Feel lost and not really sure what schools I can even consider matches. Chance me for UCs and USC?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi all. I am an incoming senior and I am currently feeling at a loss. I have always been told that I would go to a really good school but I’m starting to believe that this won’t be the case. I live in California which means the schools that would be best for me to go to are the UCs and, of course, USC. I feel like I don’t really have a chance at many of these schools due to my extremely low GPA. I do feel like I could get into UC Irvine or San Diego if I applied, but the schools I would really like to go to (USC, Berkeley) seem unattainable at this point. Below I have attached my current stats and would like some feedback and what I should consider doing once application season rolls around. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated (I’m looking for more ECs that I could consider doing to add to my application). Thanks a bunch.

GPA: UC GPA is about a 4.04, overall it’s a 4.00 Weighted (super low because of a horrible freshman year, without freshman year it’s like a 4.17) I have a massive upward trend starting Sophomore year, and I am confident that my senior year grades will be very strong in case they ask for them.) Also, my school calculates GPAs weirdly, so it may turn out to be higher if the schools I am applying to calculate it themselves. I calculated my unweighted GPA and it turned out to be about a 3.72.
UC GPA uncapped: 4.04 ish
Class rank: n/a
ACT: 33 (planning on retaking to get at least a 34)
SAT II: 770 World History, US History n/a, Literature n/a, Plan on taking Spanish as well and potentially Biology-E
APs: World History (5), US History (5), English Language (5), Environmental Science (4), Human Geography (5), Psychology (5)
Major Awards: National AP Scholar, High Honor Roll at School, Questbridge Prep Scholar, National Hispanic Heritage Recognition
Senior Year Courseload: AP Government/Microeconomics, AP English Literature, AP Statistics / Calculus BC (not sure which one is best), IB Global Politics, Marching Band/Color Guard (two whole periods), Peer College Counselor. Anthropology (at community college)

Extracurriculars (leadership in parentheses): Marching Band: Colorguard, Winterguard (Co-Captain), International Education Club raising awareness and bringing education opportunities to inner-city students who don’t have many opportunities in their own schools, Peer College Counselor [organizing college events at our school and working in the College Office, guiding other students along the application process), Armenian Club (Officer/Treasurer, to be determined), Gender-Sexualities Alliance Club, Created a website for AP United States History resources and information [have made multiple study guides and practice exams, has about 5,000 views as of writing this (expect it to go up when school starts up again)], Member of a few other clubs but not really significant (Politics of the United States Club, Animal Rights and Awareness, etc.) I am looking to see if I can find a place where I can tutor elementary/middle school kids.

Job/Work Experience: I have a part time job at Michael’s (work mainly on the weekends and some Wednesdays) which I use to help my mom pay for the bills. My mom, my two sisters and I have been on our own since I was about 8, so I have always been in charge of babysitting and looking after my younger siblings, as well as helping them complete their homework and such. I am also working on trying to find somewhere where I can help with tutoring and such (if I have time)

Summer Activities: Interned over the summer at a Democratic Political Office in one of California’s Counties (organized multiple voter registration booths and informational meetings, attended multiple events such as Pride Parades to help with voter registration and counting). I have been working on self-teaching myself Portuguese as well, because I have an interest in traveling throughout Latin American and I already know Spanish due to growing up in a Spanish-speaking household, so I would also like to visit Brazil someday and be at least proficient in basic Brazilian Portuguese. Took a Government of the United States course over the summer and got an A.

Volunteer/Community Service: I have about over 500+ hours in volunteer service. A lot of it is from smaller events (pride parades, park events, school events, etc.) but I have been consistently volunteering at an animal shelter since my sophomore year which I have about 100+ hours in. I also volunteer at my local library occasionally (they tend to have a lot of events for younger kids that I typically attend and volunteer at).

Applying for financial aid: Definitely
Intended Major: International Relations, but considering American Studies/History/Education as well
State: CA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Mexican / German
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: around 60k but we get social security too
Hooks: First generation

When I look back at this, I begin to realize that my application is quite underwhelming, but I think the main hook of it will be my essays. I have been told that I am a very strong writer, and I have a multitude of topics and life events that I would love to be able to write about (dad leaving us when we were young, mom having to file for bankruptcy and living in our aunt’s basement at one point, not having our own place until I was in the 6th grade, my dad dying in the middle of my junior year, reconnecting with my dad’s side of the family, etc.) I am hoping that through the usage of my essays and supplemental question responses, I will be able to shine my personality through and be able to stand out as an applicant.

I still have quite a few more months until applications are due, so I am looking for anything that I can do at this point to improve my application. This will likely have to come from my ECs, as I am already planning on improving my ACT score and testing for more subject tests. I am looking for any LGBTQ+ or mental health organizations that are based in California (specifically the San Fernando Valley) that I could consider joining and looking into so that I can be more involved with the LGBTQ+ community all around (I am gay).

2

Your GPA good. Your ACT test score is high. However, for U of California,
the GPA is low for some but not all your in state choices. What is your intended major?

Look for schools that offer spots to first generation college students, and Latino students if you identify Latino.
You may have two hooks, for private schools in areas where Latinos are underrepresented,

Private schools often try to increase the number of first generation college students.

U of California seems to offer support for First Gen:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/initiative/student-opportunity/first-generation-students

Every school in CA, public and private, offers fantastic support for LGBTQ students.

Because your family is low income, you may also find that private out of state schools are less expensive for you than U of Cal campuses.

Have you considered applying to colleges through Quest Bridge? You may meet three of the criteria, first generation, low income, and Mexican heritage:

https://www.questbridge.org

I don’t know if your GPA is high enough for Quest Bridge, but they match candidates like you, to great schools, see the list of schools on the Quest Bridge website.

3

Thanks for the reply.

My intended major is International Relations, but this is up for change. I have been leaning towards a minor in Education, or even American Studies. I want to travel, but I don’t know if I want to go down the foreign service route or if I want to teach.

I will be applying through QuestBridge this summer when the application process opens up. I did get Questbridge Prep Scholar, but I don’t expect to actually get matched to anything due to my really low GPA. But I will be applying through Questbridge.

Do you have any recommendations for some more ECs that I can pursue? At this point, I just want to be piling up volunteer work and such, but any long-term projects or organizations that I could attempt to join would be great.

4

What is your Capped Weighted UC GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Ethnicity is not considered in the UC admissions process but being First Generation will help. You have many good EC’s with several leadership positions. Adding more EC’s just before applications are due will not help your chances since you want to show quality not quantity.

You have solid test scores and if your capped weighted UC GPA is 4.0+, then you do have a chance at several of UC’s depending upon your intended major.

Below is the UC admit rates based on capped weighted UC GPA and not major specific. The more competitive your intended major, the lower the admit rates.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:

UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above:

UCB: 42.7%
UCLA: 47.2%
UCSD: 84.2%
UCSB: 82.0%
UCD: 90.3%
UCI: 94.1%
UCSC: 92.7%
UCR: 97.5
UCM: 98.1%

5

Capped is a 4.04. Thank you so much for the information, it is greatly appreciated. The advice on the ECs is helpful as well, although I would like to add one more meaningful project to this list. My concern is that I lack ECs that match up with my intended major (I couldn’t join Model UN or Debate due to scheduling conflicts) so I am looking to see what I can do to show strong interest in this field.

6

My sense is your ECs are perfect already as you are doing music in depth and education volunteer work in depth, as well as a lot of hours at the animal shelter. Thats great!

I see no problem with your ECs, as reported above, and maybe you could even slack off given that you have a very strong EC record already.

How about east coast schools, are you open to them? Look at George Washington U , located right in
the heart of Washington DC for international studies:
https://elliott.gwu.edu

Focus on your grades in 12th grade over ECs in fact may help you a bit.

Look at Tulane U in New Orleans if you want to study Portuguese as a major:
https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/departments/spanish-portuguese/academics/undergrad/majors

7

Just as a data point, my kid got accepted to UCB, UCD, UCSB and WL to UCSD and UCI, all for CS with a 4.05 UC GPA, 35 ACT, 1540 SAT. Possibly would have gotten into USC but his first semester grades in 12th grade was very pedestrian and he didn’t bother to send in grades despite repeated requests.

Your capped UC GPA should exclude 9th grade so at 4.17 if it’s accurate you should be in decent shape for the UCs with a reachy but doable chance for UCB. It would help if you can get your ACT to 34+. Make sure to have safeties just in case.

8

Thanks for the reply. If you don’t mind me asking, what type of ECs/essay did your son have? Was there anything spectacular? I know that UCB is very well known for often overlooking underwhelming GPAs if applicants have spectacular ECs/essays, although I know this is only typically for a select few accepted applicant.

The 4.17 weighted was excluding the freshman year scores on my transcript. My uncapped UC GPA is about a 4.04 (although I don’t know why it’s such a drastic difference, I guess the UCs calculate differently). So it looks like him and I are in about the same boat, assuming I can get my ACT score up.

9

I personally didn’t think his essays weren’t that spectacular but from an unbiased standpoint it was very heartfelt and touching. He did have the benefit of having a former UCB Admissions reader and a Stanford law professor go over his essays and make comments and proposed edits (lots of them).

My kid also had a supposed hook being a chess master but one of his fellow master friends didn’t get into UCB with similar stats so I’m not sure if it really was a hook or not. Your ECs seem pretty outstanding and unique and will definitely make you stand out.