Chances: UCLA, UW, USC, NYU

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hello, this is my first post here.</p>

<p>To give you some kind of background information, I am from Canada and will be taking the SAT and 2 subject tests (math lvl2 and physics) in November, following December. I have a large record of extra-curricular activities and volunteer hours as well as recommendations.</p>

<p>My average GPA is 3.3 for grade 10 and 11, which I am deeply ashamed of. And it saddens me even more that your grade 12 scores are not considered when you apply for admission, only 10 and 11, so there is no way to improve the GPA.</p>

<p>I am thoroughly very interested in the field of Computer Science and Engineering (if you don't already know, there is CS and CSE). Yes, yes, the number of students wanting to apply in this field has gone up so the demand for them has gone down. But I don't really care, as I am passionate about working with software and hardware.</p>

<p>I've created a list of schools that I will apply to (in the order that I most desire to be admitted into):
1.) UCLA
2.) University of Washington
3.) USC
4.) NYU</p>

<p>To me, UCLA is my dream school and I have searched around online for rankings of schools in terms of CS, and UCLA is definitely ranked among the highest. However, most of the previous admits had an average GPA of 3.9 or above, which truly frightens me, as I am no where around this number. I am also confused by the fact that some UCLA admits have an outstanding GPA of 4.1, when the maximum for my school is 4.0.</p>

<p>But I believe that it doesn't hurt to apply and if I get admitted, I will be very satisfied, but if not, then so be it.</p>

<p>My family and I will be moving to the United States next year, however, the rules specify that you must reside in the US for at least one full year before you are considered an American citizen. All of the schools on my list seem to have a very small percentage of international student admits each year and this is what worries me. I am guessing that priority is given to American citizens, and if you are an international student, then you must be academically strong with an outstanding average GPA of 3.8 or above in order to be successfully admitted, according to the previous admit-year statistics. But as you can see, this is not me and therefore becomes another disadvantage.</p>

<p>I'm doing fairly well on the SAT practice exams. I have heard stories about how some academically poor students are often admitted into the best schools based on their achievements in life as well as their successful SAT scores, but I do believe that these are just rumors that is given to provide hope for those who have a low ranking.</p>

<p>My current hope at the moment is to score high on the SAT, explain thoroughly well about my situation in well-written persuasive essays, which I excel at, and provide a large amount of evidence for school and volunteer activities. But I am interested to hear about your overall thoughts on my chances of getting into these schools. And if none of these schools are in my range, it would be nice if you could recommend some schools that are.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>With a 3.3 GPA, I would definitely add some safeties. </p>

<p>If you like UCLA, apply to a few Cal States as well. They aren’t quite as prestigious as the UCs, but they’d still offer you a solid education in your field. Plus, the state of California in general is a great place to be for anything computer related. </p>

<p>Also try the University of Arizona and ASU. Their atmospheres are similar to UCLA and USC, but they’re in your safe range academically.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for that reply. I appreciate your input. I’m not familiar with the geographic location of California as I’m not currently a resident, but the location of UofA seems to be out of the range in terms of location of housing that my parents are currently looking into.</p>

<p>We live in BC, Canada at the moment, which is extremely close to Seattle, and we are familiar with the Seattle region, and this is why I’ve chosen UofW as my second most preferred school. They provide outstanding CS programs and I’ve also heard that they were the first to introduce “Google 101”.</p>

<p>Through further surfing around this forum, I’ve noticed that some users are taking AP classes, which my school does not offer, weakening my portfolio. But I’ve also noticed that they are also placing musical achievements for consideration, which I have an ARCT Performer’s diploma in piano, achieving a score of +90.</p>

<p>1.) Will music achievements help admission for a student who is planning to major in a mathematical/scientific field?</p>

<p>2.) What is your opinion of the chances of me gaining admission to UofW with these current statistics?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

4

<p>I can’t answer your other questions, but you might want to try the CSUs (cal state university), they are like the UCs (UCLA etc) except just a step down. Not too bad though, because even the second tier of CA’s public universities are better than most states first tier.</p>

<p>If you want CS or CSE try a one of the poly CSUs that are more tech focused. For example, Cal Poly Pomona is probably THE best school in CA for architecture. At least that’s how everyone who’s interested in Architecture at my school treats it. Something about it being a professional degree so it’s better than Berkeley and USC. I don’t know, but definitly check out the CSUs. Specifically pomona and Cal Poly SLO</p>

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<p>(Arizona is right next to California)</p>