Hello. It’s application season, and the fear and anxiety of not getting into my dream school of UCLA is kicking in. I would like to know if the UCs compare students within their own high school or if they compare students in the region or the nation? I’m asking this because my SAT and ACT are not as high as I wanted (1860 and 27) in comparison to other applicants, but I am currently rank #1 of my high school of around 400 with a (10-12 W) 4.5 GPA and (10-12 UW) 4.0 GPA. Do they also look at the high school itself, since mine is not a top school nor has many high income families? Thank you in advance.
Applying to:
UCLA
UCB
UCSD
UCI
UCR
Stanford
USC
SDSU
Yes. All colleges do this. For example, let’s take a school from my district: median income is ~$200,000, average SAT score is like, 2080, average GPA is 3.55, AP pass rate is ~90%, and class size is roughly 500. Notice how GPA might be low, but the test scores speak for themselves. Indicates some type of grade inflation, but we have to look at individual applicants to see how this stacks up (i.e. a 3.8 with all regular and 3.8 with mostly honors/AP, which is ranked top 30% at this school, is different). A student here with a 3.85 is still barely in top 25%, but passes all of his AP tests with 4s and 5s, and has a roughly 2100 SAT score. Then, they look at similar schools in the area. A student at a neighboring school with median income $100,000, average GPA is 3.71, average SAT score is 1780, class size 450, AP pass rate is roughly 75%. Assume this student has an SAT score in the “higher” range of his school, but it is only a 1910. He has a 4.0 GPA, but has several 3s, 2s, and 1s for his AP test scores. This indicates some level of grade inflation, and his 4.0 GPA will become rather worthless if his test scores don’t line up with what his transcript shows.
As for you, your test scores are nowhere near what your grades are, which indicates some level of inflation (from perhaps a “lower” performing school), and your test scores will cripple you.
Stanford; High Reach
USC/UCLA/UCB/UCSD: Reach
UCSB: Low reach
UCI: High Match
UCR/SDSU: Match
You need a Safety school and at least one more Match school on your list and I would drop 1-2 of your Reach schools. Test scores are too low to be competitive.
Fortunately for you, UCs emphasize GPA more than test scores; see http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/ for profiles of admitted frosh (but what that does not tell you are differences by division or major within each campus). They do not use current class rank, though there are some tie-breaking situations where your GPA may be compared with those of other applicants from your school.
So my grades don’t really compensate for my low test scores? I have tried so hard maintaining straight A’s throughout high school and done things outside of the classroom, only to get shot down because of my scores. And if they do look at my high school class, I know a majority of them applying have below average- average SAT scores (1300-1600), so they Do compare my score to others in my class?