Chances: UCs + USC

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I’m in the midst of college applications and would love to know what you all think of my chances for these schools:
USC
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego

GPA UW: 3.3
GPA W: 3.6

SAT: 1790 (540M 600CR 650W, retaking in October)
ACT: 29
SAT II: (taking US and Lit in November)

APs: World History (4), AP US History (5), AP Lang (5), AP Lit (taking), AP Gov (taking)

ECs:
-BABB Club (we basically did drives and raised funds and such to put together birthday boxes for homeless kids) (10th)
-Theatre festivals/competitions (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
-Theatre Council (10th)

Recommendations: My counselor knows me VERY well so it should be good, and the other two come from my teachers who knew my whole situation (AP US and AP Lang) and were very helpful during the year.

Essays: English is my strongest subject and my teacher from Lang (also my Lit teacher) is offering to help review my essays.

I am doing Questbridge which is why I’m listing a lot more info than I probably need to

info about me if it matters:
Ethnicity: White/asian female
School: public, but pretty competitive (we had a good amount of Yale and Harvard acceptances last year and there’s at least 800 kids in my graduating class)

Additional Information: A big part of why my GPA and ECs are not too stellar is that from freshman-junior year I lived with my mom, but she was a major alcoholic/drug user and we lived in motels for the first two years but for the majority of my junior year we were sleeping on the streets most days (everything we owned could fit into two shopping carts) and I ended up missing a lot of school. Eventually, I left and was put in foster care. Also first gen, if that helps. I plan on applying to some CSUs as well, but I’m wondering if any of the schools I listed are possible matches/low reaches.

2

Berkeley is the top public university in the country by most measures. You’ve got a great story, but with your stats it’s still a high reach. UCLA is a reach. I can’t speak to your chances at the others.

3

I agree with above poster ^^^^ your story is very compelling, but it may not make up for the lower than average GPA or test scores. No one here is an Adcom and cannot tell you for sure but your essays will be the determing factor.

I think UCSC is a good target school and possibly UCSB might be within Reach. The rest of the UC’s will be a tough admit.

Good luck and I know you will end up at a great school.

4

Add UCR and SDSU to your list. They are very good schools and within your reach.