I really want to go to UCLA and i’m nervous for the admissions. My unweighted GPA is 4.0, 10-12 weighted 4.8, and UC GPA is a 4.4. I’ve taken 4 ap exams and passed all of them and got a 5 on Calc AB. My ACT is a 33 and I’m not taking the SAT. For the subject tests, I got an 800 on the Math 2 and a 730 on the Physics. My main extracurriculars consist of being a 4 year track athlete, 3 on varsity, and eventually becoming a captain, and I tutor kids after school for school service. I have awards such as student of the semester from my math and physics class, I’m a part of CSF and hopefully NHS, and I’ve had perfect attendance in high school if that means anything. I think my essays are written well and my stats are good all but I’m just scared because engineering is super competitive and they deny qualified students on a yearly basis. What are about my odds of getting in and is there anything I can do to improve my chances?
You look like a competitive applicant but with the huge number of applicants and the low acceptance rate along with the competitiveness for Engineering majors, you should consider it a Reach school. That said, your chances look better than most.
Since applications are due Nov 30th, there is really nothing more than you can do and be proud of what you have accomplished.
Apply widely and best of luck.
How are you @marcus2165 ? Let me invoke our EE friend, @10s4life , who’ll probably go deeper into your quals.
Here’s a link to the SAT and ACT scores as stated by the ASEE website for UCLA Engineering in 2018.
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/8219/screen/19?school_name
For the years 2014-2018, here are the percentile numbers they gave for UCLA, with the University being undoubtedly the most transparent in the nation:
…Year…ACT, 75th…ACT, 25th…SAT, 75th…SAT, 25th
2014-15…35 (M)…33 (M)…1,540 (Adj)**…1,380 (Adj)
…34 (C)…31 (C)…
2015-16…35 (M)…32 (M)…1,560 (Adj)…1,380…(Adj)
…34 (C)…32 (C)…
2016-17…35 (M)…33 (M)…1,550 (Adj)…1,380…(Adj)
…34 (C)…32 (C)…
2017-18…35 (M)…33 (M)…1,540…1,450…
…35 (C)…32 (C)…
2018-19…35 (M)…33 (M)…1,540…1,480…
…35 (C)…33 (C)…
- The (M) stands for the math component score of the ACT and the (C) for the composite.
**The adjustments for the first three groupings of years for the SAT involved my converting the Reading and Writing of the three-part SAT in those years to a two-part by adding the R&W and dividing by two and adding it to the math score. This is the approximate adjustment the University made so as not to overemphasize the English portion over the Math.
As you can see, from 2016 to 2017 the University stepped up the 25th percentile scores of its engineering students significantly, as well as from 2017 to 2018. Some of that might have been a recentering of the SAT along with the testing center switching to the EBRW from 2016 to 2017 and thereby reducing the overemphasis on English and Reading, but some was undoubtedly an increased and higher perception of UCLA Engineering. The University is pumping a lot of $$$ into the school and is increasing E’s presence on campus; consequently, the E school is ascending the rankings, meeting its perception nationally.
As you can see from the ASEE website, there were > 26,000 applications of which 3002 were accepted to the E school in 2018-19 for an acceptance of 11-12%. The 26K represents > 23% of the U’s total applicants. We’ll just have to see what 2019-20 brought about in the numbers later in the year (hopefully).
Therefore as related to you, it’ll be tough, as it will be when you apply to other universities. But the good news for you is that EE and CS are the toughest to which to gain entry, but Civil is probably the easiest.
All the best…
It would undoubtedly help if one could be moderator to be able to make edits beyond the time limit that the rest of us are constrained within to do. Multi-tasking will do one in every time. Here’s an edit to the following:
I didn’t have a chance to go into more specifics earlier today. So here are some of the numbers related to the entering engineers from 2018-19, with a bit more detail:
Total Applications: 26,195
Total Accepted: 2,987, 11.4%
Total Enrolled: 924, 30.9% Yield
The 2,987 accepted students had the following qualifications at the median:
UwGPA: 4.00
WGPA: 4.59
SAT: 1,540
ACT © per concordance: 35
The 924 who enrolled had the following quals:
UwGPA: 4.00 (Est. based on overall admissions: a 3.92 descends to 32nd % percentile
WGPA: 4.50+ (Estimated on lower diminution of gpa stats and above)
SAT: 1,510 - 1,520 (Estimate based on ~ midpoint of 1,480 to 1,540 percentiles)
ACT ©: 34 (Based on 2018 concordance with SAT)
In other words, if you had 10 students representing each decile of student at UCLA you’d have the following for all the freshmen of 2018-19, with the indented inputs as known values:
1st: 4.00 (Top of the top of the 1st, 100th Percentile)
2nd: 4.00 (90th)
3rd: 4.00 (80th)
…75th Percentile: 4.00 (Per UCLA Admissions website)
4th: 3.99 (70th)
5th: 3.97 (60th)
6th: 3.94 (50th)
7th: 3.92 (40th)
…38th Percentile: 3.92 (Per UCLA Admissions)
8th: 3.88 (30th)
…25th Percentile: 3.85 (Per UCLA Admissions)
9th: 3.80 (20th)
…14th Percentile: 3.75 (Per UCLA CDS)
10th: 3.65 (10th) (Per CDS, GPA between 3.50-3.74)
The average uwgpa is 3.89 and an average of these 10 deciles is 3.91, but this would be the topside of each decile, so the average s/b ~ 3.89 of these figures (even if they’re chopped up medians not averages). The median is indeed around a 3.94. Sorry Marcus, I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, so sorry that I did these calculations in your thread.
@firmament2x and @marcus2165 :
I combined the 2 posts with the edits made by @firmament2x
Thanks for the such a detailed discussion on OP’s chances.
UC Forum Champion: Gumbymom
@gumbymom . . . so kind of you, thanks… 
And another typo on my part – not really, but more of a mental blunder…
2018-19…35 (M)…33 (M)…1,550…1,480…
…35 ©…33 ©…
This explains why I placed the median of the two SATs at 1,510 to 1,520.
@alicantekid prob has some good advice/input on this.
I think at this point you’ve done all you can. I guess if you want to, you could take the SAT one more time to try to get an 800 on Math2, but the effort might not be worth it unless you actually increase your score.
Civil tends to be one of the easier ones to get into (relatively speaking), so my only advice is to just wait until decisions come out.