GPA and SAT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I have a 4.6 weighted GPA and 4.0 unweighted GPA, but somehow managed to score only a 1200 superscore on the SAT. I feel so defeated because I worked so hard in high school but ended up bombing the SAT and I took it 3 times!! I have a variety of extracurriculars including: political organizations, community service, theater, show choir, Hollywood internships, student government, and I worked. I’ve taken 6 AP’s, 7 honors courses, and 7 college courses (I’m dual enrolled with my local community college). I also feel that my essays were pretty strong. So here’s my question… do you think that because I have such a low SAT that I will not get accepted to the schools I applied to??
They include:

Boston University
Northeastern University
George Washington University
Emerson College
Fordham University
USC
University of Washington
SDSU
Cal Poly Slo
The New School

2

I can only comment on the California schools. Are you a California resident? What is your intended major since SDSU and SLO will admit by major?

USC will be a Reach since they tend to be very test focused but LOR’s and essays could boost your chances.

SDSU admits by major and Eligibility index. You need to calculate your capped weighted CSU GPA. SDSU uses only 10-11th grades for the a-g course requirements with a cap of 8 semesters of Honors points for UC approved Honors courses (CA resident only), AP/IB or Dual Enrollment: Link is below:

https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/eligibility-index

Once you have your CSU capped weighted GPA, plug it into the Eligibility index calculator along with your SAT score to your EI. Target EI for SDSU is around a 4300+.

For Cal poly SLO, they use 9-11th grades in their GPA calculation with the same honors cap as SDSU. They admit by MCA points and major.

Below is how to calculate your MCA points:
Academic MCA:

The maximum GPA they will use is 4.2, even though you can have a higher calculated CP GPA. A 4.2 is worth 2250 MCA points. Thus, multiply your CP GPA by 535.7 and you’ll get your MCA points for GPA.

The next biggest thing is test scores. The odd thing, likely because they wanted it to total a nice round number, is that the max score is 1650, even though the max SAT score is 1600. Multiply the total of your best SAT CR and your best SAT math by 1.03125 to get your MCA test points. If you took the ACT, they convert and vice versa.

The third largest section is the class rigor score, worth 750 points. In this section you get zero points for meeting the minimum admission requirements and adders for more than the minimum. The bonuses in order of power are (min semesters/max total semesters/bonus per extra semester/total possible bonus): math 6/10/125/500, lab science 4/8/50/200, English 8/10/50/100, foreign language 4/8/25/100, visual performance 2/4/25/50, no bonus points for social sciences or electives. As with GPA, you can actually score higher than the maximum, but 750 is the most they will count.

Finally, work and ECs, worth 350 points. Work (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/20, 6-10/40, 11-15/60, 16-20/80, 21+/100, add 50 points if work is major related. ECs (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/30, 6-10/60, 11-15/90, ‪16-20/120‬, 21+/150, add 60 points for leadership role.

There are also other Non-Academic Bonus Points:

CA vet/701, Hayden Partner School/700, faculty/staff dependent/700, service area of CP/500, either parent with some or no HS, but who DIDN’T GRADUATE FROM HS/300 (per parent).

Repost with your CSU GPA, CP GPA, EI and MCA points. Best of luck.

3

Have you considered the ACT? Some students do better on the ACT than the SAT.

Have you talked to your parents about how much they will contribute for your college costs, and run the net price calculator on each college with them?

4

My intended major is Communications, and yes I am a California resident. Thank you!