I attend a private school thats pretty acedmically oriented, with a lot of smart students. I use this program that the school provides us called “naviance.” It allows students to look at admission stats of students from the previous years and I’m finding out that a lot of qualified students get turned down at the UCs from my school This is probably due to the many ppl applying from my school, like anywhere from 60 applicants (lower to mid tier UCs) all the way up to 100 applicants (upper tier UCs). The average GPA of acceptances to UCs from my school are higher then the overall average GPA of accepted students at UCs. I’m wondering if this is simply because UCs or any college in general do not want to pick up many ppl from a same school. Also because it’s a private school does that mean that UCs expect a much higher GPA than from someone from a public school? all this kinda making me wish I attended a public school. my school doesn’t rank students but I have about an avg GPA of 4.05ish and i’d guess that probably puts me in the top 20 or 15% of my class but at an average public school that GPA would probably put me in the top 10 maybe even top 5% right?
anyway one example- UCSB
avg GPA 4.05
but from those accepted from my school
avg GPA 4.20
or UCD
avg GPA 4.07
but from those accepted from my school
avg GPA 4.24
or UCSD
avg 4.13
but from those accepted from my school
avg GPA 4.33
this has really opened my eyes to the fact that all the UCs besides Merced riverside and Santa Cruz are big reaches for me.
I have a good senior schedule with 4 APs and 1 honors class planned, and the AP classes I’m taking are not really difficult compared to other APs I have taken and are offered my my school, I fully expect to have a much higher GPA next year, but with that said, it’s a little too late to make any real difference because senior year grades aren’t even calculated by UCs I just hope maybe they see the upward trend of my GPA late on and hopefully idk a miracle happens.
Private schools indeed are held to a higher standard. In fact when admissions officers sit down and review applicants during rounds, they typically advance from school to school within a given state. So essentially you are compared to students within your own school. This is the basis of ‘holistic’ admissions and as you expect, somewhat biased against students from high achieving schools.
Have you considered applying to colleges outside of the typical geographic distribution for your school? Esp east coast liberal arts colleges? You might have an advantage because fewer students from your school will apply to these colleges.
I’ve only ever considered UCs + a few California private schools as schools I’d be interested in, but now I’m gunna open up my horizons and broaden my college search. I’m/was pretty set on staying in California but I’m starting to entertain the idea of going out of state
Are the GPAs listed in your school’s Naviance calculated the same way that GPAs reported by UCs are listed?
Have you calculated your GPA the way that UCs (and CSUs) calculate so that you can compare with their stats?
http://www.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp
The above link describes the weighted-capped version. Most UC reported high school GPAs use this version unless otherwise specified. Admissions readers will also see unweighted and weighted-uncapped GPAs calculated for your application.
You can see admission rates by campus and (weighted-capped) GPA range:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary
I am from a private catholic highschool and sadly it is harder for private school kids to get accepted because like it was stated you are held to a higher standard but also it does make it easier for you in some ways because of the many opportunities where given such as naviance and a professional guidance counselor that is college oriented depending from school to school certain colleges will pick many of it applicants from specific schools due to the fact that school produces the alumni they want
But remember college applications aren’t just about what highschool you go to many factors take part in your college application such as race, gender, extracurricular activities etc…
So it’s not just cut and dry
Ps I got into a top school for my major don’t worry
Colleges take into account the rigor of your school, and your school is certainly more rigorous than public schools. I go to a public school with a lot of grade inflation and I’ve heard I’m at a disadvantage in college admissions, as many students from my school come out unprepared for college. As Stripperella said, colleges know which schools produce the alumni they want.