Hello people;; I’ve actually been going thru this website for quite a while and I haven’t rlly seen any posts that are similar to my own experiences so I’m posting here
What are some schools (around CA) that I should assign as my “reach” or “safety” or “what I have a chance of getting into” with a low GPA and average/high SAT scores?
My cumulative unweighted GPA is around a 3.3 because of my first semester of junior year where I have an “explainable situation” I guess;: I got a 2.0 UW the first semester of my junior year (took all ap’s and ib’s). Besides that semester, I’ve gotten 2 c’s in algebra 2 h in freshman year and other than that it’s been a mixture of a’s and b’s (in the highest levels of honors and AP possible). So overall, doesn’t look that good (lol). On the sat, I got a 1530. On the sat 2 math, I got a 790 and on the sat Chem, I got a 710. I have some extracurriculars like being president of 1 club, secretary of another, and treasurer of another for multiple years. I’m also volunteering at a preschool as a teacher (3 years) , at a hospital (2 years), and at a nursing home (6 years).
If ap’s matter I got a 5 on APLang. (And probably am expecting a 5 on AP psych and APES) I know this is way too much information about me but because my gpa is so low I honestly have no idea what schools I should be aiming for, and I would like to hear what you guys think considering the information you’ve been given. Thank you so much for reading this! :))
Umm so I calculated it and (since my 1st sem junior year was bad) it was an unweighted 3.33 and a weighted 4.0 for UC gpa. Private schools under 70k a year are an option and I’m planning on going into business. I know I have no chance of getting into selective schools but I want to go to cal states/lower uc’s and I’m wondering if that’s plausible?? Thank you :))
Your 4.0 UC GPA was capped weighted or fully weighted? Are you using only 10-11th grades for the a-g courses? All UC’s use the capped weighted (8 semesters of extra honors points) while the top UC’s will also consider your fully weighted UC GPA. With a 3.33 UW only 10-11th grades?? your capped weighted would be around 3.7 or lower.
So post your UW UC GPA, Capped weighted UC GPA and Fully weighted UC GPA.
Cal States except SLO use the capped weighted UC GPA and your SAT score to calculate an eligibility index.
So your EI= (UC capped weighted GPA x800) + (SAT Math + EBRW). You are then ranked by EI and major at the Cal states.
SLO uses MCA points and they are the only Cal state that uses 9-11th grades in their GPA calculation so you can plug in your 9th grades into the RogerHub calculator and a maximum of 8 extra honors points. This gives you the CP GPA.
If you are not sure about the calculation, you can PM me your grades and courses and I can double check the calculation.
For CSU’s, your SAT will make up for the lower GPA. For the UC’s, your GPA will be very important along with intended major.
It sounds like you could use a school that puts more weight on test scores rather than GPA, and which has a strong undergraduate business program.
If your family can afford it – and it sounds like maybe they can – then your best fits might be at private schools, rather than UCs or CSUs. Consider Santa Clara U, for example:
– SAT range 1270-1440. Higher than most UCs, except Berkeley and UCLA. So clearly test scores are valued.
– Average GPA 3.69. Lower GPA than most UCs, except Merced. So clearly GPA is less important.
Corbett and Gumbymom have both given great advice here.
Plus… you haven’t said what you want to study. Your volunteer experiences hints at perhaps something in health care or education? If that’s the case, then you need to look specifically at your entry path for the field(s) you’re interested in. For example, if you wanted to go into nursing, you would need to look at things very differently than if you just want a liberal arts degree in an academic major. If you want a teaching credential, that changes things too. And even within academic majors, it’s important to look at schools with your specific interests in mind.
