<ul>
<li>Indian-Asian Male</li>
<li>Raised by a single mother</li>
<li>Son of a widow</li>
<li>California born</li>
<li>Dad passed away in 2002</li>
<li>Household Gross Income: $26,500 (me and my mother who is self employed)</li>
<li>My brother (guardian) got married and divorced 1 yr later (11th grade)</li>
<li>My mom suffered brain tumor (11th grade)</li>
<li>Worked 2 jobs to help support financially starting 11th grade (five guys and paid internship)</li>
<li>400 total hours of volunteering at 2 libraries and 1 senior center </li>
<li>Founded/President of company which provides electronic repair services to raise money for school's technology departments (achieved $20,000 grant and $10,000 grant)</li>
<li>Founded/Created Sports Club at school</li>
<li>Production Intern for website (unpaid starting June, 2014)</li>
<li>Social Media Coordinator for website (starting September, 2014)</li>
<li>VP of Fundraising for DECA (11th & 12th grade)</li>
<li>VP of Fundraising for JSA (12th grade)</li>
<li>Secretary of Engineering Club (11th grade)</li>
<li>Second Place in DECA SCDC --- Event: Entrepreneurship - Growing Your Business (for the one I started)</li>
<li>Best Speaker Award for JSA in Spring, 2014 conference</li>
<li>1 yr JV Basketball / 4 yrs Varsity Golf - Captain 2 years</li>
<li>YouTube channel where I do pranks, skits, social experiments to help spread smiles. (growing - featured on many popular sites)</li>
</ul>
<p>Most of my majors were CS, if not business. For UCLA, I put film.</p>
<p>I messed up junior year. For my UC application, my first essay was basically wanting a second chance and starting a new life in college and explaining all the terrible family circumstances. My second one was about my company and love for business/entrepreneurship. </p>
<p>I'm stuck guys. I'm scared. I know I messed up but it was due to family problems and I know I can't blame it all on that but it got tough. My dream is to go to UCLA or USC probably longshots for me. Just need advice - realistic goals to set for myself. Thanks so much for taking time out to help.</p>
<p>You can go anywhere you want to, but it might not be a straight line. </p>
<p>In general, apply to a few reaches, a few possible, a few probable, and a safety or two. You probably can get some fee waivers based on your mom’s income. </p>
<p>Good luck, you have sure had it rough and I don’t think you should think that finding a college is going to be worse than the road you have already traveled.</p>
<p>Wow haven’t heard optimism like that in a while. Thanks for the encouragement. Just needed hope to see if I still had a chance at my dream schools. Thanks again, honestly appreciate it. </p>
<p>I speak from experience. I wasn’t top 10% in my class, and got into two Ivies (granted, quite a few years ago LOL). I took a job for 25% of my expected lowest starting salary after going to an Ivy, but wrangled it into grad school tuition free and making a lot more after that than I could have originally. Also was given downer advice about living with a guy whose parents were divorced as was most his family, and we’ve been together 25 years.</p>
<p>You will be happy, it is so tough right now for you. My son finds out about his dream school tomorrow, but if he doesn’t get in, he will be looking at other opportunities. You will find yours, maybe at a UC, but maybe somewhere else.</p>
<p>My stats are similar to yours. I also had a high SAT score and an awful GPA. Here are my stats and results.</p>
<p>3.66 unweighted GPA, 4.29 fully weighted GPA, 4.00 capped UC GPA
2300 SAT score
800 on SAT Math II and 740 on SAT Physics
Good extracurriculars (but not as good as yours)
200+ hours of community service
Rejected by UCB, UCLA, UCSD, and CPSLO for computer science
Waitlisted by UCD for civil engineering
Waitlisted by UCI for computer science
Accepted by UCSB, UCSC, and UCR for computer science
Attending UCSB</p>
<p>I think you have a better chance than I had for the UCs because your family circumstances can help explain your downward trend.</p>
<p>I’m sorry you had to go through so much. You sound very resilient, you have a number of good things in your application, and I am confident that you have a bright future ahead of you. Certainly apply to your dream schools, but as those schools turn away a lot of qualified candidates, make sure that you have other UCs etc. on your list as well.</p>
<p>It’s really not optimism if it’s true. You’ve got a great story and your SATI, SATII, and ECs are terrific. </p>
<p>The UCs emphasize GPAs, it’s true, but they’re also holistic. That’s where the story and the rest of the second sentence come into play. You can get a really good education at one of the UCs, so I hope you’ve applied to more than UCLA. Riverside and Merced, for instance.</p>
<p>You’re a match at a bunch of CSUs if you want to consider them: Fresno, Sacramento, Pomona, Fullerton, Chico, Fresno, Monterey Bay. You’re going to go to school some place next year, that is for certain. </p>
<p>USC is a great school, but whether they’ll meet your need I don’t know. I think you should also look at San Jose State, Whittier, and Santa Clara. I think the latter in particular would have an interest in your story.</p>
<p>You should not limit yourself to just CA schools; there are some other states with flagship schools that would provide merit aid based upon your SAT (super) and GPA - though I suspect you’d need to get the applications in before end of year as most merit aid consideration is deadline based. Check out University of Alabama, the Montana schools, and Missouri state. Maybe some Mississippi schools, as well. Worth a little time, especially if the applications are easy and low cost. Just see what comes back, you may pleasantly surprise yourself by going some place you never expected. </p>
<p>Don’t be so hard on yourself. That’s actually a fantastic resume for someone who had to deal with so much in high school. I wouldn’t limit yourself to just California schools. There are *a lot *of colleges who would love to have someone like you, and most importantly would provide the funding for you to go there. </p>
<p>Yep. Take a look at some full-need schools as well.</p>
<p>Also, there are many paths to a goal. Many people have transferred from CA CC’s to UC’s (including the top 2-3), and that may be a viable path for you (likely a cheaper one as well). Think long-term. Eyes on the prize.</p>
<p>I hope you applied very widely to UCs because it is hard to tell. But you have a very good profile excepting those Cs. I think it is a very important for you to keep your grades up this semester. USC will meet full need if you get in but you will have loans and some family contribution. You could try Chapman (film) and Santa Clara (CS) but I don’t know if they will cover enough for you to attend. But hopefully your state schools will work out. I think you could look at some of the less selective ‘meets full need’ schools. There are some that being Indian will make you underrepresented. But you must be willing to go to an unusual location. Some may be reachy but you may have a chance because of your good scores and hardship background. Look at Wesleyan because they have a bit of everything and you could do film and CS there are you willing to go so far? At great essay could make a difference. Look at the Questbridge partner colleges, although it is too late for you to apply, they all meet full need and are interested in helping low income students. Having varied interests such as CS/film will be good. Where are you in CA? </p>