Engineering chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>Hey guys, I was just wondering if I have any shot at getting into UCLA?</p>

<p>I plan on doing civil engineering.</p>

<p>I go to a very competitive private high school in New Jersey. Widowed parent, income around 40k ish, first generation college student.</p>

<p>I guess I'll just list some stuff and you can let me know if you need anything else to tell me my chances.</p>

<p>white male (double damn)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2020 690 CR, 630 Math, 700 Writing
SAT II: Haven't taken any yet but plan on doing Both math 1 (is this acceptable), chemistry, and either lit or us history (does it matter)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 something UW I did incredibly poor freshmen year and had to work instensely hard to get my grades up. I don't know if they'll see that but the self-improvement was immense</p>

<p>Rank: top 10</p>

<p>Junior year coursework: Honors English, Honors Chem, Honors Alg2/Trig, Ap US History, Honors Spanish 3, Religion (required)</p>

<p>four quarter grades and then year grade</p>

<p>Honors English- 97 97 99 98 98
Alg2 Trig Honors 95 94 96 95 95
AP USH- 99 99 99 99 99
Chemistry Honors 99 99 98 99 98
Spanish 3 Honors 96 97 97 96 95
Religion- 99 99 99 99 99</p>

<p>Senior year: AP Eng, Honors Physics, Ap Art History, Ap US History, Honors Precalc</p>

<p>My school only offers ap classes in English, Art History, US History, and Calc BC, so I'm taking all I am qualified for. I tried starting a US Gov AP and Euro Hist AP but the head of the department turned me down.</p>

<p>Taken 2 courses at a local community college, intro to philosophy (freshmen year- A-), sociology (sophomore year A), looking into another one now.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Academic Team- Captain</p>

<p>Robotics Team-builder and participant when we won the 2005 and 2006 state championships for FIRST (possible hook? Idk..)</p>

<p>New Jersey Regional Science Fair-participant</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society- helped fundraise and tutored students</p>

<p>Model United Nations</p>

<p>NJ American Legion Boys State representative</p>

<p>Intermural Basketball League assistant coach/player</p>

<p>Chess team</p>

<p>Intermural Ultimate Frisbee League- Co-Founder, captain of a team, and player</p>

<p>American Cancer Society Relay for Life-helped organize and set up event, three years</p>

<p>Worked at Afterhours Formalwear</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>· The Elmira College Key Award, 2006
· Excellence in Spanish 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Honorable Mention in Eastern Civilization CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· Excellence in United History 1 Advanced Placement, 2005-2006
· Honorable Mention in Spanish 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· New Jersey Regional Science Fair Rutgers Student Award, 2005
· National Spanish Examination Certificate of Achievement and Merit¸ 2004-2005 and 2005-2006</p>

<p>BTW I might be able to take ap chemistry next year....there should be enough kids if I want to do it...only thing...my schedule will be absolute hell:</p>

<p>honors physics
ap chemistry
honors precalc
ap english 4
ap art history
ap us history
religion (required)</p>

<p>Think I should try to take ap chem? Would it help my chances at all??</p>

2

<p>See if this helps i go here: SAT is kind of low for out of state, especially math for civil engineering. One thing to remember UC's don't count fresh year grades for admit purposes only soph and junior i think, i dont even think they see senior year grades because u apply in nov so don't kill urself with that chem (my opinion). Try to get that SAT up for math. If u can't I would recommend applying undeclared or something don't go into an impacted major without strong scores, once ur in there is always ways to back door into engineering or other subjects. Ur out of state so that hurts it makes UCLA almost like Ivy admissions. Use those hooks in ur essay. I would put ur chances at about 20-30%. A reach. But im probably wrong, u could get in</p>

3

<p>I fully understand being oos making it a lot more difficult. Yea I'm going to try to get the math up but I have to take the sat2s first. For calculating unweighted since fresh year doesn't count does it go by A=4, B=3? And what are the cutoffs for these. Like 94=1 or 95? Because without freshmen year my unweighted will be really high. Thanks</p>

4

<p>


You shouldn't do this if you plan on being an engineering major. I've asked flopsy and it's really hard to go from the College to the engineering school.
[quote]
SAT II: Haven't taken any yet but plan on doing Both math 1 (is this acceptable)

[/quote]
No. You need to take the Mathematics Level 2 SAT II exam if you plan on taking a math SAT II. UC</a> Testing Requirements
[quote]
GPA: 3.8 something UW I did incredibly poor freshmen year and had to work instensely hard to get my grades up. I don't know if they'll see that but the self-improvement was immense

[/quote]
You'll be able to write an essay about this in your UC application (there are 3 essays; the third allows you to explain any difficulties you've overcome or any bad marks you've received). Just make sure you explain how much you have changed since then.
[quote]
For calculating unweighted since fresh year doesn't count does it go by A=4, B=3?

[/quote]
For calculating your UC GPA, you average out your grades from sophomore and junior years with AP/honors courses receiving an additional point (A=5, B=4, etc.) for up to 8 semesters of AP/honors work.</p>

<p>More Info (1</a>), (2</a>)</p>

5

<p>First off I have a couple questions about the "a-g" program.</p>

<p>For G since I have taken three years of spanish can the third year be used for G? If so does that "take one away" of the recommnded 3 for part E? Probably not but I was just wondering.</p>

<p>Secondly I haven't had any classes such as dance or the others. Would my AP Art History class suffice for part F if I'm taking it senior year? It is a visual art since in addition to the standard ap art history curriculum we all form studio projects. I wouldn't have to send that in though if ap art history counts do I? Or do these courses have to be taken before senior year, which basically means I can't attend a UC?</p>

<p>And now onto my questions about the grading scale. I'm a little confused when you say, "For calculating your UC GPA, you average out your grades from sophomore and junior years with AP/honors courses receiving an additional point (A=5, B=4, etc.) for up to 8 semesters of AP/honors work"</p>

<p>So for instance, using my above junior year stats (I know religion won't be counted) does the up to 8 hours for honors/AP mean I would be receiving:</p>

<p>English-5
Alg2/Trig-5
APUS-5
Chemistry-5
Spanish 4 (since the other 4 classes use up the 8 hours)??</p>

<p>If someone could explain this a little clearer I'd greatly appreciate it. Also what grade is considered an A? I have a lot of border numbers for soph year.</p>

<p>English 2 cp
Geometry cp
East Civ cp
Honors bio (can't use the 5 point again right since I used it for junior?)
spanish 2 cp</p>

<p>As you can see soph year is where I picked the slack up but wasn't in many honors because of my lack of performance freshmen. That's why I say freshmen killed me.</p>

6

<p>


You don't have to complete the A-G requirements by the time you apply.

Okay click [here[/url</a>] for information about approved courses. Art history will be okay. (From my experience, they're quite lenient with the VPA requirement.) Like I said, you don't have to finish these things by the time you apply for UC's... just make sure that you follow through with your intended plans (not lying on your UC application etc. - though if you do change your plans you can inform them later in the year and they'll re-evaluate your application (that is, dropping a course blahblahblah).) </p>

<p>About calculating UC GPA:
[quote]
Grade Point Average</p>

<p>To determine your eligibility, the University calculates your GPA in the "a-g" subjects by assigning point values to the grades you earn, totaling the points and dividing the total by the number of "a-g" courses. Points are assigned as follows: A=4 points, B=3 points, C=2 points, D=1 point, and F=0 points. (Pluses and minuses are not calculated in the grade point average.)
Only the grades you earn in "a-g" subjects in the 10th and 11th grades - including summer sessions - are used to calculate your preliminary GPA. Courses you took in ninth grade can be used to meet the Subject Requirement if you earned a grade of C or better, but they will not be used to calculate your GPA.</p>

<p>Honors Courses: The University assigns extra points for up to eight semesters of University-certified honors-level and Advanced Placement courses taken in the last three years of high school: A=5 points, B=4 points, C=3 points. No more than two yearlong UC-approved honors level courses taken in the 10th grade may be given extra points. A grade of D in an honors or advanced placement course does not earn extra points.</p>

<p>The courses must be in the following "a-g" subjects: history/social science, English, advanced mathematics, laboratory science, language other than English, and visual and performing arts. Also, they must be certified as honors courses by the University. In these subjects, as well as in computer science, acceptable honors-level courses include Advanced Placement courses, Higher Level and designated Standard Level International Baccalaureate courses, and college courses that are transferable to the University.

[/quote]
I don't recall any information about convering percentage points to letter grades on the UC application. Perhaps someone else will help you there in addition to reporting your chances (flopsy).</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/adm_ugrad.html#Admission%20as%20a%20Freshman%5DHSSEAS"&gt;http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/adm_ugrad.html#Admission%20as%20a%20Freshman]HSSEAS&lt;/a> Information](<a href="http://www.ucop.edu/a-gGuide/ag/a-g/welcome.html%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://www.ucop.edu/a-gGuide/ag/a-g/welcome.html)&lt;/p>

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<p>Troteck:</p>

<p>UCLA: Reach (out of state, Engineering)</p>