<p>Hi, I am about to be a senior in high school and UCLA is the dream (of course).
I am an out-of-state student who takes community college classes in place of high school courses and I am proud to say I have a GPA that falls in the range of admitted students. </p>
<p>The only issue is that I have very very few ECs. None freshman year. One club sophomore year, and then a job and 2 clubs junior year. I plan on getting more involved senior year as well. </p>
<p>I am also a navy kid and have moved before junior year and my job is pretty demanding, as well as the course work at the community college. </p>
<p>Will my lack of ECs destroy my chances at UCLA?</p>
<p>If you have on par grades, you can talk about life as a navy kid (did you do the traveling around the world stuff? experiences in a navy base?) and your demanding job! That’s definitely better than having a random boy scout or president of so and so High School Club roaming around the campus right?? What’s your SAT/ACT score by the way?</p>
<p>I believe grades are definitely the more important of the two. Grades may serve to exclude you, whereas ECs seem to work more to push you over the top in a close decision. Your decision to take a lot of CC classes and get good grades in them will definitely benefit you in the long run more than a having a laundry list of trivial ECs. </p>
<p>You really shouldn’t worry too much because your ECs and life experience sound like they will make for a fine application. All you have to do is effectively sell them. Don’t overestimate your peers; a lot of people get admitted to UCLA, and many of their apps are not as impressive as you might think.</p>
<p>I take my SATs in September. I am really nervous. I tried to register in the Spring, but all the spots filled up so now I just get one shot before I apply. And no, I did not travel around the world, I lived in 10 different cities, but 8 of them are all in Washington state, then I lived in Rhode Island and California for a year. I really want to get in, but I don’t want to play the military card, I feel like every kid in the military will write an essay about it.</p>