Chances for UC's!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So, I am a current junior. I chanced my friend a couple of days ago, now I want to get some feedback for my chances for the UC’s.

Junior
Asian Male
Income Bracket: Not exactly sure.

Stats:
SAT: 2320 (720 R, 800M ,800 W, 11 Essay) First Try
GPA: 3.93 UW expected to up by .01 by the end of junior year.
4.1 as of first semester junior year. Around 4.2 end of Junior Year.
No other test scores.

Schedule:
AP World
AP Calc BC
AP Physics 1
Regular English
AP Computer Science

No Prior AP’s. School offers 0 AP’s to freshman and 1 AP to sophomores (didn’t take due to schedule conflict).

Senior Courseload:
AP Statistics
AP Spanish
AP Government
AP English
AP Chem or AP Bio or both.

Extracurriculars:
Play violin. 2nd Violin section leader sophomore year. Currently 4th Chair which is good but not outstanding.
Play Chess. 1700~ USCF rating, which is Class B, basically nothing extremely outstanding. Was only able to participate in 1 major tournament since coming to California.

Volunteering:
Tutored at elementary school sophomore year. (We got kicked out so unable to continue Junior Year)
Tutored at my school’s tutoring center-Junior Year
Tutored people at my school in math for math club-Junior Year
Nothing freshman year.

Summers:
Went to China to give my mother some treatment (both freshman and sophomore summer)

Hooks, interesting things?
Mom has some kind of illness, renders her unable to drive, so forced to volunteer and do stuff near home/walking distance.
Went to China when I was 11 due to my Dad’s work issues. Went to a Chinese public school with minimal mandarin knowledge. Published an essay in a Chinese book, and was able to crack top 4-5% among the native Chinese students at my school. (Grades are solely based on monthly tests, so it’s a one-time thing, not like the US)
Family is basically forced to separate. Sister was adopted in China but is unable to immigrate to the US so dad has to stay with her there.
I don’t know if any of these count, just throwing stuff out there.

Conclusion: Decent stats but very few extracurriculars.

Basically looking mainly at the UC’s, but any other suggestions of good schools for me would be greatly appreciated.

Any schools that would give me some kind of scholarship? I’m not extremely low income but scholarship would be helpful nonetheless.
I don’t know what major I’m going to do. If you’re gonna chance, could you chance for both the undeclared college (L&S) and something more competitive like engineering/chemistry?

2

You are a competitive applicant for all the UC’s. Make sure you spend time this summer on your UC essays and make them amazing. As for scholarships, Regents will pay anywhere from $2500K/year up to $10K/year depending upon the UC. You should also explore some other UC scholarships such as the UCLA alumni Scholarship which can be found on the UCLA financial aid website. I would check all the UC websites directly to get more information about any other scholarships. You should also consider some privates since they give more FA and merit aid than the UC’s. Occidental, Claremont Colleges, USC are some that come to mind. Good Luck.

3

Thanks for your chance. Do you know how hard it is to obtain Regents as I know the competition for UC’s is fierce.
Any other chances are welcome as well.

4

Bump!

5

I know my EC’s are severely lacking and would like any advice on additional schools that fit my profile and advice on what I can do this summer?
I could go volunteer abroad (Help homeless ppl etc) but not exactly sure if that is better than just volunteering at home (Volunteering at a local library) ?

6

Bump! Mainly looking for chances at UCLA, UCB, UCSD and UCI as those are the ones that I really want to go to.
Majoring in Bio E probably (though far from set on what major I am actually gonna do)

7

You are a guarantee at UCI and your chances are very good at UCSD. I have friends going to both schools with lower academic profiles and similar extracurriculars.

To up your chances at UCLA and Cal, I encourage you to pursue activities and possible leadership in STEM activities, as you indicated engineering is a possible major. Work hard on your essays, as they can make or break a borderline application.

As far as other options, I second the notion that Occidental and USC are schools with more FA resources to look at. If you are willing to go out of state, look at middle tier liberal arts schools like Macalester or Davidson. There’s a lot of options out there!

8

you should look at UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis. pretty good schools and you could definitely get in. i have a few friends at UC Irvine who got great financial aid packages as well

9

@incorpXand Thanks for your suggestions, but I don’t know if I was unclear but financial aid is not a must as my parents can pay for my instate tuition. I just thought it would be nice as I have a younger sibling who will also be going to college soon and I would like to lighten the burden a little for my parents.
It’s not exactly a must as my parents are clear that they can afford UC tuition, but it’s just a plus.
Generally, I would prefer the UC’s to any other schools (bar the top top schools like the Ivies), as instate tuition is going to be cheaper.
Schools like USC I will definitely look into for their FA resources and see if they are a fit for me, but my parents want me to go to a university for the research opportunities as I will probably be going to grad school as well.
@brooklynbaby1985 Yes I will definitely be applying to UCD and UCSC, great schools like you said with relatively cheap tuition. I’m going to be applying to all the UC’s.

Thanks for your suggestions. They’re really helping me through this process of finding and selecting colleges to apply for.

10

I think you are a possible candidate for the schools that you mentioned. A 3.93 Unweighted and with your SAT score will get you into a UC most likely. However, it does depend on your major. Beware that putting something such as engineering immediately lowers your chances for admission (but obviously if you love engineering, go for it!) whereas if you pick humanities you will have a higher chance. Also note that colleges do have ways of finding out if you are picking a stupid major just to get in to the school so if you don’t know what you want to do, don’t be afraid to put Undeclared.

With your stats, you will get into:

UC Riverside
UC Santa Cruz
UC Merced

You will most likely get into:

UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
UC Davis

You might or might not get into:

UC San Diego
UC Los Angeles
UC Berkeley

I think you are a very good student so you have good chances but the last thing that I will say is college is getting much harder. This year, admissions were twice as hard and also quite random for students and I applied to many schools I thought I would be admitted to but I got rejected. When you apply to schools, you need to put backup schools just in case. Next year I assume admissions will become even more competitive.

11

Your lack of ECs may be explained by your need to attend to your mother. Every school that we visited said that taking care of family is acceptable instead of ECs. For example students who need to remain home to take care of siblings or students who need to work won’t be penalized. You may want your GC to comment on this in his LoR. With that explained you have a good shot at all UCs.

12

UC’s do not accept LoR’s, so addressing this in you essay would be your best option or there is an additional comments section on the UC application.

13

Ok, I guess I will mention it in the additional comments section.
Yes, I know engineering is an extremely tough college to get into. If I come in undeclared, what happens when I decide what major I want to do? Are you allowed to transfer (considering that engineer is significantly harder to get into and has its own separate requirements)

14

@javacash01 Yes, thanks for the advice. I have noticed the trend so I will be applying to safeties like UCR as they have auto admission and I think I meet those requirements.

15

It looks like UCR no longer offers the GAP program (Guaranteed admission) for Freshman. The only guarantee you have is UC Merced since you look like you qualify for ELC (top 9%). If you go in undeclared and decide to major in any very competitive major such as Engineering, the ability to get into these competitive majors, gets more difficult as the UC’s get more selective. If you are leaning towards Engineering, then I would try to get a direct admit. Much easier to switch out of Engineering then to switch in.

16

your stats are really good as well as your senior courseload (wow good luck haha). i would say you have a good chance at top UC’s (UCLA/Berkeley/UCSD). if you want more EC’s then talk to your counselor and maybe get some suggestions with volunteering with local organizations. also know that engineering is probably the most competitive major at this point, so if you should probably decide whether you want to pursue that or not around now (and if you decide you do, take SAT II’s in Math 2 and a Science and possible intern/volunteer work in that area). and if you are comfortable with it, i would suggest writing about your experiences in China because that will set you apart from other applicants. for scholarships, you have a good shot at Regents for UC’s. if you aren’t going out of state, i would suggest looking into Cal Poly SLO (esp. for engineering) and the Claremont colleges. and honestly, if you want to try for Stanford, you should. USC as well. for out of state, the possibilities are endless. with your stats, i would look into the ivys and other top schools like duke and UVa.

17

@sinoue123 Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I will be looking into some top schools but I know from the seniors in my graduating class that it is near impossible to get in without something extremely special about yourself. Many extremely intelligent seniors did not get in Ivies and such so I will not be expecting much if I apply to these schools.
@Gumbymom Does UCM have the same criteria for the top 9% as UCR once did (like a chart with specified points for your GPA and SAT scores and a certain number to qualify)?

18

Calculator for ELC eligibility: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/

19

I think your stats look very solid, you definitely have a high chance at the UC’s. Your extracurriculars are nice and the hooks are great!