Chances at UCSD, UCI, UCD

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

This is my first post on CC so bear with me guys. Well first off I’d like to introduce myself. I am a rising high school senior from Virginia and I’m going to be applying to a few of the UC’s. [-O<
These aren’t the only universities I’m planning on applying to, but they are the top 3 for me.
I’m a male Asian-American, household income is around $100,000, and current resident of VA.

GPA: 3.8 UW

APs: APWH (3), APLANG(3), APUSH(3), and I will be taking Environmental, Gov, and lang this year.

SAT/ACT: My first SAT was an 1800, CR+M = 1270. My ACT was a 28. I know I need to raise these a little bit and I’m pretty confident I can bring my SAT up to at least a 1950; my ACT to a 30.

EC’s: Nothing too special, A year in both football and wrestling varsity, President of Interact Club for 2 years, band for 2 years as well, member of Red Cross Club, Key Club, American Teen Cancer Society, Breakdance club, President of my school’s ski/snowboarding club, 200 hours of volunteering, had a job at Walgreens for 2 years, member of NHS and NSHS.

If there are any colleges in California you think that would fit me better than those three, go ahead and throw it at me, as you can see I really want to get into a Cali school.

2

We’ll need your GPA (unweighted, preferably), your SAT/ACT scores, and any ECs you’ve done to properly chance you. In addition, you may want to include your ethnicity/race, state of residence, income, etc. to better allow us to chance you.

3

Yeah, I accidently posted it before finishing it! :frowning: Just edited it though.

4

Can you afford the UCs out of state? They are notoriously stingy with financial aid for OOS students.

5

Yes, although I worry over the expense, my parents said not to worry too much financially as they have most of it already covered and the rest can be taken care of with student loans and such.

6

Oh and I forget to add that my major of choice will be biochemistry and cell biology. I’m also in the top quarter of my class of 350 students.

7

Those UCs are a bit of a reach with your stats. Maybe consider UC Santa Cruz, UC Merced, and UC Riverside. Other California schools that could work for you are SDSU, Chapman University, Pepperdine, and University of San Diego, depending on what you are looking for.

8

I agree with the last comment. Those UC’s are definitely reaches. Definitely need to look at some of the lower prestige ones.

9

Okay, thanks for the feedback. I will definitely look into those schools you mentioned Virsha. Thanks guys

10

I agree with @virsha24. the schools you have listed are a bit of a Reach based on your SAT/ACT. The other schools listed are much better Matches but again, expect to pay full fees of $55K/year for the UC’s and $36K/year for Cal States.

Also calculate your UC/CSU GPA: http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
As an OOS applicant, only AP/IB courses count for the extra honors points (8 semesters capped) and 10-11th grades are used in the calculation.

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My UC W/C GPA comes out to be a 3.91. Is the SAT/ACT the main component keeping me from being a competitive applicant?

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What’s your major? Seriously, I’m tired of people posting chance me threads without listing their majors. A senior member should really make a post about this.

13

Average UC GPA for UCI was 4.03, UCD was 4.05 and UCSD was 4.13. This is the average and depending upon major, you need to be above the average for a good chance at these schools. Also SAT/ACT are both below the average. Since you are OOS you need to be more competitive for the few OOS spots available at the UC’s. There is no reason not to apply to these schools, just realize they will be Reaches based on your current stats and will be very expensive to attend.

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@iamjack, sorry about that, I realized I didn’t post my major and I made another comment saying that it would be biochemistry and cell biology in comment #5.

@Gumbymom, Thank you for the info. I figured they’d be a bit of a reach, sadly. While I can’t do too much about my GPA, I still have a few chances to raise my test scores so hopefully I can do that to increase my chances. :slight_smile: Even though it’s a bit of a reach I think I’ll still apply in case I get lucky. I’m planning on applying to those + Pepperdine, USD, Virginia Tech, and George Mason.

15

alright then. I suggest you try UCSC, UCR, and a couple CSU’s. I’m not if you’ve ever heard of Cal Poly but it has a pretty decent reputation here in California (not too many people outside of California know it though). Their average CSU GPA for their science and math majors is 4.06 so I think you might wanna calculate your CSU gpa (different than your UC GPA). There are quite a few private schools you can try but I think the others above gave a pretty good list already.

16

Major doesn’t matter for UCSD as they don’t look at major. These UC’s are definitely a reach - your GPA and tests are low. The other UC’s and Cal States are not worth $55,000 per year!

17

It sounds like you really don’t care about which California school you get into as long as it is in California?
I’m going to be truthful, so please don’t consider this as harsh just part of dealing with a very popular state for universities.

Okay, along with what the other people above have said:

OOS status:

The UCs will cost your parents a minimum of $220,000 for 4 years, and tuition costs are supposed to increase 8% over the coming years. With an income level of $100k, they will have a hard time paying for your California schools unless they’ve saved a quarter of a million dollars for your education. The private California schools are even more expensive and you don’t appear to have the competitive stats for merit scholarships.

No you won’t be able to claim instate residency at any point because:

  1. you are entering California for educational purposes
  2. your parents reside OOS and
  3. your parents are not paying California taxes.

You can’t take out that kind off money in loans on your own which means that your parents have to qualify for the big money and they may not. With many parent plus loans, payback begins immediately and interest accrues the minute you take the loan.

The only positive is that the UCs will happily take your money.

Major status of biochemistry/cell biology:

Uber competitive at ALL of the UC campuses, as all the kids here in California, think they have intentions of becoming “physicians”. The CSUs not so much but still competitive. My dd will be graduating this coming year from Davis, with 1000 classmates in “biological sciences” on June 12, 2016. This is just at Davis. Multiply that by our 9 campuses.

ORM
A sad, but unfortunately true, issue- you’re Asian American and are considered over-represented in the UC system. UCSD has close to 50% Asian students.

Pepperdine would work In your favor, but they are really expensive and do have some religious class requirements.
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1121.

If you’re stuck on coming to California, I think your best bet maybe at Chapman University in Orange. I think you may like Chapman University as they may have more scholarships that would fit your stats, as well as your major.

Plus, you are doing your state an injustice. You have some great universities in Virginia!! Apply at home!

18

@auntbea speaks he truth about CA and the challenges for OOS applicants to our public schools. UCM and UCR would be your best shot for UCs - but, $55k/yr is a pretty stiff bill for a school of that caliber. You should also know, CA isn’t one big beach town, the state is huge and has an amazingly diverse climate, geography and economy.

With your stats, you’d probably also make it into SDSU and CSULB - but, I’d have a tough time rationalizing the OOS premium they charge.

I’d add LMU and Santa Clara to your list of CA privates to look into.

Try to narrow your focus a bit. Big city vs college town, coastal vs inland, big vs small campus … That will help you find someplace suitable.

Good luck.