Chances for UCs version 2.0

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,
I'm going to be a senior in a California high school, I plan to major either in computer science or electrical engineering, and I was wondering about my chances at these schools:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Engineering)
Stanford (through Questbridge)</p>

<p>Asian American (Chinese) Male, lives with a single parent, low income (~10K)</p>

<p>Goes to a semi-competitive public high school (I think there were two people who went to Ivies this year)</p>

<p>UC GPA:3.95 (10th-11th grades, weighted [estimate])
10th-11th unweighted: 3.681
9th-11th unweighted:3.5625
Class rank: Around 120?/600 (our district doesn't weigh GPA's for class rank)</p>

<p>Grades:
9th Grade:
Algebra 1: A+/A+
Spanish 1: A/A-
Integrated Science(Forced to take this class due to the stupid school)A/B+
P.E(Just for reference): A/A
English 1 Honors: C+/B
Intro to Computer Science: B/C+</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Geometry: A/A-
Biology: A-/A-
AP World History: B/A
English 2 Honors: B+/A-
Spanish 2: A-/B+
P.E: A/A-</p>

<p>11th Grade:
Chemistry: A+/A
Algebra 2: A+/A
U.S History: A/A
A.P Computer Science A: B+/A-
A.P English Lang / Comp: B-/B
Spanish 3: B+/A-</p>

<p>Projected courses next year:
AP Physics B
AP Calculus AB (taking Pre-Calc over the summer)
AP Government/Regular Econ (One semester of each)
English 4
Choir 1</p>

<p>AP Scores:
AP World History: 5
AP Computer Science: Projected 4/5
AP English: Projected 3/4</p>

<p>SATs:
SAT Reasoning: 580 R/660 M/550 W 1790 Total (First time, will retake, hopefully will get at least a 2000+)</p>

<p>SAT Subject Test:
Chinese: 800
World History: 700
Biology M: 620</p>

<p>ACT:
Composite: 33
English: 33
Math: 35
Reading: 33
Science: 30
Essay: 11</p>

<p>Will take Math II and Chemistry October.</p>

<p>PSAT: 63 R/ 73 M/ 64 W 200 Total(96 percentile)</p>

<p>Award(s):
National Merit Commendation (If nothing goes haywire)</p>

<p>Spent 5 years in Taiwan at a regular public school (not an American school)</p>

<p>Extracirricular:
Chinese Club (one of the founders): 9th/10th grades
CSF: 11th grade
Key Club: 11th grade
Christian Club: 10th/11th grades
Church tutoring helper: 10th grade
Church worship team: 11th grade
NYLF Tech Forum: Summer after 10th grade
Piano (5 years, never had time to take CM examinations though)
Planning on co-founding a game developers club in school next year.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>anyone? (10 char)</p>

3

<p>you're in at most of them i am guessing</p>

4

<p>Berkeley and Stanford- reject
UCLA- high reach
UC Davis- match
UC Irvine- match
UC San Diego- match
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Engineering)- match</p>

5

<p>UC Berkeley~ No Chance
UCLA~Reach
UC Davis~Match
UC Irvine~Match
UC San Diego~Slight Reach
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Engineering)~Match
Stanford (through Questbridge)~No Chance</p>

6

<p>I have your UC GPA at 4.05. With a SAT I of 1790 and SAT IIs of 1500 (though only 1320 if they through out your Chinese score because that's your native language).</p>

<p>If you can get your SAT I score up to 1920 or so, then you are as follows:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley/UCLA--Slight Reach
UCSD--Match
UCD/UCSB/UCD--Safe Match to Match
Cal Poly SLO--Safe Match
Stanford--Reach</p>

<p>If you can't improve your SAT score, then</p>

<p>UC Berkeley/UCLA--Reach
UCSD--Slight Reach
UCD/UCSB/UCD--Match
Cal Poly SLO--Match
Stanford--Big Reach</p>

7

<p>Does my ACT score (33 which I think is about 2230-2270) help my chances in any way? I think I can handle the ACT way easier for some reason, or maybe just because I fail at the SAT... lol</p>

<p>Edit: Do community college courses count in your UC GPA? I took an Introduction to Business course which i got a B in (I was gone for a week due to the NYLF Tech Forum), and I'm taking both a Trigonometry and Precaculus course (which, hopefully I will get A's in)? If it does, then the way I calculated my UC GPA is a 4.0 (I think PE doesn't count?)</p>

8

<p>Oh yeah, if anyone chances me, can you chance me pertending I didn't take the SAT and using my ACT score instead? (It's up there somewhere, because somehow I get the feeling that people are neglecting it...) :P</p>

9

<p>Anyone? (10 char)</p>

10

<p>Please chance me?</p>

11

<p>BUMP (10 char)</p>

12

<p>UC Berkeley: reach
UCLA: reach
UC Davis: match
UC Irvine: match
UC San Diego: match
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Engineering): match
Stanford (through Questbridge): reach</p>

<p>Did you apply for the College Prep Scholarship from Questbridge this last spring?</p>

13

<p>Yeah, I did apply for the College Prep Scholarship through Questbridge, but I only got an invitation to a confrence. </p>

<p>What can I do to make Berkeley and UCLA slight reaches? A while ago, I posted a chances thread with my SAT score of 1790, but according to the UC conversion, my 33 ACT score is about a 2220-2270, which is a 430-480 point difference, but my results have been largely the same. ?_?</p>

14

<p>your uc gpa is on the low side for ucb and ucla, but i think your act is fine</p>

15

<p>You can compute your odds by checking the average admit stats...
I would use your ACT score when applying, not SAT, as your ACT score is much much better.</p>

<p>According to the University of California, these are the average admit stats for the different UC schools:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/selecting/camp_profiles.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/selecting/camp_profiles.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>These are the averages:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley: 4.17 GPA 29 ACT
UCLA: 4.14 GPA 28 ACT</p>

<h2>UCSD: 4.06 GPA 28 ACT</h2>

<p>UCI: 3.92 GPA 26 ACT
UCSB: 3.91 GPA 26 ACT
UC Davis: 3.89 GPA 26 ACT</p>

<p>The top 3 seem significantly more difficult to get into than the next 3. You GPA is a bit low for top UC's however your ACT score is very good and you stand a good shot at getting into atleast one or two of the top three. Your ACT score is significantly better than the top UC's ACT averages for admits, however your SAT is significantly lower than their averages. If you use your SAT score, the top three UC's will be out of reach.</p>

16

<p>But don't the UC's know of my SAT score when I send my SATII score reports to them? Is there a way to "conceal" my lame SAT score? Or should I retake the SAT? (I don't really want to though)</p>

17

<p>Just thought I'd let you know that your classes at a CC count towards your UC admissions, they look JUST like an AP class (this has been verified by UCB admissions officer, I personally asked). So with your 3 CC classes it looks like you took 3 more APs (although I don't know how that affects your GPA)...</p>

<p>Also.... how the hell did you only get invited to a conference w/ quest? I think that program is bull****.... my friend is in the similar situation as you (except slightly better grades but makes 40k+/year) and got waitlisted to a conference.... Honestly. Also, how can OVER 50% OF APPLICANTS HAVE PARENTS THAT GO ON TO A 4 YEAR COLLEGE MAKE UNDER 60K/YEAR?!?!? My parents both didn't graduate college but my dad has been working at the same college as a locksmith for over 25 years and makes over 60k/year. Honestly I doubt that program's validity.</p>

18

<p>shortduderay: while your ACT score is significantly better than your SAT score and they'll probably look at your SAT score, it's the fact that you have a few too many Bs on your record. On top of that, your ECs aren't very substantial: community service (very common) and church-related things (very common), with piano (very common). If you held positions or had significant accomplishments in these areas, then they'd be more significant. Your other ECs (Chinese club & the tech forum) don't add much weight, either, as they aren't very focused / show a passion. The best you can do now is to write awesome essays; people like you have gotten in because of their essays.</p>

<p>saasaa:</p>

<p>"I think that program is bull****"</p>

<p>I highly, highly disagree. I received a counseling award and was invited to the Stanford conference (which I went to), and my experience so far with Questbridge has been amazing. They're all extremely helpful and caring, and the opportunities they offer are amazing too. Search the forums for Questbridge; there have been some discussions on it in which I've posted the perspective of a College Match participant, who points out some things about Quest that show how awesome the organization is and how much it can actually help you.</p>

<p>Simply because your friend got different results and is in a similar situation as the OP doesn't mean that the program is bull. For one, the application is largely dependent on essays; there are five short answers (100 words each) and one long essay. On top of that, the OP has less than 1/4 the income of your friend; that shows he/she has had to overcome more adversity, don't you think?</p>

<p>"Also, how can OVER 50% OF APPLICANTS HAVE PARENTS THAT GO ON TO A 4 YEAR COLLEGE MAKE UNDER 60K/YEAR?!?!? My parents both didn't graduate college but my dad has been working at the same college as a locksmith for over 25 years and makes over 60k/year."</p>

<p>Hear this: not everyone has the same opportunities. It could've been that these people graduated from a foreign university, which doesn't have as much weight in the US (harder to get a job); or that the degree he/she had didn't carry much weight in the real world, despite his/her attempts to find a job; or that he/she was physically debilitated (I know many QB participants have parents on disability); or many other reasons. Seriously, it's different for everyone, though it's good that you've been fortunate enough to have a household income of 60k+; your father has been lucky to be able to salvage such a job despite not having attended college.</p>

<p>In addition, I'll reference the income ranges of those who were matched:</p>

<p>40% make under $20,000/year
46% make between $20,001-$40,000
12% make between $40,001-$62,000</p>

<p><a href="http://www.questbridge.org/students/profiles_class2011/stats.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.questbridge.org/students/profiles_class2011/stats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I suggest you not contemn an organization unless and until you've thoroughly looked into it.</p>

19

<p>Yes, I know my lack of any "good" extracurriculars, but I think it's quite hard for me to do much in that area, probably due to the lack of connections my mom has, and also due to the fact that I only started stressing for ECs around this time, becuase I just moved to the U.S during 8th grade (I lived in Taiwan for 5 years before, and boy it was hard), so I didn't know much about this whole EC stuff. However, I plan to co-found and probably run for office for a Game Development Club with a friend of mine's, so that would probably help for a CompSci major? Also, I'll start planning to write good essays, so they'll have no choice but to accept me. ;)</p>

<p>Also, I have one EC (I think it is, or at least it probably helps...) that I didn't list:
- I helped my Uncle's company (his company originated in Taiwan) by doing some translation and English editing work for their products, and give suggestions to him. MAYBE because of my help (oir at least one factor), his company was able to sell stuff at Fry's (A large California electronics superstore) in just a few years (He started business here a short time ago)).</p>

20

<p>You aren't disadvantaged when it comes to ECs; the connections your mom has has nothing to do with the clubs at the school, and coming to the US in 8th grade doesn't make you any different from other kids, as most weren't aware of the importance of ECs at that time, anyway.</p>