<p>So as I mentioned earlier I am an African American student with a 3.58 GPA, 1820 SAT score (640 critical reading, 630 math, and 550 writing) and I plan on retaking, I have participated in band for all years of high school so far, I've been in track, I've been involved in my schools student government and Link Crew, I've also tutored at a summer algebra for the past 2 years. One thing that i am worried about is a D I got in Honors Chemistry sophomore year and summer school chemistry is only for students that received Fs so I'm just taking Honors Physics to finish my d requirement but I'm still afraid this will bite me in the butt. Throughout high school I have taken most of the more rigorous classes at my school. My top school at the moment is UC Santa Cruz but i would like to know my chances at any of the others. Any response is helpful so thanks.</p>
<p>Honestly any help would be nice.</p>
<p>Take summer class at your local city college.
You need to correct that Chemistry class.
OR
Study SAT Chemistry , and score 600 or higher on October test before application time</p>
<p>I’m planning on pestering my counselor until he signs me up for the online classes that our school offers but if that fails (which it might) I will do what you recommended so thanks. But what do you think my chances for UC Santa Cruz are at the moment?</p>
<p>Your somewhat low (for UCs) GPA and mediocre SAT put you at a large disadvantage at Berkeley, LA, SD, SB, UCI, and probably Davis. The fact that you are African American does not matter unless you had a rough upbringing, as UCs cannot technically discriminate students based on race. On the positive side, Santa Cruz and Merced look to be within your range. If you improve your SAT, I would say you are guaranteed to get into at least 1 UC. Just a warning on Santa Cruz: they have a pass/fail (as far as I know) which might hurt you when applying to grad school. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2</p>
<p>Well as for upbringing my dad died when I was 3 and I was raised largely by a single mother and I’m not even sure if that counts as rough and as I plan on retaking the SAT as soon as I can because honestly I didn’t try on my first one (me and my friend were playing video games until 3 the night/morning before the test). Also, I’ve heard that about Santa Cruz but I’m a bit confused since I’ve also heard that they were giving letter grades.</p>
<p>Don’t go overboard in your essays, but it won’t hurt to mention what you described.</p>
<p>You could talk about what you missed by not having a father.</p>