I’m taking 7 AP’s senior year (3 of which are electives), I can code in 3 languages, I speak Spanish and French mostly fluently, and I can speak Mandarin and Cantonese verbally. I do realistic portrait drawings but I’m working on hyper-realistic drawings and photography. I do oil paintings of people but I’m focusing on drawings and photography. I dance contemporary and I take ballet which is required to do contemporary dance. I also take a ton of community college classes in Psychology and I’ve taking Intro to Biology as well because I want to become a psychiatrist. My grades would be better because sophomore year I was dealing with a lot of mental illnesses (anxiety, depression and ADD) and when I started talking to my therapist and psychiatrist, my mental illnesses weren’t as strong as before and I got straight A’s after that.
SAT: 1500
ACT: 35
Great test scores and taking CC classes should have a positive impact on your chances. GPA is important and you do have a decent chance at an acceptance.
Freshman admit rates (2016) for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCSB: 54%
Your artistic endeavors make you an interesting applicant.
Best of luck
UCSB gives less weight to test scores and grades than the other UCs, I believe. But then you have great test scores… All of the UCs like to see a pattern of improvement, so going from a sophomore year with issues to a high-achieving junior year will be seen favorably. Do well on your essays, probably talk about your personal growth and how that ties in with your desire to go to med school and become a psychiatrist. You don’t have the option to submit an art portfolio, but I’ve heard of folks slipping in URLs for online portfolios in the essays–don’t know if the admissions officers bother to check them but I don’t think it would hurt. Your chances look good to me.
And of course you should apply to most of the other UCs and some Cal State schools as well, to make sure you have options–there’s an element of chance to college admissions and you have to account for that in your plans.