Chances for any school within California (extremely low gpa)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

White male, completely messed up my gpa. Just starting to get serious about my grades coming into senior year, is it too late? I never had the opportunity to access information about colleges or study for standardized tests until around 3 months ago when I moved out to my dad’s house in California. I always assumed I was going to attend a JC and try for transfer but I am having last minute second thoughts about what I would like my college experience to be like.

Lower Class (around 22K)

California

GPA: 2.71 UW (3.23 weighted)

Class Rank: 239/516

APs:

-Freshman year - none (none were available, however I was able to take Honors World Geography (A))

-Sophomore - AP Euro ©

-Junior - AP Art History ©, AP Bio ©

-Senior - AP Computer Science (I was not able to take computer science any other year as you must be a senior), AP Psychology

Trying to get serious about my grades for senior year (not that it will help my gpa or application all that much, hopefully improvement counts for something)

-SAT: 1560

-ACT: (N/A)

ECs:

  • Captain of Varsity Tennis team for 4 years
  • Head System Administration Apprentice (I shadowed our schools system admin i.e. took teacher tickets / complaint calls, fixed computer issues and handled any equipment replacement forms, created programs for teacher convenience, set up new tech equipment (registering new computers and creating new computer labs)
  • Sole designer of my high school's website. (I handle any issues that arise with it also and make graphical updates)

-Internship for local computer repair shop (worked shifts from 7AM - 4PM over 2 years) roughly 450 hours

  • Created my own PayPal to Bitcoin exchange website after being granted api access from a popular cryptocurrency wallet. Not registered as an official business but generates roughly $25,000 annually (over 10,000 unique visitors)
  • Co-taught an Introduction to Java programming class through the NRCLC program. (Students mostly freshman (I taught as a junior))
  • Decent USTA (tennis) ranking, I have competed in state tournaments and I have over 100 volunteer hours as a tennis instructor for children ages 7 - 12.

-Many top ten placements at statewide California hackathons (3 first place, 5 second place, 4 third place (5 in top ten))

  • Over 250 hours on volunteer work with Union Station Homeless services

-Played piano for 8 years, mostly just lessons, occasionally played at church events

-Multiple certificates for computer science course work through UCI program. (Mastery in Java, Mastery in Python, Mastery in C++, Object Orientation Programming C#, multiple other introduction certificates)

  • Free lance website design for local "Medusa Salon" and Tennis Center

Recs:

Tennis Coach / Owner of Mesa Verde Tennis Center (commends me for being a hard worker and great player)

Owner of Los Cab Tennis Center / Country Club (commendation for exceptional playing skills, determination and web design skills)

Computer Science Teacher (recognizes my computer science abilities, said I was the brightest student to ever take the course at our school, said I have an excellent work ethic)

AP Euro Teacher (explained that the grade I received in his class was unfortunate due to financial struggles that I had to deal with at home and recognizes I could have preformed much better if circumstances were different. Commends me for great personality and excellent work ethic as well as presentation skills)

Multiple other teachers at my school (many along the same lines of excellent work ethic and misunderstood grades due to poor family situations)

AP Test Scores:

-AP Euro (4)

-AP Art History (5)

  • AP Bio (2)

Essay:
Not completely finished yet, looking for help from my new schools counselors. Still trying to find a way to explain my GPA.

2

You’ve got some excellent ECs and a great SAT. They won’t be enough to make up for grades at selective schools, however, but there are plenty of less selective four-year schools that will take you - but they will likely be expensive. It seems like money is going to be a big issue, since you haven’t be thinking about or planning for college for very long. In that case you may be better off (from a debt perspective in the long term) starting in a CC and transferring into a state school later.

3

http://thielfellowship.org/

4

The top 4-year state schools in California (e.g. most UCs and Cal Poly SLO) take a lot of transfers, and they heavily favor California Community College students in transfer admissions. If you go the CCC route and then apply to transfer, you will have the chance to “reset” your GPA, because only your CCC GPA will be considered (not your high school GPA). The CCC route could also save a lot of money, as noted above.

So if you can get good grades at a CCC and continue with the impressive ECs, you could potentially be a strong candidate for transfer into a top 4-year state school. In fact, some UCs will actually guarantee transfer admissions to CCC students who meet certain CCC GPA and coursework requirements. Unfortunately your great SAT score probably won’t be considered in transfer admissions, so you would need to make sure that your CCC GPA was strong.

Agreed. You could go directly to a 4-year school, but your high school GPA will probably keep you of the top schools. And even if you earned a good GPA at a less selective 4-year school, your chances of transferring to a top school would probably be low.

When it comes to transfer admissions, the top state schools give high priority to CCC students, because they obviously need to transfer to complete a bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, students who are already at 4-year schools are already in a position to get a bachelor’s degree, so they are a much lower priority.

5

@Corbett gives very good advice regarding the CC to UC/CSU transfer route however, if you still want to attend a 4 year university in California, then you have to be willing to go to a less selective Cal State or possibly UC Merced if your UC/CSU GPA capped weighted is at or above the 3.0 minimum to apply for UC Merced.

First calculate your CSU/UC capped weighted GPA with this calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.00-3.39 (capped weighted) and not major specific for 2017:

UCB: 1.1%
UCLA: 0.9%
UCSD: 0.9%
UCSB: 1.4%
UCI: 3.1%
UCD: 4.1%
UCSC: 14.3%
UCR: 22.9%
UCM: 56.7%

With your excellent SAT score, UC Merced is definitely possible. Also I would run the Net Price calculator for UC Merced since being low income CA resident, you may get a good amount of financial aid to make this school affordable.

http://finaidcalc.ucmerced.edu

For the Cal states, first identify your local CSU using this link: http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf

Unless your local CSU is SDSU or Cal Poly SLO, then you will be given priority for admission.

How Cal States admit:

The Cal states admit by major and eligibility index. They really only consider GPA/Test scores/Geographic location and HS course rigor. Other than Cal Poly SLO, your EC’s are not considered.

Then calculate your Eligibility index:
If you took the Redesigned SAT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 800) + (SAT Evidence Based Reading & Writing (EBRW) + Math Score) = Eligibility Index

Eligibility index for ACT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 200) + (ACT Composite x10)= Eligibility Index

**CSULB and SJSU use a modified EI for STEM/Engineering majors:
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html

You will then be ranked based on EI and major and they accept from the top down until all spots are filled. Non-impacted campuses are definite safety for you so take a look at the following impaction link to determine if there are any CSU campuses you would consider applying. For the Top CSU’s such as Cal Poly SLO, SDSU, CSU Long Beach, Fullerton, San Jose (dependent upon major), Cal Poly Pomona may be out of reach due to GPA but there are plenty of good CSU’s still to consider.

For private schools in California, look at University of Redlands, University of San Francisco, St Marys College of Moraga, University of the Pacific, Whittier College, Cal Lutheran and Cal Baptist. Again run the Net price calculators to see if you get good need-based aid along with some merit aid.

Best of luck and my recommendation is the CC to UC/CSU route.

6

It’s true that a CCC may not offer a traditional “college experience”. But keep in mind that the less selective 4-year universities in California are often “commuter schools” that aren’t really known for a traditional “college experience” either. Most less-selective CSUs, for example, would arguably fall into the “commuter school” category (although there are some exceptions, like Chico State).

So you might not get the traditional “college experience” at either a CCC or a less selective 4-year school. But a CCC would put you in a much better position to transfer into a more selective 4-year school, where it is more likely that this experience would be available.

7

Note that admission selectivity at both the frosh and transfer levels often does depend on your intended major. Computer science is commonly one of the more selective majors at UCs and CSUs.

8

Assuming you’re not going through the D1 recruitment process for tennis, you might try contacting coaches at some D3 tennis schools and see whether their advocacy, combined with the great scores and EC’s, would overcome the GPA.

UC Santa Cruz has a D3 tennis team. I have no idea how much coaches at UCSC influence admissions (maybe someone else can chime in about that?), but this would be something to look into, as it’s a fantastic computer science school. If, as Gumbymom says, your UC capped/weighted GPA is 3.0+, this would be something to look into.

As far as private colleges, Occidental could be a good test case in CA, as they have full-need-met financial aid and relatively forgiving admissions standards - still competitive, but not like other full-need-met schools in the area like the Claremont Colleges. Others in SoCal like Cal Lutheran, Redlands, & Whittier could be worth looking into also, but they don’t meet full need for all financial aid recipients… so my thought is to test the waters first with full-need-met schools.

Possibilities outside of CA with full-need-met aid and D3 tennis (and CS majors) include: Whitman in WA, Reed in OR, St. Olaf and Macalester in MN, Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall in PA, Skidmore (higher admit rates for guys) and Union (particularly good STEM) in NY. For research universities, try Case Western Reserve in OH and U of Rochester in NY.

It seems to me that RIT might be a particularly good fit for you. They have great programs in visual arts and music as well as CS, and they would love your EC’s. They have D3 tennis, and they meet full need for 82% of financial aid recipients. With your stats, I don’t think you’d be out of the running there even without an athletics boost; and if they wanted you for tennis as well you could be in really good shape. Check out the range of programs they have: http://www.rit.edu/emcs/admissions/academics/majors

Schools will all have inquiry forms for prospective athletes on their athletics websites. Example: https://www.ritathletics.com/sb_output.aspx?form=3

Hope that gives you some ideas to work with.

9

Can you take AP world history or AP English language instead of/on top of AP psych? Are you taking calculus? If not can you enroll in some form of calculus?

CA public universities place a heavy weight upon GPA. One of your essays would have to explain the financial/family situation that impacted your grades (abuse, parent illness, homelessness, no access to electricity…?) Indeed, UCs/CSUs won’t require teacher recommendations, so there’ll be no explanation for your grades.

Would you be applying for CS? If so, attend a California community college with a high rate of transfer - can you commute to one?
CS is the most competitive major right now. But good CA cc’s will allow you to transfer to excellent UC’s - better than I you go straight from high school. If your home situation has stabilized then you should be able to show what you’re truly able to do during your year or two at CC.

Is 22k our family income?
Is 3.23 your ucgpa?

You may have a shot at UCM. UCSC would be a reach and is excellent for CS so worth trying. As someone mentioned above, contact the coaches (weighted GPA, sat score, athletic performance and recognition - ask whether a pre read is possible, indicate UCSC is your first choice as of now).
Coaches can’t overturn a ‘deny’ but when the student is a ‘possible’ they can help push you to the admit pile; I think it’d be worth trying this for UCSC indeed.

See if you meet the threshold for software engineering at CSUs - the index is a specifically weighted GPA graded 10-11 * sat score. Sjsu publishes it and you can use it as a guideline.
CPP (perhaps honors) may be in the cards.

Private universities would value your sat score more, would include your 12th grade 1st term grades, and would include recommendations - St Mary’s of California, Chapman, LMU-LA, UofPacific, URedlands, ULaverne… Look into their merit scholarships, fill out their “request information forms” to express interest (it “counts” in deciding Admissions and scholarships). I’d recommend Santa Clara except they rank in the bottom Nationwide for financial aid to families earning 30k and less.

The recommendation of Occidental is excellent. Run the NPC there, reach out to the coach.

Run the NPC on Whitman, WWU, UPugetSound? You never know, merit scholarships could be possible for your weighted GPA and sat score?

10

No D3 tennis at Reed, but they will take some low-GPA high-SAT applicants, meeting full need.

11

Assuming that the OP had a UC GPA right at 3.00, which is likely the case, it would put his CSU eligibility index at 3960. The OP’s choices as stated by others as far as CA public schools goes would likely be 1) UC-Merced (minimum 3.00 UC GPA needed), 2) the non-impacted CSUs (3960 should get him into a lot of the CSUs) or 3) CC for 2 years then hopefully be able to transfer to a good UC or CSU. Obviously if the OP is good enough to be a recruited athlete that might open up some other doors as well as suggested by others.

12

Sorry, I misread a source about Reed - that’s correct that they don’t have intercollegiate tennis. But still worth a look. And Lewis & Clark, also in Portland, does have D3 tennis and meets full need for many (but not all) students with documented need.

13

Sac State has a solid tennis program and recently expanded their on and near campus housing. It is certainly worth a look.

14

UC’s are extremely GPA based, so possibly… but I’d say you’ve got a fair chance at Pepperdine or Chapman! Good luck!