Chances for a 3.4 GPA into UC schools and a few questions

<p>I am an upcoming senior in high school, I would like to know my chances into getting accepted as a freshman in UC schools.</p>

<p>Background: I had a few hardships early in high school, like my mother passing away by the end of my freshman year. After that, combined with my lack of motivation at first, I started to get bad grades in sophomore year, and not so good in the first semester of junior year.</p>

<p>However, I have recently gained motivation and am doing all that I can to raise my grade. My second semester of junior year shows it, with 3 A's and 3 B's, compared to my B's and C's, and even some D's that I have retaken already. Also, this summer course I am taking many college level online courses that will be put into my overall GPA. I have finished AP Psychology and received an A, and I plan to receive an A in AP Government, and I am going to retake AP World History and AP Literature over Summer as well and get an A in those as well. I'm looking to major in Psychology. I have also worked very hard to get a great score in my SAT, and managed to get a 2050.</p>

<p>Overall GPA for A-G: 3.4 (this is with 8 semester bonus points from AP/Honor courses as UC will count up to 8 semesters to count as extra points in GPA)
SAT I Score: 2050</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Chinese
California Resident
Will not apply for Financial Aid*
Extra Curricular: 1 year of Varsity Tennis, 1 year of JV X-Country, 1 year as Secretary Officer for Japanese Culture Club. Played a prominent role in a school wide fundraiser to raise money to help victims of the Japan hurricane and tsunami.</p>

<p>Reaches: All UC schools. I know I am a very low reach for the higher tier UC's like UCB or UCLA, but I will apply to them anyway.</p>

<p>Extra Important Notes and Questions:
1) I have received 1 D in my first semester of junior year in Chemistry Honors that I will not be able to make up for in the summer in time. I have contacted a UC admissions officer and they have said I can write a letter that I am retaking it in senior year, but I believe this will probably hurt my chances a little?
2)I will do my best to write a good personal statement describing my circumstances but how I managed to do well in the end and that I can do well if I tried hard, as shown in my SAT scores.
3)Does anyone know if ROP Intro to Engineering 1 count as an A-G course?
4)Should I take SAT 2? It's not required in my graduating class, but I heard I should only take it if I will get a 700 or higher. Is this a big factor still in applications for UC?</p>

<p>Thank you for all honest chances and feedback.</p>

<p>UCLA and UCB are both mid/high reaches for you, definitely not low. Your GPA is very low for those schools, and SAT is right around average.</p>

<p>UCSD is a mid reach. UCD, UCI, and UCSB are low reaches, more or less. You should be good for the other UCs.</p>

<p>Ah, I meant that I will NOT have a good chance at getting into UCLA or UCB, I thought that meant I had “low reach for getting in”, haha. I know those will be hard for me. </p>

<p>Thank you for your chance. I am afraid the letter I have to send may lower my chances for me though.</p>

<p>The letter may hurt, but I think if you thoroughly explain your situation it shouldn’t hinder your chances too much…</p>

<p>Okay. I feel a bit better now because I thought I would have trouble in all of the UC schools. Should I take SAT 2 subject tests? I would probably take Literature and US History, and I can give myself a month to study them. US History I think I will be okay, I have lots of notes from my APUSH class and I can review all of it, and I think literature wouldn’t be bad. However, I may not get a 700. If I score a 600-700, will that hurt my chances more than if I didn’t take it?</p>

<p>Depends on which UCs you apply to. For UCLA and Berkley, 600-700 won’t help, so I wouldn’t send it in. For the other UCs, upper 600s will look okay, so up to you really…</p>