First of all, thank you in advance for replying to this thread and I hope you have a great day,
As a current sophomore in a CA high school, I am projected to end up with a 3.68 UC gpa with honors courses considered and was wondering how good this was for colleges such as UCI, UCSD, UCR, UCLA(UC gpa alone). Also, when calculating gpa in general, are all 4 years considered for out of state colleges(Ex. freshmen gpa+soph. gpa+Junior gpa+senior gpa= average gpa OR soph. gpa+Junior gpa+senior gpa= average gpa )or is it diffrent for each state and school.
Thank you for the time you take to respond.
Each OOS school will have different criteria for determining GPA and even weighting courses. For the UC’s, it is pretty straight forward using the UC GPA calculator.
Some schools will include Freshman year and Mid-year Senior grades and some will not. You need to check each school’s website for specific information. You can also check the common dataset’s for each school which lists the average (unweighted) GPA of enrolled students as a guideline.
Until you have Junior year grades calculated into the UC GPA along with test scores, it is impossible to predict your chances for the UC’s listed. I suggest you check the UC website for the average UC GPA of admitted students and compare. Remember, impacted/capped and competitive majors need higher the average stats.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Thank you for your response, and as for the “chance” part for the schools, I was wondering my chances based off my projection of me getting a 3.68 UC gpa by the time of applications. So in the end, is a 3.68 UC gpa competitive enough for the schools listed with the gpa alone in general? Thank you once again, your information cleared up some of my questions.
Based on UC GPA only, UCR would be your only realistic option. UC admissions is more than your UC GPA although a large part. Test scores, HS course rigor, essays and EC’s are all part of the application process, so chancing anyone just on GPA or even with test scores can be futile. GPA and test scores can only be used as a guideline to help formulate a list of possible schools. For the best chances, you want at least these two stats to be at or above the averges posted.
If you check the UC website, there are 14 areas of criteria that is used to review applications so difficult to predict. My advice is to always have a broad range of schools on your list. If in-state CA, add a few CSU’s especially your local CSU since you are given priority. Also look at some private schools, where your stats are above the 75th percentile and have a chance at some scholarship/merit aid.
OOS schools are worth considering since many will offer good scholarships/FA and can be as affordable as in-state options. I suggest you visit some schools of interest before the application period this Fall. Get a feel for what type(s) of schools would interest you and of course the most important part of the application process is talk with your parents about budget. Make sure you pin down a dollar amount they are willing to spend so you do not end up applying to schools that are not affordable.