High GPA Low ACT, IB full diploma... Any chance to get into UCLA?

Student Lounge International Students
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OK, the same as title. I’m a Junior now and I’m beginning to worry about colleges. I’m in an international private school in Memphis and I’m an international student from China and I came here last year. Now, I’m taking IB full diploma with 4 HLs which is really challenging for me. And after I estimate my GPA I think I can get a GPA between 4.3 and 4.6(weighted). However, I’m pretty bad at any tests on English, such as the English and reading part in the ACT test. I only can score about 21 in both section while I can score 34 on math and about 28 on science. So overall my ACT is about 26 but it is still not enough to get in to my dream university,UCLA. I just want to ask that do I have any chance to get in UCLA? Except for my scores, I also do some other activities like Basketball team, 40+ volunteer hours, host of Chinese New Year Festival… AND BTW since I’m going to spend 3 years in the US high school, am I still apply to colleges as an international student?

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  1. You count as international
  2. ACT is too low. Retake it.
  3. Why UCLA? IS it because that's the only good school you know? There are plenty of good schools out there.
  4. Even if you get in, you have to pay 65k+ per year because you don't get any FA.

Also, your Ecs are not competitive enough; every one does sports activities, everyone does required volunteer hours. Also, provided that you are a chinese student, being a host of Chinese New Year Festival doesn’t say anything about you other than your nationality

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Thanks

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Why UCLA?
Will you be full-pay?
26 is decent if you’re full pay and can look at actual colleges (vs. a dream school, UCLA). There are 3,500 universities in the US, with hundreds that are excellent even if you’ve never heard of them. Keep in mind that up to rank 125, most national LACs have very dedicated, competitive students who have chosen their school, despite their not being a football team or an international name, because the school is academically-focused and the students also are (and don’t care about football). Keep in mind that most states have flagships with good honors programs and some have not just one, but several excellent universities. Add universities that are powerful regionally (keeping in mind that an American region is as big as a European country or several of them), and you have about 350 colleges to choose from that are in the top 10% of American universities…
Start there: borrow your school library’s Fiske Guide and start reading, page after page. Do NOT eliminate a college “on sight”. Read everything. Put post its on colleges that, after reading the description, sound like you. Then go back, and try to find the common points among all these colleges. Come back to this website with these characteristics and your provisional list, and we’ll help you find you more.
In addition, you may want to find out if graduating from a HS in Tennessee means you’ll be considered instate for admission and/or instate for tuition rates by Tennessee public universities.

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Thanks for the reply, it’s really helpful. I would like to full pay if I got into UCLA because I like that school. However, like you said, there are plenty of good schools out there. I will apply other school except for UCLA.