I googled and found several articles from UC systems objecting the usage of NMST status to award scholarship to incoming students. I don’t know if it helps with admission. My son needs as much help as he can get
Add weight in which way? UC’s tend to be more GPA focused vs. test score focused but doing well on the SAT would definitely help an applicant in the UC admission’s process but PSAT scores are not used for admission purposes. If you are looking for merit scholarships, the UC’s have redirected the NMS funding for their Regents and Chancellor scholarship programs.
Thank you. We are not looking for scholarship. His GPA is in the lower end of the published range so I hope the NMST status give him a little lift
UC’s tend to be more GPA focused vs. test score focused so even with a very competitive SAT, his GPA will make the UC’s a tough admit. Going to a competitive HS will be taken into consideration during the admission process along with his EC’s and personal insight essays. UC’s do emphasize HS course rigor but not at the expense of your GPA.
Here is admit data based on the capped weighted UC GPA and not major specific:
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
UCB: 1.8%
UCLA: 2.2%
UCSD: 7.2%
UCSB: 10.1%
UCI: 11.1%
UCD: 16.6%
UCSC: 43.8%
UCR: 63.3%
UCM: 88.7%
He will need to apply widely and consider some of the Cal States such as SJSU, SDSU, CSULB and CSU Fullerton to name a few. Cal states admit based on Eligibility index and major so a high SAT/ACT score can compensate for a lower GPA.
Is the 3.57 weighted his Mission San Jose GPA? It seems kind of low if he took all AP/Honors.
UC GPA should be based off 10/11 grade transcripts with weighting for AP/Honors.
And Mission San Jose is one of the Bay Area pressure cookers, along with Gunn, Paly, Lynbrook, Monta Vista, and Saratoga. So maybe there might be some explanation about the grades.
I would not retake the SAT. And does your son have a chance at Finalist? I would advise an LAC or OOS public given the standardized test scores.
Would Arizona publics (U of A and Arizona State) be good options? He could get merit aid from U of A with the SAT score.
I replied to another post of yours recommending OOS public schools. Depending on your son’s major, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, and Washington State are good schools to consider.
Many “honors” courses at the California HS’s are not UC approved so no extra points in the UC GPA calculation. Usually only Honors Chemistry/Physics and Pre-Calc will get the extra weighting.
Here is the list of a-g courses at the Mission SJ and which ones are UC approved: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/364/
Also the UC GPA calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Unfortunately none of the honors courses in 10th grade got weighted at MSJH so letting him take honors classes sounds like a mistake grade wise. Like you said Mission is a pressure cooker and I feel sorry for the guy. As an example, he got a 5 on his Chemistry AP but a B in his school AP Chemistry class. He got all A’s in his John Hopkins University AP CTY programs but not at Mission. He probably can get in OOS school rather easily but unfortunately he likes to stay in CA.
Slightly off topic: how about Cal Poly SLO ? May be UCR ? He wants to be in healthcare and he and his Mom (a dentist) did some volunteer work alongside with the people from UCR medical school
I would seriously consider the OOS public schools. The quality of the education is just as good as the UCs and likely your son will get into his choice of classes.
My son’s friend who had a 2.8 UW and no weighted classes expect for Honors Orchestra was accepted to Arizona and got over a 3.0 freshman year. And he was a graduate of one of the Bay Area pressure cookers.
Lots of California kids are going to OOS publics and I’m sure Mission kids are going there instead of UCs.
UCR a definite possibility. SLO probably not due to GPA for Biology but Chemistry might be possible. Average SLO GPA for this years Freshman class for the College of Science and Mathematics was 4.18 (9-11th grades with 8 semesters Honors point cap).
Projected acceptance rate for Biology 10% but Chemistry 47% at SLO.
UCR/UCM/UCSC are good targets along with the many very good Cal States. SLO is possible along with UC Davis, Irvine and Santa Barbara which could go 50/50 depending upon how they take his competitive HS into consideration.
As you probably know, most National Merit Semifinalists become Finalists. The ones who don’t are students who don’t complete the application, don’t submit a confirming SAT score, are not recommended by their schools (due to cheating, hacking, murder, etc.), or poor grades.
National Merit status doesn’t make a huge difference at top schools in terms of admissions and scholarships. And the actual National Merit scholarships are very small. HOWEVER –
There are plenty of perfectly good universities and colleges that offer huge benefits to National Merit Finalists. Huge as in full tuition or even a full ride and more. Basically these are schools that want the bragging rights about how many National Merit scholars they have. They use this to bolster their academic reputations. Ivy League schools and top publics don’t need to do this. So it is a trade-off, but one that can be very beneficial. Usually there is an honors college program, special dorms, other privileges. It is well worth investigating these opportunities.
Hi:
I am on pins and needles because my son goes to a tough school (Mission San Jose) and his GPA is borderline by UC standard
Gpa 3.57 weighted. Took lots of honors classes and got B’s in many of them, thus the lower GPA
Only one AP so far, Chemistry, got 5
PSAT index 223
SAT last year 1540, trying again this Oct to make up for low GPA
What is his chance ? Thank you in advance
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school
You can use the FroshGPAByHS tab on this tool to see the GPA threshold for the last several years for your son’s high school at each UC. As I read the table, the only one that seems to cut Mission any slack is Santa Cruz.
With his stats, his best UC shot will be Merced but, even there, my guess is 60/40 against him because they are so GPA focused. For Bio or chem - CP Pomona, SDSU and CSULB would be great options. If you have the budget LMU and USD are very good but will be expensive.
Oregon Inst of Tech has a solid STEM program and participates in WUE, which makes it pretty reasonable option.
Here;s the full list of WUE schools
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all
A few others to look at with LOTS of CA students - Boise State, UNR and Colorado State - each of which will be comparable to a CSU tuition wise.
A word of caution - not all majors and not all campuses are available - ASU, does not offer the program on the main campus.
http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=207
Good luck.