<p>I'm a resident of California and I don't want to leave the state so I'm interested in whether or not I can get into a good school somewhere in Southern California. </p>
<p>My stats aren't too stellar but here goes:
3.4 10th/11th GPA, ranked 84 out of a class of 591
2 AP classes (English Language 4 (terrible teacher o.O ), United States History, 4 (made me so sad T~T) I also took the European History exam in 10th grade and got a 4, but I wasn't actually in the AP Euro class; in retrospect I probably should have been =P
SAT II: Math IC 610 (that curve is messed up I'm retakeing this or IIC instead), Writing 740, US History 710
SAT 1: Getting my results next week but in all my practice tests i've gotten around 1400+ so somewhere in that range give or take 50 points XD</p>
<p>ECs, nothing much here...the most notable clubs would probably be Chess Club (I was VP the year it was founded...my friend actually founded it) and Robotics Team (our school is Team 22 if anyone is in FIRST) I guess also Japanese Animation Club would tie in with my major choice but I'm not interested in Japan just because of anime =P</p>
<p>My grades are a bit bad and I don't like making excuses but I have a terrible private life. My mom has been divorced twice and I have no idea who my real father is and dont really want to know because he tried to have me aborted =( I've basically struggled with that sicne I found out and only recently have I started to get over it and focus more in school. After my stepdad starting getting a bit too abusive towards me, my mom got divorced a second time. Unfortunately some shady credit card debts incurred by my stepfather forced my mom into declaring bankruptcy so it's really caused a lot of financial strain on us. She has two kids and I'm the eldest so I've basically been left to do things on my own. I know some people get accepted into schools based on "sob stories" but I'm not sure if I should even mention any of that stuff. Unlike some people though, my story is 100% true, worse than what I've said here and it isn't exaggerated. </p>
<p>In my senior year I signed up for 5 APs (Physics BC, Calc AB, Studio Art, American Government and English Literature) and I'm starting to do better in school. And even though I really prefer english to math, I took Calc and Phsics BC (which is my favorite class because it's really interesting, even if I can't figure out a lot of what the teacher is doing >.< ) It's probably too late though right? T~T </p>
<p>Oh and I've basically zeroed in on my major as East Asian Languages and Cultures with an emphasis on Japanese. I'm really interested in Japanese culture and history specifically Shintoism and Japanese history (I especially find interesting the Nara - Heian and Edo - Meiji eras) I'm not sure if there's a japanese history major but that would be awesome =D I might also want to go for a double major; maybe business? But I think it might be easier to go for Japanese? I'm not going to declare a fake major and then just switch if I get accepted though; I'm sticking with Jp =D</p>
<p>For a rough outline I'd like to try and apply to the following schools, some of which are probably stretches:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego
USC - My #1 choice solely because I'm in love with the campus and some of my family are alumni (but I not anyone in my immediate family >.< ); if I get accepted here I would definitely go XD</p>
<p>And I really don't know any other places...I know there are some nice small liberal arts colleges but I want a large, urban school and one that has a nice study abroad program =P</p>
<p>Anyways can anyone tell me what my chances are? And sorry if my post is too long...someone please help me XD</p>