<p>Hi everyone, I’m a rising senior from California. Basically, I kinda sorta screwed up my high school GPA big time. I moved in from another state like 1 month into freshman year and I received an F in Spanish 1 for my freshman year first semester because the pace at my old high school was too slow to match up with the pace over here at my current high school. However, I received a B+ my second semester because I put in a LOT of sincere effort and time into that class. Besides that fact, I currently have a 3.02 UW GPA and a 3.30 UC Weighted GPA. I know that it’s a pretty low GPA especially for UCD but I partially made up for that through my SAT scores (680,680,720 = 2070) and a 33 on my ACTs. I’m a hard-working student who just didn’t have luck in high school… I took tons of rigorous courses (AP Bio, APUSH, Am Lit Honors, and Chem Honors) and I’m going to be continuing that trend into my senior year (I’ll be taking AP Lit, AP Calc, AP Econ, Physics Honors, and Spanish 4 Honors). I had a life changing experience this summer which inspired me to decide to devote my life towards service to other people. I’m definitely going to be using this as my essay topic for my apps this year. My ECs are all pretty decent, (over 400 hours comm. service, tutoring, raised $10,000 for international health cause, founded a club at school, developed a website for a large scale corporation, etc). I really really expect my senior year grades to be stellar. My life changing experience has really REALLY motivated me to study hard and there’s no doubt that I’ll be acing through all my classes. Unfortunately, UCs don’t look at 1st semester senior year grades so I’m disappointed that they won’t count. 
Is there anything else that I could do to make up for my chances? Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Definitely write a killer essay. Have it proofread by your parents and, if you have any, college counselors.</p>
<p>just wondering, how much of an impact will my recommendation letters have on my admissions chances? I have three teachers who are willing to write me excellent letters for next year. Also, I heard that depending on how competitive the major is, I may or may not get into davis. I’m planning to go towards engineering and I was wondering how competitive Electrical Engineering would be to get into? Thanks for all your replies guys, I really appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>no advice, but hang in there cinnabon! you really just never know…</p>
<p>also, i waited too long to edit, but the UCs don’t accept letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>Like Calimami said, UCs don’t accept letters of recommendation. However your second point is correct-many (if not all of the UCs) can be harder to get into depending on your major. I don’t know about engineering, but it is possible that you can be accepted into a similar major, if your first choice is not available.</p>
<p>I am not sure if this applies at Davis but my son did have to provide letters of recommendation for UC Berkeley. He filled out the regular online app for the UC’s and later he was asked to fill out a supplemental app enclosing letters of recommendation among other things. Guess he must have been on the edge. So it might not be a bad idea to know who you would ask if the need arose. He was admitted to Cal but chose to attend another college.</p>