I’m currently a high school senior who’s going to be graduating in August, and I was wondering about my chances of getting into them for Computer Science. Here are my academic records and such:
Weighted GPA: 4.25
Unweighted GPA: 3.75
Extracurriculars:
Science Olympiad (junior, senior year)
- Club President for senior year
VEX Robotics (senior year)
MESA (sophomore year)
Red Cross Club (senior year)
Sports:
Cross Country (9-11)
- Won 3 awards and several medals
Track & Field (9)
- Won 1 Award & a few medals
SAT Score: 1390/1600
- 670 (Reading/Writing)
- 720 (Mathematics)
AP Scores:
AP Calculus AB: 3
(That’s the only one I’ve got.)
Additionally, I’ve had Intro to Engineering Design, Intro to Programming, and Intermediate Programming in regards to my desired field. As for AP courses, I’ve had Pre-AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Human Geography, Pre-AP English (9-10), AP Euro, AP US History, AP English (11-12), and AP Calculus AB and BC. My school didn’t provide AP Physics unfortunately. I’m also taking Intro to Psychology as a Dual Enrollment course. Additionally, I’m learning C++ and I’ve been learning Java on my own, if that counts for anything.
Given that info, how are my chances? Honest answers would be much appreciated; I don’t want anything sugar-coated for me. Thank you to anyone who responds!
Is the GPA stated, your Cal Poly GPA? SLO uses 9-11th grades and caps the extra honors points at 8 semesters of UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th. You should calculate your MCA points also for SLO Your SAT is below average and CS has a low acceptance rate for both schools.
See Link: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score.html. Use post # 52 to calculate MCA score.
Consider both schools a Reach, apply widely and make sure you have a safety school on your list.
Thank you for the response! The 4.25 is my Weighted HS GPA, while the 3.75 is unweighted HS GPA. My CSU GPA calculated to 4.13 without entering the senior classes that are in progress and planned, but when including them, it lowered to 3.75. As for my MCA, I calculated it to 4,171.
Also, thanks for the recommendation! Besides those two, I also had UC Davis and Sacramento State in mind, which I’ve found - based on research - are not as rigorous to get into, nor are they as impacted in CS as Cal Poly or UC Berkeley.
Senior grades are not included in your UC/CSU GPA and your CSU GPA should be the same as your capped weighted UC GPA.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
For CS at SLO, you want a minimum MCA score of 4700 for a decent chance.
I see. Thanks for the information and your responses! Here were my results:
Unweighted GPA: 3.63
Weighted GPA: 3.96
Weighted and Capped GPA: 3.96
Based on the standards you’ve displayed, it does look like it’ll be a long shot. Hopefully, I’ll still be able to get into the other two though.
@Donny19: If you are targeting CSU/UC’s for Computer science, you need to apply widely since CS is one of the most popular and competitive majors. I suggest you look at UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, San Diego State, CSU Long Beach, CSU Fullerton and Cal Poly Pomona besides UC Davis and Sac state.
Sac state would make a great safety school. For UC Davis, CS can be found the College of Letters and Sciences which admits by division and the College of Engineering which admits by academic department/major. CS in L&S will be a slightly easier admit than CS in Engineering.
Right now between UC Davis, SLO, UCB and Sac state, you only have a safety, a high match and 2 reach schools. There is a chance you would only get into your safety unless you add more schools to your list. Since it is early November, you need to make a point of finalizing your list since the deadlines are Nov 30th. Do not wait until the last minute to submit your applications.
Best of luck.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 (capped weight) and not major specific:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 94%
UCM: 96%
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1280-1490
UCLA: 1280-1500
UCSD: 1250-1470
UCSB: 1290-1450
UCD: 1190-1430
UCI: 1190-1420
UCSC: 1170-1380
UCR: 1090-1310
UCM: 1020-1230
SLO Freshman profile for College of Engineering:
CP GPA (9-11th capped weighted): 4.16 average. SAT score average: 1467
Thanks for the list of recommendations. My applications are already done and I wanted to see the list of schools that may be a good idea to apply to, alongside my other ones. Cal Poly Ponoma and UC SC were in mind, so I’m thinking about adding them as well. Primarily, however, my goal was to try to get into my top 4 choices. If I don’t get into any of them, I was planning on taking my GEs at my local community college for cheaper tuition and just transferring into the schools I liked.
If you go the CC route, you need a minimum 60 semester/90 quarter units and you need to complete your GE along with any major prep. I would look at TAG for the UC’s or AS-T or AT-T agreements for SLO.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/
http://www.calstate.edu/transfer/adt-search/
I see. In that case, if I do end up going to CC, then I’ll make sure to follow these guidelines and requirements in relation to CS. I thank you once again for the college transfer info and for all the counsel you’ve provided for me here. As far as I’m aware, that is all the information I wanted to know, though if I do have any other questions I’ll make sure to post them here or in another discussion.