Hi everyone…
I’m just kinda stressing right now about college. I’m a junior (white, female) in high school. My parents are immigrants. Father no college. Mother technical school for 2 years. I come from a financially stable background. Middle class. I speak English fluently, Russian fluently, and learning french. I had a 3.9 GPA freshman year unweighted. 3.8 GPA sophomore unweighted. and will most likely have a 3.8 GPA unweighted this year. I have taken all the honors courses possible up to this point. I took 2 APs as a sophomore. I took APUSH and AP Microeconomics. This year i’m taking honors french, AP Lang, AP Physics 1, AP Calc BC, AP bio, and electives. I am planning on taking 3 or 4 (AP french, AP Chem, AP Psych, maybe one more) APs next year. My extracurriculars are Student Co, board of Art Club, Head of tutoring for a girls science club, founder of Biology club, Best Buddies, and LEAD. I also do about 10 hours of volunteering each year and receive a merit award. I took the ACT for the first time and got a 30 (without studying much). I’m kinda worried about this being too low. I will definitely study and work on improving my score. My GPA is not the best. I was wondering what colleges I should consider / what advice do you all have for me to improve what i’m doing. I’m looking to go into something with science, possibly premed. My dream school would probably be UCLA. Do I have any chance of getting in there with such a low GPA?
The UC’s have their own way of calculating GPA. They use grades from 10-11th grade only for the a-g course requirements. They give you 8 extra honors points for UC approved Honors (CA in-state applicants), AP/IB or DE course taken in 10-11th grade. UCLA will also calculate your uncapped weighted GPA so unlimited AP/IB/DE courses for the extra honors points.
Here is a link to the a-g course requirements and UC GPA calculator:
http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/
https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/all
http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
This is the average GPA/SAT/ACT scores for in-coming Freshman for UCLA this past year. Aim for at or above the averages and you stand a decent chance at an acceptance. Essays and EC’s will also contribute your chances.
Average UC GPA (capped):
Average SAT: 2064
Average ACT: 31
Just remember the more competitive the major, the higher the stats needed for an acceptance.
Good Luck.