I am planning on majoring in Bio/Chem and plan on going on to Pre-Med. I have taken honors classes my whole high school year. My senior year schedule consists of AP Chem, AP Lit, AP French, and AP Psych. I haven’t taken my SAT yet but plan on taking it in May in hopes of getting at least 2000+. I want to attend a 4-year University in California and need college suggestions. The only college I have truly been interested in is University of California Irvine and am worried I will not have any back-up colleges. Any suggestions?
It’s hard to recommend colleges without a concrete ACT/SAT score. This is a key piece for admissions. Perhaps ask again when you have this information? That said, for pre-med, your college GPA will be of more importance than the the specific college from which it was earned. For that reason, I would avoid colleges that have a reputation of grade deflation. I do not know where Irvine falls on that spectrum.
I definitely will ask again when I receive my scores thanks for your feedback!
We need more info. What’s your current GPA (weighted, unweighted and UC)? If you took the PSAT, what was your score? What are you looking for in a school? Think prospective major, size, environment, religious affiliation etc. Would you prefer northern CA or southern CA?
Other big question is finances. Do you live in CA? Have your parents told you how much they might be able to pay?
My GPA has varied between a 3.4-3.8 my whole high school experience, this semester it has gone to a 3.4 because of my wrong doings of participating in too many extra curricular activities. I did take the PSAT and got a 1650 I believe, it isn’t that great because I did not prepare for it but have already began preparing for the SAT and am confident in receiving a 2000+. I prefer a southern CA college. I want to major in something related to the health sciences at the least, college sizes and environments aren’t a huge factor in my search for a college to attend. I currently have no religious affiliation. I do currently live in Southern CA and my parents said they are willing to put forth as much as they need to for whatever college I get accepted to and plan on going to.
Just based on your current GPA and wanting a So Cal location along with the school being a UC, your choices are UCI. UCSD and UCR. Like the above posters stated it is difficult to give you some recommendations without an SAT/ACT score. For UCI and UCSD, you will need at least a UC GPA of around 4.0 and SAT close to your target of 2000 depending upon major. Also as stated above, you want to get the best possible GPA and all the UC’s are competitive. At the end of Junior year, calculate your UC GPA and post test scores. I have 2 suggestions for backups but will depend upon your Stats: SDSU and CSULB both are great schools for applicants interested in pursuing a Pre-professional field.
http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Btw are you in- state? OOS will cost $55k/year to attend with no FA. Make sure parents are ok with this amount.
OP lives in So Cal, so instate.
The GPA is low for UCSD. The Cal States would be good targets. Or, look into the small privates (Point Loma Nazarene, i.e.), which could even provide merit aid with a decent/high SAT score, and have a better history of good gpa’s for students aiming for professional grad schools (law or med).
Yes I am instate,and ahh thank you guys that helps a lot. Do you know if colleges will look more at my second semester of Junior year of both semesters equally, because I plan on improving tremendously with my GPA this semester and may retake some courses over summer. Also do the kinds of classes (AP, Honors, etc.) effect the outcomes GPA wise?
Some colleges will “unweight” your gpa, such that the honors/AP inflation will not be calculated into your gpa, but will be considered as part of the rigor you faced. Others, such as UC’s, have a unique way of calculating gpa that does include some honors and APs into the calculation. There are differences in the ways colleges calculate gpa, so you will need to research that college by college. They will look at each semester the same (although UCs will not look at freshman year), but an upward trend can be noted.
Okay, I have some great recommendations for you. With a GPA of 3.4-3.8 and and SAT of hopefully about 2000, here are some matches in California:
FYI- “competitive” just means that it would be a good match for you and you’re right in the middle/ topish half of the applicant pool
SMALL:
Whittier College would be a real safety for you
Pepperdine is fantastic and would be kind of a safety
University of the Pacific is a safety
University of San Francisco is a little bigger than some of these small schools and would be a safety
Claremont McKenna as compiteitve-ish
Occidental (I think you would really love it)
Pitzer College is great and would be competitive
Pomona College is just a bit more difficult to get in to
Harvey Mudd College would be a reach
MEDIUM:
USC would probably be great for you. Everybody loves it there and it would be competitive.
LARGE:
UC- Berkeley would be competitive
UCLA is always competitive
I also strongly recommend University of Miami (FL).
Claremont McKenna and Pomona are the highest reaches even for candidates with perfect grades and scores. Pitzer is not far behind. Ditto Harvey Mudd. The Claremont Colleges as a whole are extremely selective and do not have room to accept but a few of their many thousands of applicants.
I also believe that UCB and UCLA are high reaches for this candidate at this point.
USC is a hit or miss; they accept high and low…their criteria is not particularly transparent.
I agree with the rest of your recommendations.
As others above note, this exercise is a bit pre-mature. I will say, going from 1650 PSAT to 2000+ SAT feels like a stretch to me.
With a 3.6 - 1850 and decent EC/essays, (which feels like a likely outcome and is, honestly, quite good) you might make UCSC, probably will make UCR and definitely UCM. The others seem unlikely. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply but, be realistic about your chances.
I’d encourage you to back off on the ECs this semester and really focus on your grades. Then use the summer to nail your SAT.
Good luck.
I agree with @prospect1 about the Claremont consortium. @hopesrovner is underestimating how competitive they are. Claremont McKenna had a 10% acceptance rate last year (compared to 12% at Pomona and about 13% at Pitzer and Harvey Mudd). Also @hopesrovner’s post is confusing by defining “competitive” to mean the school is a good match for the OP and the OP is in the middle of the applicant pool. OP is not competitive for the Claremont colleges, UCLA, UCB, probably USC without improvement in scores and overall GPA.
I think LMU, University of Redlands, and Whittier may all be worth a look.