<p>I was recently rejected and I was in pretty much complete shock. I called in yesterday and found out several interesting things:</p>
<p>I had 7118 points and 7744 were required for admission. The first thing the admissions officer noticed was my low UC GPA (3.6). It's clearly impossible. I have a 4.45 weighted and 3.71 unweighted. 1920 SAT I/ 660, 650 SAT II. Got 150 pts for leadership with sports; unsure about class rigor.</p>
<p>My family makes less than 40k as a 4 person family and I did not receive points for low income. My dad has been absent in my life for the majority of my life physically and financially, causing me to have to take up a part time job. They did not count that as a personal struggle; 0 points there. I filed an appeal on these and other grounds; but now I'm concerned about what Berkeley calculated my GPA as... using the CSU calculator I got a 3.91 UC GPA. If anyone's curious, here's what I used to calculate:</p>
<p>10th grade:
Lang Arts 2A Hnr MYP / B B
European Hist 1A AP MYP/ B B
Alg 2 A Hnr MYP / A A
Chemistry 1A Hnr HL1 / A A
Spanish 3A / A A</p>
<p>11th grade:
Lang Arts 3A IB HL1/ B B
US Hist 1A AP / B A
Pre Calculus 1A Hnr / A A
Spanish 4 A AP / B B
Chemistry 2A HL2/ A B
Theory of knowledge 1A Hnr 1/ A A</p>
<p>This is what it looked like on my UC app, as far as I know there were no mistakes <a href="http://img63.imageshack.us/i/grades2.jpg/%5B/url%5D">http://img63.imageshack.us/i/grades2.jpg/</a></p>
<p>Did I do something wrong? I checked my UC app and these are the exact course I had to get a 3.91. Anyone who has the time to help me out; thanks alot. Any opinions about my appeal are welcome too.</p>
<p>I think there were errors in how you calculated your UC GPA. First, only eight semesters of AP and honor classes count towards extra points for your GPA. Secondly, you have to make sure that the classes that are honors are weighted according to UC policy, for example 10th grade honors classes are not weighted under UC policy.</p>
<p>man you guys are lucky you even have honors, my school is hella dumb and abolished them all.</p>
<p>Are you honors classes all “UC approved”? My school is stupid in that you don’t actually get honors credit for some of your honors classes because they haven’t been approved by the UC system.</p>
<p>I went to the pathways site. Here are the courses that had a star and were therefore HONORS APPROVED:</p>
<p>European Hist 1B AP MYP
Lang Arts 3A IB HL1
US Hist 1A AP
Pre Calculus 1A Hnr
Spanish 4A AP
Chemistry 2A HL2</p>
<p>That’s 6 classes, or 12 semesters. Easily, that’s over the 8 points I could get for each semester; so I am stumped.</p>
<p>i thought it was 8 points total for the ucgpa… but i may be wrong</p>
<p>seems like ucsd drastically changed their admissions this year… oh well, i may not want to be part of a school that turns away from academic excellence in search for public/political approval.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s 8… that’s why I said that’s over the 8 points I should have gotten.</p>
<p>you said 8 points for each semester…
lol i have no idea anymore im tired of all this D:
maybe the de anza –> ucsd route is easier… but i dont want to go to CCC the people there are just… well most of them, lol</p>
<p>It’s 8 total semesters of honors courses that are counted to add a point, meaning 8 total potential points. I had 7 semesters of AP courses from 10-11 grade. If I would have taken maybe 9 or 10 semesters, you could only add that extra point for 8 of those semesters. That’s why the UC GPA section of the point system is 4500, because the max UC GPA is 4.5.</p>
<p>… Yes and as I said before I have 12 potential semesters that they should have added points for; making it impossible for my GPA to be that low.</p>
<p>The UC GPA is calculated using only a-g courses, so I was wondering about the Theory of Knowledge course where you got A’s for both semesters. Did you double check to see if that’s an a-g course? Just asking since I’ve never heard of this course before, but each school is different.</p>
<p>I just called admissions because I thought I stood a fighting chance but found out I received 7508/7744. Sigh. … just 300 points could have tipped it. Now I Know that if I was a first gen college student I would have been admitted or if I was low income.</p>
<p>Oh well!</p>
<p>I asked them about appealing… and they said they know that they made no mistakes in their process; application was reviewed many times. They said you can’t just add stuff to your application that you forgot…etc…basically the application can’t be changed.</p>
<p>Only way to appeal is with “new and compelling information” and it has to contain “merit.” I don’t understand how telling them about my personal life and my problems this year would help out their decision. I have had some life changing issues; but I don’t know if it contains "“merit.” Like I am not sure what they want me to appeal for and what not to appeal for…</p>
<p>You essentially want to provide them with new information like more awards, competitions, etc.</p>
<p>I know you’re trying to help guys but none of you are answering my question.
- I know you can’t present new information
- They cannot be absolute in deciding that they’re always right
- They did not take into account present information on my application</p>
<p>I just calculated it and your unweighted is 3.5454 and weighted is 3.91, which is what you calculated… hmmm… even then you would receive 310 more points which will pull you up to the 7400s; still not enough.</p>
<p>Thanks jett, whats what I was looking for. But look, they didn’t give any points for low income and personal struggle.</p>
<p>On ur uc app did u fill in low income… does 40k qualify as low income? I’m not sure… Check that up. Do ur parents income combined show up to be around 40k? If it does… they owe u 310 points for GPA (if they really gave u 3.6 rather than 3.91) and 300 for being poor which is another 300. 7118+600=7718… still short, but if ur personal struggle wasn’t menitioned in ur app u could say it in ur PS appeal and it may give u an acceptance.</p>
<p>I’m fairly certain it qualified, I was given a fee waiver for the application to 4 schools and I already received reduced AP tests and free lunch.</p>
<p>on number 3, you really should call them and keep buggin them</p>
<p>on number 2, they can, cus unfortunately they hold all power over us ):</p>
