Chances for UC Davis / UC Berkeley?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

Hi guys,
First of all, I am a California resident (in case that affects it in any major way). Anyways, I am thinking of going to UC Berkeley or Davis for my major. UC Riverside and San Diego are also options for me, but I live closer to Berkeley. This is my senior year.

Anyways, here are my stats:

GPA: 4.05 Weighted / 4.00 Raw (All A’s)

*Classes have been mostly all CP classes
*AP Chemistry: 4 on AP Test
*AP Biology and Honors English 12: taking them currently in 12th grade
*Spanish for 2 years (I know they recommend 3 and I wanted to take another year, but my Spanish 2 teacher did not teach us anything, and the Spanish 3 teacher at our school is quite serious and legit)
*Sciences: CP Biology, CP Chemistry, AP Chemistry, AP Biology (this yr). I CAN STILL TAKE CP PHYSICS THIS YEAR if I switch out of auto mechanics (don’t really like auto mech, but I don’t know if classes in senior year really are gonna matter much)

ACT: 29 Composite (Eng- 34, Math & Sci- 29 both, Read- 24); Writing- 9 (9 on all 4 fields)
*First take, retaking again in either September or October

Extracurricular Activities:
*Badminton: 2 years JV and 1 year Varsity. Will be playing this year as most likely varsity as well
*Competitive Speech and Debate: Took both the class and the club. Went and participated in different tournaments, but did not accomplish anything major.
*Science Olympiad: Club. No major accomplishments.

*Project SEED summer research program:-
Offered a chance to take part at a local university (university of the pacific) as an assistant researcher to a chemistry-related professor. 9 weeks summer program with 9 hours a day job, 5 days a week. Successfully completed my research project.

**No volunteer experience (I hope that does not wreck my chances)

Now guys, I know I am not crazy like 90% of the people here who have a 4.7 GPA with a 34+ ACT score and 1000 different ECs (including varsity captain of 3 different sports) on top off 100 hours of volunteer work.

But still, PLEASE BE VERY REALISTIC HERE (you won’t hurt my feelings or hopes at all, don’t go easy on me), should I consider having a decent chance at these UC’s or not? I am applying to other, easier colleges regardless, but I want to know if I have potential getting in one of these. Thanks.

2

Keep in mind that when competitive colleges say recommended they really mean required. Our private counselor told my D who is looking at UCB/UCLA to take 4 years of a foreign language. She is taking her 4th year through an online course. Something to consider. You also should calculate your UC capped GPA and compare it to acceptance rates on these colleges. Lastly getting your ACT up to at least low 30’s wouor be ideal. Obviously you are going to have a much better chance at UC Davis than UCB.

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What is your UC GPA capped weighted and fully weighted?
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Intended major? Does your HS offer many AP classes?

To be competitive for the top Uc’s, 3 years if Spanish will be very important.

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@Gumbymom Yes my HS offers many AP classes. Major is biochemistry, chemistry, or biomedical engineering.

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@socaldad2002 My UC weighted comes out to be 4.05, and unweighted at 4.00. Let’s say I get my ACT to 30-31 (pretty certain I will get it unless they increase the difficulty of the exam for whatever reason).
Now still considering 2 years of for Lang, would my chances be significantly better?

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@Hammad80 You’re gonna really need that 3rd year if you want any UC above riverside or Merced.

7

Your HS offers many AP courses but you only took 1? UCs are looking for applicants that take a very rigorous courseload.

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If your HS offers many AP classes and you have not taken advantage of these rigorous courses, that will be one strike against your application. Another is 2 years of a foreign language.

UC’s consider UC GPA, HS course rigor, Test scores and personal insight essays very important. Although your GPA looks good, the UC’s expect you to challenge yourself if these classes are available.

I would also try the ACT one more time and aim for a 30+ score even though your score is within range for several of the UC’s, your Math needs to be higher to be more competitive.

UC Davis is possible but your chances will be better at UC Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced especially if you are targeting Engineering.

Here is some 2017 admit rate data based on the UC capped weighted and major specific. STEM majors should expect to have lower admit rates due to the competitiveness of the majors.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:

UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%

2018 Freshman data: 25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26

Your target schools would be UC Santa Cruz and Riverside. UC Merced would be a safety along with your local Cal State. UCD is possible if you can get your ACT score up. UCI/UCSB would be High Match/Low Reach schools (50-50) UCSD would be a Low Reach school and UCB/UCLA would be Reach schools.

Living close to a UC gives you not advantage in admissions and I think your HS course rigor will hurt your chances so apply widely and consider some Cal States as possible options.

Best of luck.

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@10s4life That’s out of the question now that there has been a 1 yr break in between me taking foreign language. UC Merced is not my aim, but I’m fine with Riverside.

@socaldad2002 Two reasons (1) I wasn’t well informed at that time (2) I’m not super hardworking

@Gumbymom I’m targeting more of bio sciences, second being engineering. So basically apply for all UCs and see which ones I get accepted to, and pick the best? And also what’s the average math ACT score? The problem is I have taken moderate difficulty math classes, so I don’t know some of the material on the math portion of the ACT, and I feel like there’s nothing I can do about that other than self-study, and I don’t know if that’s worth it.

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The UC’s do not list the 25th-75th percentiles for the Math section, but aim for a score closer to the 75th percentile or higher composite for the UC’s since your HS course rigor is lacking.

Also if you plan to succeed at any of the UC’s, you will need to be super hardworking. You will be competing against UC students that have the 4.0+ GPA’s, good test scores and a rigorous course schedule, laying a good work ethic foundation.

What level of Math will you have reached by end of senior year? If you want to attend a UC, then it is worth your time to know the material.

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Engineering and hardworking go hand in hand. Even science majors too. No matter what UC you go to, prepare to work hard and become a slave to homework.

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@Hammad80 “@10s4life That’s out of the question now that there has been a 1 yr break in between me taking foreign language. UC Merced is not my aim, but I’m fine with Riverside.”

I would really look into the online Spanish 3 course. Some programs are only 24 hours of class work and very doable even if you have not studied Spanish for a year just make sure its an accredited program that the UCs will accept. My understanding is they don’t really care where you complete your 3 (or 4 years in D’s case) as long as you compete it under an accredited program.

Don’t sell yourself short, if it’s not too late, take a pretty rigorous course load your senior year, retake the ACT to get a few points higher and take Spanish 3 online. Do these things and you will increase your chances significantly to an acceptance to a top tier or 2nd tier UC. Good luck!

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Thanks guys.
@socaldad2002 I will definitely look into taking Spanish 3 online. I’m taking AP bio this year along with honors English. I was actually thinking about dropping ap bio because people were telling me they don’t care about senior year.
@Gumbymom I will finish pre calculus by the end of my senior year, so I will maybe study some math things online.
@10s4life I thought there was no homework in college? From what some teachers have told me.

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@Hammad80 Whoever told you no homework either was in a major that only had essays or they went to a college that handed out diplomas like candy. You’re going to have homework in all stem classes. It can range from projects, weekly assignments, daily assignments or stuff due every two weeks etc. if you do engineering expect problem sets due that take anywhere from 15-20 hours to complete a week. Chem and bio have similarly long homework assignments. Also expect to study for midterms and finals. College is much more work than high school. There’s a reason why it enables you to get a good job or go to grad school and why colleges can be so selective. It’s also why some students can’t handle college and find other routes to success like trade schools or the military.

UCs also care about senior year schedule and rigor. While they may not accept grades the rigor of course plays a huge factor in upper tier UCs.

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Definitely shoot for the top and take that third year of Spanish. That being said, you will receive a great education at.UC Riverside…the fastest growing UC for a reason from this UC Riverside Alumnus! Go Highlanders!

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There is a ton of homework and projects in college. Perhaps what your high school teachers have told is is that the homework in college is of minor weight (~10-20%) against your final grade? In any case, homework is prep for exams, the students that treated homework seriously are the ones that did well on midterms and finals.

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4.05 is going to make both a reach, UCSC, UCR and UCM are more likely.

good luck