I’m only in my sophomore year but here we go, thanks for reading this!
State: CA
Gender: F
School: Public school, really competitive, 2000+ students
GPA (aaagh)
9th grade:
-Semester 1) 3.57 (terrible, I know) I got a C in math, B in Bio
-Semester 2) 3.83 (also not great) I got a B in math – I really suck at it and am not really interested in STEM
10th grade:
-Semester 1) 4.0 gpa
2 honors classes this year
11th grade - 3 AP’s and 2 Honors classes
12th grade - 3 AP classes
EC’s so far: on my school’s debate team for 2 years, officer position in FBLA, volunteer/teach at local speech and debate organization - 3 years so far, I do art in my free time (I have enough good pieces to make an art portfolio)
Assuming I keep up my grades (i’ve heard upward trends are okay??), and get at least a 33 on the ACT or 1550+ on SAT, what are my chances of getting into colleges like
UCLA, UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC San Diego
I want to be a lawyer, but I know a lot of these schools have an engineering tilt
Also I know this is a REEEAALLYY long shot, but Stanford???
Come back when you have actual test scores and grades (midway through junior year, say). Since you are looking at UCs, you need to familiarize yourself with how UCs calculate GPAs for admissions. Stanford is looking for top notch academics, test scores, and spectacular ECs — then you have about a 5% chance, along with the rest of the very strong applicant pool.
Tbh, it’s really hard to gauge people when they’re barely sophomores; so much can change. In fact, I would probably be nowhere near “T20” or even T20 reaches if you gauged me my first year of sophomore year. Get an ACTUAL ACT or SAT score because no matter how much you assume you can get those scores, sometimes you just don’t and something hapens.
it’s true it’s pretty early…keep working hard and you’ll do it! best of luck!
I would suggest you apply to some Southern schools. They tend to appreciate the use of the pronoun y’all.
Just some information regarding the UC’s that you will need to be properly chanced.
- UC’s only use 10-11th grades in the a-g courses in their GPA Calculation. You get 1 extra honors point in the calculation for any UC approved Honors, AP, IB or Dual Enrollment a-g courses you have taken 10-11th grades only.
UC’s tend to be GPA focused so strive for a 4.0+ capped weighted UC GPA.
Since you are a California resident, you can look up your HS’s UC approved Honors courses here: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist
Using this calculator at the end of Junior year, you can calculate out your Unweighted UC GPA, Capped weighted UC GPA (which is the GPA listed on the majority of the school websites) and the Fully Weighted UC GPA.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
- UC’s offer a variety of majors so you will have many options from which to choose if you want to go into Law.
Each campus will admit Freshman differently so intended major can play a small or large part into your chances of being accepted.
Here are some UC GPA averages and SAT/ACT ranges for 2018 Freshman by campus:
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1360-1540
UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26
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Try to visit as many potential schools before you apply since many times on paper they look like a good fit, but once you visit you might change your mind. Also identify 1-2 safety schools that are affordable and you guaranteed admission, then you can work on your list of Match and Reach schools.
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Find out your college budget and if you will need financial aid so you can attend any of these colleges. Law school and be expensive, so you will want to keep your Undergrad costs to a minimum.
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Last but no least, enjoy your time in high school and do not make getting into College a major focus. Continue to do well in your classes, pursue the EC’s that you find rewarding and everything else will fall into place.