Okay, so I have a dilemma. I’m an african american sophmore student in NY who has a gpa of 85. I see that UCSB has a requirement of a minimum 3.9? This is my dream school, alongside UCLA and University of Miami. I have the CollegeBoard SAT app and my estimated score on the sat is 1100. So far I’ve taken AP US History, have enough credits to graduate from hs, and got accepted into 1-2 more ap classes for my junior year. I have well reviews from my teachers, and my record is clean. Will I ever have a chance to make it in? Any tips on how to increase my gpa? I want to make my parents proud.
I feel like with this they wouldn’t even consider my application. I have only two extra curricular activities because my school barely has any, which is hurting my chances, isn’t it?
I can’t tell you anything about your chances sorry, and don’t worry, there are many people that goes to the same situation every year.
Work harder on your assignments and tests, study hard for the SAT, there’s a prepscholar guide that may help you with that, and finally but not less important, do extracurriculars that you find exciting, don’t do them just because they’ll look impressive .
The California UC’s require a Minimum UC GPA of 3.4 not 3.9 for OOS applicants, however the average UC GPA for UCSb is around 4.08 and UCLA is 4.18. The UC’s only use 10-11th grades for the A-G course requirements. You get extra points for AP/IB or DE coures as an OOS applicant (max 8 semesters)
Your SAT needs to be in the 1300+ range for a solid chance at these schools. URM status is not considered and financial aid is not available for OOS applicants so plan to pay $55K/year or more. UCB is the only UC currently accepting LOR’s if invited to submit them.
Affordability is the first question. Like gumby said, unless your family can afford the $55k/year tuition at UCSB and UCLA, you should re-calibrate right now. All colleges are required to have “net price calculators” on their webpages. See what U Miami says. I don’t think they’re super for OOS fin aid either. Then you need to look at nearby schools that admit students with generally a B average. Google the “common data sets” of nearby schools. You should look into the CUNY or possibly SUNY options.
NO FINANCIAL AID FOR OOS? THAT’S NOT FAIR. I really want to leave NY not only bc this city sucks, but to gain responsibility on my own to not depend on my parents. Maybe I should check for other schools…
Dial 9-1-1 for the waaambulance. Get real. Have you ever paid a nickel to the state of California in taxes? Who are you to tell them how to spend its money? You have PLENTY of public schools in NYS. They won’t offer good fin aid for California students. Why should they?
UC’s are public universities and as a resident and tax payer, my taxes go to support these schools and in-state residents that require financial aid. This is true for most state schools so you should look first to your own state schools if FA is needed. You can then expand your list and target schools that will offer FA and/or merit aid by running the net price calculators.
How is it not fair? Just because you want to leave your state, you think the universities should fund you?
As California residents, we pay a boatload of money in taxes, and even then, our kids still can’t get in.
If your parents are not paying California taxes to help support our California public state universities, then they need to pay those rates charged to non-residents.
You could look at some of the CSU schools in Cali if you wanted to go over there for school. Even though they are also unlikely to give you financial aid, they are much cheaper oos than UC’s. You’d also have much better chances at them with your stats.
Cal states will cost an OOS student about $36K/year vs $55K/year for a UC. Still little to no FA for OOS students is available at the Cal states. If you want to attend California schools, look at the privates: USD (University of San Diego), Occidental, LMU, Chapman, Santa Clara…