UC davis?
Yes awards, my D is national merit semifinalist, & 1st, 3rd award from DECA competition. We have been donate to UCB every year. All these probably don’t matter here.
By way what UC you son attended ? How does he like it ?
Thanks!
My son attended UC Davis and just graduated this past June. He loved his time at UCD and is thinking of returning for a Masters. Currently he is interning and working in his field to determine his next step. He had a high UC GPA but below average test scores at the time of his application, but very good essays and some major related volunteer EC’s.
You daughter looks well qualified and competitive but UC’s can be unpredictable. UCD does not have a “business major/management”, there is Managerial Econ and Econ and it may not fit her career goals so she may want look over the curriculum.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/taxonomy/term/17. Link for Business and Management information for their Graduate school.
English vs Psych are in the College of L&S which does not admit by major, so I do not think picking one major over another will make a huge difference, however Psych is one of the most popular majors so they may have a more limited amount of spots available.
Undeclared can be in several of the Colleges and again it will not make a difference in ease of acceptance if that is the route she wishes to take. She would need to research further on how to switch majors, if she starts off as Undeclared. For many UC campuses, changing majors can be difficult.
My advice is always select a major you can live with for 4 years.
Very interesting, THANKS!
I just want to say that may observations on UC/CSU admissions are purely mine but for the UC’s I have found they tend to be more GPA focused so high test scores do not always make up for lower GPA’s. With the CSU’s, since they base their admissions on GPA and test scores mainly, a lower GPA can be compensated with high test scores. Intendeded major does play a significant role for both CSU and UC admission decisions.
Again, with the UC’s you do have the additional factors of EC’s, Essays, Awards and Special talents that cannot be quantitiated. After going through the CSU/UC application process with my two sons and numerous nieces and nephews, these are my thoughts. I am sure your daughter will have many great options from which to choose in the Spring.
UCSC, UCR and UCM are all likely to admit her. Of those UCR has a great Biz program, the others offer a similar curriculum but, under Econ. Davis and the rest of the UCs, probably not. Same for SLO.
USD, will almost certainly admit her. The others on your list, i don’t know. SDSU has a great Biz and Psych program. If she’s looking for a more residential experience, Sonoma and Chico are both worth exploring.
Hey UCBalumnus1, Thanks much for compiling the MCA data for the various colleges! My D is hoping for Architecture there, applying next year. Were you able to gleen many data points for the Arch score? Must have been a big reading job! My D is at around 4650 MCA so I’m hoping your 4566 MCA for Arch is approximately correct. thanks again