CS/CSE/CompE at UCSD

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

I want to major in either computer science or computer engineering at UCSD, but I don’t know if my Stats/EC’s are worth it for me to apply…

GPA Scale: A in a regular class: 4.0 ; Honors/AP:5.0
Unweighted/ Weighted GPA: 3.65 / 4.41
Class rank: Top 15% in the over 650 kids in my graduating class
ACT: 31 (taking classes and hoping to increase this to a 33)
Senior Course Load: AP Econ/Gov (1st/2nd semester), AP Literature, AP Calc AB, AP Physics, AP Computer Science, and Advanced Marketing
AP Courses: 9 by the end of next year

Extra curricular:
DECA:
Arizona DECA State Officer (Represent 9,000 students)
Served as Chapter Vice President & Public Relations Officer
Won 1st Place in Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan Junior Year (Developed an app plan), 3rd Place in Marketing Communications Sophomore Year
Two Year International Career Development Conference Qualifier
International Media Correspondent

Speech & Debate:
4 Year Speech and Debate member
Served as Speech and Debate Secretary
3 Year Varsity Debater

American Red Cross:
4 Year American Red Cross member
Serve as Red Cross Public Relations Officer

Other:
National Honors Society (2 Years)
Mentoring Program
Key Club
Large amount of community service
Arizona State University’s Business Scholar

WORK:
Corporate Marketing IT Intern for 2 Years
IT Development Specialist for 1 Year
Started my own business by coding my own website and creating an online retail website.

Plan on starting an engineering organization at my school
Ethnicity: Asian/Indian

First Generation American
First Generation College Student

I know my GPA is relatively low as is my class rank. Would it be better for me to apply for regular decision and get my grades up first semester of senior year? Also, is there anything I can do to show my passion for engineering and technology? Do you guys know of any place I can get an online certificate or something in CS or CE? Any help/advice would be appreciated!

2

UCSD only has RD with application due Nov 30. You need to calculate your UC GPA? http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Are you OOS? Will you be able to pay at the minimum of $23K + EFC up to $55K/ year to attend? Little to no FA for OOS students. That being said, you lokk like a qualified applicant. Good luck

3

Your unweighted GPA is low and you should calculate your UC GPA which only gives you a certain amount of bonus points for honors/AP classes. I think you could have a good chance with your work exp and depending on how you display your interest in your personal statements. Your GPA doesn’t matter for senior year as long as you get above a 3.0 with no D’s. You should also try and get at least a 33 on your ACT.

I was accepted to SD for comp sci this year with a 2150 SAT and 3.95/4.5 GPA being in the top 2% of my class with about 770 kids but with almost nonexistent EC’s and very subpar rough draft personal statements.

You could have pretty similar stats compared to me with many more EC’s/work exp so I think you should be fine. Also look into studying for SAT math ii and SAT physics which are “heavily recommended”. However I also did not meet these requirements.

TLDR – Raise ACT, Take and get 700+ on math ii and sat phys, talk about your interest in PS. Hopefully I’ll see you at SD. Gl

4

If you are OOS, not sure it’s a good idea to pay OOS tuition, otherwise I would suggest to apply and find out.