I'm an incoming junior coming from a SW Florida high school. My current cumulative GPA is 3.48 unweighted and 3.79 weighted (I know, yikes). My sophomore year was a bit rough for me, especially with my math and science classes. I scored a 3 on both my AP world history and AP biology exams. All of my classes have been AP and honors except for my algebra 2 class I took sophomore year. Next year, I plan to take 4 AP classes and 1 honors. My strengths lay in English and history. I'm a great writer and I always scored high in history. As of now, my only extracurricular is marching band, which I've been involved in since freshman year. This year, I'm percussion captain and next year I'm aiming for drum major. I plan on joining another club or two this year as I have more reliable transportation. At the moment, I'm writing a research paper on schizophrenia which, in partnership with a teacher, I plan on publishing. I'm a part of the National Society of High School Scholars, and I expect an invitation to the National Honor Society once school comes around. I'm also due to start volunteering at the animal shelter once school starts.
So how are my chances? My top colleges are UCLA, UCSB, Columbia, and NYU. I feel that I would be able to get into one or two of the major Florida schools, so they aren't on my top list. I want to be a psychiatrist, and I'd be applying as a psychology major with a photography, history, or english minor. I take my ACT tomorrow, which I'll probably retake. I am also going to take a couple of SAT subject tests.
The California UC’s use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation. Anything under a 4.0 UC capped weighted is going to be a tough admit.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
As an OOS applicant, only AP classes taken 10-11th will get the extra honors points in the calculation. Also no financial aid to OOS applicants so expect to pay $65K/year to attend.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted:
UCB: 1.8%
UCLA: 2.2%
UCSD: 7.2%
UCSB: 10.1%
UCI: 11.1%
UCD: 16.6%
UCSC: 43.8%
UCR: 63.3%
UCM: 88.7%
Consider UCLA a High Reach school and UCSB a Reach school.
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-34
UCLA: 30-34
UCSD: 29-34
UCSB: 28-33
UCD: 26-32
UCI: 26-32
UCSC: 26-31
UCR: 23-30
UCM: 20-27
@Gumbymom Thanks for the information. The thing that brings me down is my sophomore year GPA. No matter what my grades are this year, I can’t get to 4.00 since my GPA sophomore year was only 3.18 UC unweighted/3.41 UC weighted. Is there any way I can fix that or do I have to deal with it bringing me down?
There is no funding for non-residents at the UC’s-no scholarships, grants, nothing. Have you asked your parents if they will pay $65K per year?
@“aunt bea” I discussed it with my parents and they said the way we’d pay for it is with a combination of my college fund, money I save from work now, pell grants, FAFSA, a student job, and student loans. Anything else will most likely be out of pocket from them.
The UC’s are very GPA focused and since they only look at 10-11th grades for GPA consideration, there is really nothing you can do but target UC Riverside and Merced which as a full pay OOS student is not worth your time applying. Do not get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with UCR and UCM but you will have much better alternatives in-state for a fraction of the costs.
You really need to pin your parents down on an actual $$$ amount.