Do I have a shot at getting into Caltech, UCLA, or USC?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I really wanna get into one of those three schools but I am not sure if they'll accept me based on my record. I just recently finished junior year, and will be starting senior year in July (i'm not traditional schedule) I want you to judge and tell me if I have a good chance of getting into any of those schools. So basically now here's my record: </p>

<p>10th Grade- 1st semester/2nd semester grades
Honors Trigonometry- A/A
AP Biology- B/B
Honors World History - B/B
Honors English 10 - C/B
French 1 - A/A
TOTAL GPA 1st semester = 3.40 weighted
TOTAL GPA 2nd semester = 3.60 weighted </p>

<p>11th Grade- 1st semester/2nd semester grades
AP Chemistry - B/A
AP Calculus AB- A/A
AP English Language - C/C
Honors US History - A/A
French 2 - A/A
Ceramics - B/B
TOTAL GPA 1st semester = 4.00 GPA weighted
TOTAL GPA 2nd semester = 4.1667 GPA weighted </p>

<p>12th grade Assigned classes
Honors Physics
AP Calculus BC
AP English Literature
AP Government
French 3
(i have a free class to take here, but i duno what to put) </p>

<p>SAT score = 1810 (i'm gonna retake in october, hoping for a 2100 at least)
SAT Subject tests = Math Level 2 = 750, (will take chem/bio in june) </p>

<p>Community Service/Volunteer work/Extracurricular Activities </p>

<p>AIDS Walk Los Angeles 11th grade = 10 hrs.
Individual tutor for AP Chemistry to a non-AP Chemistry student = 5 hrs/week for 12 weeks
Individual tutor for AP Calculus= 6 hrs. a week for 4 weeks
Volunteer at Public Library = 5 hrs/week for 2 months
Key Club International
Advanced Studies Academy
Science Club </p>

<p>So anyways, I really needa know if I have any chance to get into any of those three schools.</p>

2

<p>Nobody on here seems to understand how the UCs compute their UC GPA, so let me explain it. First, here's the link:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/state_eligibility.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/state_eligibility.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The way it is done is that you start by throwing out the freshman and senior years' grades completely.</p>

<p>Then you take out any Physical education, health, or teaching assistant or student government courses taken during your sophomore or junior years.</p>

<p>Then you compute the GPA the normal way--with no consideration given to honors at all. So three As and 2 "B"s gives you a UW 3.60. If each course was 3 units your total grade points are (3 As times a 4.0 for each A times 3 units =36 plus 2 Bs times 3.0 for each B times 3 units =18 and adding these two together gives you 54 grade points). This gets divided by the 15 total units attempted, and this gives you your 3.60 UW GPA. </p>

<p>Then for the first 8 semesters of honors/AP/IB courses that you took, you add 1 extra point for every grade you got that was at least above a D. So, let's presume you had an a 3.60 GPA for all four semesters of your sophomore and junior years, and that you took 7 year-long AP courses.</p>

<p>You would have 54 x 4 grade points before adding in the honors courses = 216. To this you would add 8, which gives you 224. The total units attempted would be 15 x 4 = 60.<br>
Thus your UC GPA would be 224/60 = 3.7333</p>

<p>Your W GPA for other schools for the two years would be a much higher 230/60 = 3.83333. Thus, as you can see it is not fair to compare the UC GPA averages to the W GPA averages at other schools.</p>

<p>Looking at what you posted, your UC GPA is 3.7272, and if you get a 2000 on your next SAT (I consider 2100 unreasonable), then your chances at the UCs are about:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley/UCLA: Reach (around 35%)
UCSD: Slight Reach to Reach (around 40-42%)
UCI/UCD/UCSB: Match to Slight Reach (closer to match with the higher SAT, closer to slight reach without the higher SAT scores--personally I think anything above a 1950 should get you in as long as you get a 650 on the second SAT II that you still need to take)
UCSC: Match
UCR: Safe Match
UCM: Safety</p>

<p>Also, I should point out that your ECs are okay for the UCI/UCD/UCSB schools-although if you held a position in the club, like VP or if you did sports, that would also help.</p>

<p>You chances at Caltech are less than 20%.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

3

<p>Well, my top priority is UCLA and I sorta realize my grades and ECs aren't really that great, though they're nothing to scoff at. However, I was just wondering, can I improve my chances dramatically if I write a very good personal statement?</p>

4

<p>Caltech: High Reach
UCLA: Reach
USC: Reach</p>

<p>Do you have any match or safety schools?
You really need to improve your numbers to make these a match school for you.</p>

5

<p>well, I live in LA, I'm techinically a poor inner city kid haha, i dont exactly have a whole family, i also suffer from some genetic disease (dun really wanna get into detail). DO you think I can actually apply some of that to my personal statement so I can improve my chances of getting into UCLA? (i feel bad that i'm relying on pity to get in)</p>

6

<p>bumping this thread</p>

7

<p>Yeah, use that pity to get you in it really does work for your essays. I know a lot of seniors who talk about how their parents have died and those sob stories really help them get in even though they aren't meant to be used that way. Get your GPA up that's what you need to do though.</p>

8

<p>i duno if it'll matter tho because i finished my junior year and allt hat's left is senior year.</p>

9

<p>oh and sorry for double posting, but.. I was thinking of dropping AP lit and just taking Honors Lit because...well.. english teachers just plain suck at our school, we don't improve on our writing at all and it's all sucking-up/favoritist bastards that teach AP. Should I just drop AP lit and take Honors Lit? and just add AP euro or art history as an AP instead?</p>

10

<p>bumping again</p>

11

<p>Your GPA and SATs are way too low for all of those schools. Your extra-currics are not focused. I know people with considerably higher scores and grades that didn't get into UCLA.</p>

12

<p>bump again</p>

13

<p>bump again, i want at least some glimmer of hope lol</p>

14

<p><em>glimmers</em></p>