My son gets pissed off if I discuss college anymore since has finished applying. I am kind of anxious and trying to see the odds. There is so much info here and there and kind of finding difficult to figure out so many terminologies. Please help.
Myself - Parent
Son graduates from Monta Vista High shool, Cupertino, CA
Gets some additional points on EI for SJSU since we r in Santa Clara county.
Son entering college - fall of 2020
SAT score - Reading 790 + Math 800 = 1590
SAT Math level 2 - 800
SAT Physics - 800
9th grade - Taken 5 a-g courses (other is PE) —> All A’s
10th grade - Taken 6 a-g courses (Chem and Math - Honors) - 5 A’s & B in English
11th grade - Taken 6 a-g courses (Math, Physics, Comp Sci, US hist – AP) - All A’s
12th grade - Taken 6 a-g courses (Stats, Phy (E&M & Mech), Spanish, Macro Econ/ US Govt – taking APs) - first sem yet see result
De Anza community college - Discrete maths - A grade
AP TEST:
Calculus BC - 5
Comp Sci - 5
Physics 1 - 4
Physics 2 - 4
As Extra curricular, tutors students at his school in 10th, 11th, and now 12th - about 25 to 30 hours per semester (part of STUDY BUDY program)
Coached NJB junior team summer of 11th grade
Participates in some hackathons etc, but hasn’t won anything notable
Part of school debate team in 9th and 10th, won nothing though
Overall in Extra curricular hasn’t got much worthwhile to show except for his tutoring (has certificate from school)
Question:
- How to calculate MCA for Cal Poly? I see something about semesters etc. Not sure if we have to consider 12th grade (but how, since he will not have his scores for 12 th grade)
- For overall CSU, do they calculate only 9, 10 and 11 or 12 also (again how do we give the scores for 12th)
- UCSD I know is a long shot though. Any input will be fine.
SLO uses 9-11th grades for their GPA with a 8 semester honors point cap.
The rest of the CSU’s use 10-11th grades for the a-g courses.
UC GPA calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
MCA calculator for SLO: https://mca.netlify.com/
Also include middle school semesters for Math (Algebra and Geometry) along with any Foreign language.
Safety schools on his list?
UC Capped weighted GPA = CSU Capped weighted for SJSU.
No AP English courses?
Other schools he applied besides UCSD, SLO and SJSU?
San Diego State - He got accepted already.
Outside state applied: UT Austin, Ann Arbor, Urbana Champaign, Univ of Washington, Purdue, Rice, USC, Stanford (its CA). I believe with this competition, he doesnt stand any chance in these
In State: All UC CA colleges, San Jose State, Cal Poly. SDSU he got accepted.
He didn’t take AP English. (wasn’t interested or lost interest after he got B in 10th grade in English).
Really want him to get at least San Jose state university, at least can save on boarding and lodging and its in Bay Area where I have lived for 21 years.
He didnt bother to apply for ED or EA too. Kind of doesnt regret too…:))
Not sure how one can have 10 semesters within 3 years of high (9th to 11th). So I choose 6 for all subjects. Not sure if am right. He didn’t get VPA subject until now (his senior year). So I can’t put that. Isn’t it unfair, because the school didn’t offer him though he applied for it in 10th and 11th. Loss to understand how all this works.
For the MCA calculator, you include all the semesters of a-g course work including Senior year in-progress courses and the middle school (Math/Foreign language). Taking a VPA class Senior year will not be an issue.
For the GPA calculator, you use either 9-11th grades for the a-g courses for SLO or 10-11th grades for the a-g courses for the CSU’s and UC’s.
Based on the posted information, he is very competitive but CS also happens to be the most competitive major at all of these schools.
SDSU is a great option especially if he is interested in the Webers Honor’s college.
So for SDSU and SJSU, they admit by eligibility index and major.
You need to calculate his CSU capped weighted GPA from the UC calculator then plug it into this formula:
(CSU capped weighted GPA x 800) + (SAT Math + EBRW).
SJSU is the only CSU that publishes their EI threshold by major. For CS last year, the threshold was 4675. The thresholds do fluctuate but with his 1590 and a solid GPA, he should have an excellent chance there.
CS at SLO has around a 5.6% acceptance rate and he is highly competitive.
For the UC’s, they tend to be more GPA focused, they will consider all the UC GPA’s (Unweighted, capped weighted and fully weighted) but his EC’s may impact his chances at the top UC’s. He has very good HS course rigor, but it is very STEM focused, so having no AP English (Humanities) can make him a bit “pointy” and not rounded which could have a negative impact on some of the private and OOS schools.
CS is a highly marketable major so any of the schools on his list will give him a good to great education and open up plenty of opportunities for him in the job sector.
Best of luck to him.
Thank u so much Gumbymom. It’s heartening to know the reality about my expectations. I knew ECs would affect. He has plans for masters already from what he says now :)). He says why worry now when I have no plans to work after college etc…kinda that desk kind of nerd kind of answers… I am a sys admin by profession in IT, but my job is like very basic and not the real high tech day to day work. I am a mechanical engineer happened to land in IT some 25 years back. Thanks so much again. Guess I have to hold my fingers crossed, if not as much my son…:))