<p>Hi, I am an incoming senior and I am really nervous and confused about college applications. </p>
<p>-My freshman year went pretty well. I loaded up on honors courses and did well in all of them. But after that, things just started to slide. I wanted to challenge myself and decided to take Alg. 2 in the summer in order to take trig/precal Honors as a sophomore. [It was a huge goal of mine to take Calculus as a junior in high school.] I did great in the summer class, but wound up with a C grade both semesters as a sophomore. </p>
<p>-For junior year, I got in Calc AP AB and there I got a C in both semesters, but got a 5 on the AP, which I hope helps my prospects.</p>
<p>-Senior year, I plan on taking 4 AP courses and will still be involved in the clubs I have been actively participating in since freshman year. </p>
<p>-Besides math, I have near perfect grades and have taken a total of 5 AP classes/tests and got only a 4 on Psych AP, everything else a 5. I am a National Merit Scholarship Student (at least a commended student), I have placed well in a writing contest, I am involved in several clubs (including NHS and other honors clubs) and have strong leadership positions (ie, president, vp, ie), and I volunteer a lot. BUT I don't think it is enough to salvage my college chances :(</p>
<p>What are my chances for getting into a top UC or a good/prestigious private school in California? What can I possibly do to remedy my awful situation? </p>
<p>Thank you to all those who have taken the time to read this long post! :D I will truly be grateful for the advice you give me!
PLEASE HELP ME!!!</p>
<p>What is your UC GPA and rank?</p>
<p>I think I am at least in the top 10% of my class (my school weights grades) so my Cs became “Bs”. I don’t think my school ranks students though… my UC GPA is a 3.6/3.7. My GPA is 4.1-ish weighted.</p>
<p>I only took it once and got a 2020. Is that good? I also took a practice ACT cold and got a 30 and am studying for it now for the next test. I will also be taking my SAT 2s.</p>
<p>Are you in-state for Cali?</p>
<p>It’s probably good enough for the middle range UC’s, but a tad low for the very prestigious ones. It’s still a very good score!</p>
<p>I’d say the mid tier UCs are where you are shooting. If you are top 10% (colleges are given enough info to know where you rank) USC would be a reasonable reach.</p>
<p>I am really interested in UCs (LA, San Diego, Berkeley, Irvine) and the Claremont Schools (Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Pomona), as well as USC. I am in-state and I hope that will be to my advantage? Could I get into these schools if I got at least a 33 ACT, and/or 2100+ SAT score? And what about the Cs I got in math? Did my 5 in Calc help to alleviate some of its poison? And thank you very much “disagreement” and “redroses” for taking the time to consider my post!</p>
<p>I don’t think the 5 helps, because what it says is that you were capable of doing well, yet it leaves the question of why you didn’t.</p>
<p>Pomona, frankly, is as hard to get into as an ivy. Scripps looks realistic.</p>
<p>Could I explain my C grades in my apps? I really am driven to do well, but my drive led me to trying to get ahead (Alg 2 in summer, and then honors/ap in math). My teachers, to top it off, were really difficult (my school is noted for its rigorous mathematics). For Calc, my teacher really pushed all of the students in the class to learn much more than the AP test. </p>
<p>I know I sound really desperate, but I really am afraid of what my grades in math will do to my college chances. Is there any way I can improve my chances?</p>
<p>I don’t plan on being a math major and I have proven myself in my other subjects? Could that help at all?</p>
<p>Would anyone please answer my questions? It would be greatly appreciated! :)</p>