<p>My D has completed her Junior year at a very prestigious High school in So Cal.
She has a weighted GPA of 3.92 and an unweighted GPA of 3.4 for the Grades10-12.
Her SAT is 2180 with CR at 750, Math at 630 and Writing at 800.
She has taken 6 AP classes so far and is planning on taking 4 more in her Senior year.</p>
<p>Her first choice among UCs is UCLA followed by other UC campuses.
She has had a very impacting health issue (still exists) that affected her most in her Sophomore and Junior years of High school which is hoping to write about in her College Essay and get some consideration for some of her grades lost. She basically has As and Bs and even the Bs that she got, the marks have been in upper 80s (87+). This being the case, what do you think of her chance of getting admitted into a UC of her choice?</p>
<p>I honestly feel that had she not been hit by the surgery and related health issues, I am sure she would have been a straight A student as she has been very hard-working (inspite of the numerous absences, she made sure she made up all the work and also studied on her own) and a very conscientious student. So, is there any way we as parents can make this known to the colleges for them to better understand what she has been through during her High School years?</p>
<p>Also, given the scenario above, do you think she needs to repeat her SAT? She is planning on repeating ehr SAT in Oct '13 and take a couple of Subject SATs in Nov '13.</p>
<p>I would love to hear from fellow-parents as to what is the best thing for her to do?
And can I as a very concerned parent help her out in any way?
Also, is there anybody else who has been through such a situation for your chid and if you could throw some light on how she can get maximum consideration for her grades+school work with her health issues combined, that would be very helpful!</p>
<p>I think she will get into a UC. I’m not sure anyone EVER can be assured of getting into the UC of their choice, given the large, highly qualified applicant pool. If I were her parent, I would encourage her to explore a number of UCs rather than getting overly focused on UCLA. There are a number of good ones.</p>
<p>Definitely she should address the health issues in the essay. As for the SAT, it is only the math score that is “low” - and even that is above average. Is she going into a math field? Do you have reason to believe that the 630 is far lower than her skills, and can she improve the score considerably? If the answer is yes, I’d have her retake them. Otherwise, perhaps not.</p>
<p>One thing you can do to help her – is to instill the conviction that NOT getting into a “good” (quotation marks, because they’re ALL good - I assume you mean top, as in UCLA and Cal) UC isn’t the end of the world. Reinforce the idea that Davis, San Diego, Irvine, Santa Cruz are all world-class schools that are the envy of much of the country, if not much of the world. Make sure she knows she’s a fabulous young woman who will do great in college, and beyond.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for your D, UC is focused more on GPA than on SAT scores. Based on anecdotes from our local HS, UCLA seems to value high W/CR scores, so that may help. </p>
<p>UC also loves to read applications from students who have overcome adversity – just make sure it does not read like an excuse.</p>
<p>But realistically, based solely on her GPA, her chances at UCLA are low.</p>
<p>The best that you can encourage her to do is to apply to a wide range of colleges. Sure, NYU might bite, but are you willing to pay full price?</p>
<p>I agree with Katliamom – every UC campus is “good” – so she should figure out which of the less selective campuses she would prefer and apply to some of those as well as her top choices. And do NOT pay any attention to anyone at CC who tells you that chances are dim! No one here knows. I wouldn’t bother with a retake of the SAT’s unless she is pursuing a math/science oriented major – otherwise all the scores are fine. (630 on math is perfectly acceptable for most, but could raise some questions for a prospective STEM major)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your comments/views. That helps to understand different various perspective. She is planning to specialize in either Psychology or Neuroscience to help her get into Psychiatry (her goal is to become a Psychiatrist).</p>
<p>Like many of you say, I was advising her to consider other schools too as I believe UCLA is the most applied school to in the US. She will actually be doing an Apprenticeship this summer (for 3 weeks) at UCLA whee she will be shadowing the Professors there in the area of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is very much looking forward to that experience too. </p>
<p>Thats great that most of you think that she does not necessarily have to retake her SAT for her Math scrore. Also, thats great to note that UCLA regards high of W/CR scores as she is at an advantage there and since she is not considering an Engg/Math based career, she may not have to retake her SAT.</p>
<p>It would be so great if colleges can see by how much she missed her A’s in those courses where she got a B. Like in India, they would consider the total percentage and so any cumulative percentage over 75% was awesome.
Also, it so happens that in her same school, some teachers round off even a 87/88 to an A while some of her teachers would not round off an 88.9 or a 89.1 to 90 even !:)</p>
<p>Psychiatry means med school.
And med school might be easier to get into if she attends a less academically competitive school. At UCLA, the premed track is fierce.</p>
<p>UCLA gets around 90,000 applications every year. I don’t think they have the time to look at details like how the student just missed an A- by .5 points. If she wants to become a psychiatrist, she will need to go to med school first. She might actually be better off at UC Merced or UC Riverside, which both have speical medical school programs. I teach at a community college. All my students want to transfer to UCLA. That’s another way to go. Santa Monica College sends a lot of trasnfer students there. It would be a good way for her to improve that GPA. The degree is the same in the end whter you go there for two years or four years.</p>
<p>Does your school have Naviance? I would assume a lot of kids at her HS apply to UCLA so that should be a pretty good way get a sense of her chances.</p>