<p>Ok I am not going into much details because I screwed up in high school. I lacked to do any community service, clubs, and sports. My grades stayed solid throughout high school, though. My 9-11 weighted GPA is 4.4, while my unweighted is 3.6 and rising. By senior year my unweighted should reach 3.8. Therefore even though I haven't took the SAT yet , and my subject tests results are coming later this month, what are my chances for the UCs. And I live in state, I am first generation college student, and a low income family. Ultimately, I am asking can I get into any of the top UCs without much ECs, just grades and hopefuly an impressive SAT score.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “impressive”?</p>
<p>2000+ is a good solid score to get into pretty much all the UCs…</p>
<p>So this is assuming you get at least 2000 SAT, rank in top 10% of class, and have decent subject test scores</p>
<p>UC Merced - Safety
UC Riverside - Safety
UC Santa Cruz - Safety
UC Santa Barbara - Match
UC Davis - Match
UC Irvine - Match
UC San Diego - Low Reach
UC Berkeley - Reach
UC Los Angeles - Reach</p>
<p>I know for sure UCLA and UCB are starting to heavily weight ECs due to competition, so you have a slim chance there</p>
<p>I know UCSD emphasizes academics the most, so you might get in there</p>
<p>All the other UCs, you have a very strong shot</p>
<p>My advice: just start doing something QUICK!</p>
<p>When senior year starts, just start a club and be founder and president…very very easy thing to do
Start doing some community service at your local library or soup kitchen, also very easy
Start playing a sport!</p>
<p>Once you do the above, which is very possible and easy to do, you can get into LA and berkeley</p>
<p>That is what I was thinking,however, my counselor said it would all look last minute, which is not necessarily good. I really want to get into UCB and UCSD. However, I haven’t taken my SAT yet, I will take it first thing October. I am the top 8 % of my graduating class of some 600. Therefore, if I score above 2000 on my SAT, bring up my unweighted GPA to around 3.8, do you think I have a shot at any one of the following UCs: UCSD, UCB, and UCLA.</p>
<p>Depending on how you write your app, it may look last minute, but at least you will be doing something now…</p>
<p>Do you have to write when you started the club / sport / community service…</p>
<p>Trust me, starting something now is the only way you will have any hope,</p>
<p>If you get your SAT past 2100 im sure you can get in UCSD, but doubt berkeley
What are you majoring in?</p>
<p>Doing something last minute is better than not doing anything at all!</p>
<p>I want to major in political science, however, I know nothing about clubs. I am illiterate when it comes to clubs, and other ECs. Therefore, starting a club would be my groundwork, thereafter what should I do my senior year?</p>
<p>I had a friend in a similar dilemma. What she did is found a club in the major she was interested in (Economics) and made a <em>difference in her community</em> with it. She was brilliant, top 5% of her extremely competitive school, so sponsorship and getting out to do stuff wasn’t too hard. She also started blogging about politics quite avidly, as it was during the elections.</p>
<p>Start ASAP with your stuff, because last minute looks better than a “clean” resume, which seems as if you simply didn’t care at all. Don’t do too much stuff and spread yourself out. Do one thing, work your butt off at it, and maybe mention in your essays how you always knew the importance of good grades for a foundation towards the future but later realized that having non-academic passions and getting involved with the community was just as valuable. It’d help explain your situation. Good luck!</p>
<p>Ok well thanks etceterae for your well-stated summary, however, I live in school that is somewhat ghetto, and would be hard to start a club based on political science. And how could your friend make a difference in her community with her club, just curious? Did she work in homeless shelters or something of that sort? Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Can someone please help me! Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Well, if you are so inclined, there are opportunities to do some community organizing for the Obama administration in passing healthcare legislation. [Organizing</a> for America | BarackObama.com](<a href=“http://www.barackobama.com/]Organizing”>http://www.barackobama.com/) Scroll down to find “Organize locally”.</p>
<p>Thnx Schmoonmcgoo, does anybody else have any other ideas? Something related to poly sci?</p>
<p>cal is known for its poly sci department. my friend got in there this year and is majoring in that. he told me he got like 1860 sat score but took hella ap’s like eng lit,eng language, calculus, environment sci, etc</p>
<p>Did your friend have alot of ECs, such as community service or clubs, or did he get accepted with his grades and SAT scores.</p>
<p>ummm he had a balanced app, like volunteering sports clubs and everything. lol even playing tennis as azn got him in. same thing goes for my cousin too, who just completed his freshman year at cal. from his experience he told me its gpa and essays that count the most when applying to uc’s.</p>
<p>Great cause my ECs are a little below average, however, I have good grades,and hopefully when the results come in good SAT scores.</p>
<p>I also live in state and am first generation college student. Low income makes dif too cuz both ppl i told u about had small incomes for their family sizes. they also live in state and are first generation. which uc’s r u considering? and how many r u applying to? im gonna do only 4 cuz of application fees and stupid governors budget cuts lol. i saw on post once telling this out of state kid he shouldnt apply to a uc cuz of our bad economy rite now. also dont worry about 9-11 gpa. uc’s dont look at 9th, only 10 and 11th. and theres uc gpa which is basically 10-11th weighted but only extra pts for up to 4 years of honors/ap courses.</p>
<p>fyi im thinking about ucla ucb uci and ucsd.
gonna start thread when my sat 2’s come out this week. also i posted my gpa and lack of ec’s on someone else’s thread. he said i should do more activities/sports, get 2100+ on sat, and my gpa is good enuf for all of colleges i posted except maybe ucb.</p>
<p>sorry for long post</p>
<p>Yeah I am considering the same UCs as you are, however, I am also considering USC, Pepperdine, and CMC, because of Cali’s economic crisis. Therefore, privates would be my next option if UCs don’t meet my financial needs. Someone told me if you don’t have good ECs your chances at Berkeley and UCLA are slim due to their high competition, however, San Diego is your next best option if you have good grades and excellent test scores, due to the fact that San Diego weighs academics the most. Therefore are you considering any private colleges?</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it : )</p>
<p>ECs need not be clubs, sports or volunteering. What do you do in your freetime? Do you work? Do you create websites? Have you studied foreign languages outside of school? Gone travelling a lot? Stargazer?</p>
<p>Admittedly, having a lot of ECs that aren’t clubs/sports/volunteering will look funny, but pick mayeb one or two of those kinds of things so your app isn’t “clean,” then find soemthing else. But make sure whatever you’re starting a club in or joining a club for is somehting you’re really passionate about. If it’s not, then you won’t be able to use it much in your application. <– OK, this is NOT why you should start a club. What I meant to say is, if you’re passionate about the club, you’ll enjoy what you’re doing. Because you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll be able to use it in your application well. But the enjoyment, the growth REGARDLESS of the application is the important part</p>
<p>umm rice, northwestern, chicago and tufts</p>