How "holistic" are holistic admissions?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I don’t know where else to put this, so I’ll leave it here. I want to go to Pepperdine,LMU, USD, or the selective privates in SoCal. I also want to attend SDSU(cal state) or CSULB, but I did pretty terrible my freshman year but got the upward trend to from a 2.8/3.0 to a 3.8/4.6 (4.7 ish with CCC classes). My GPA suffered badly because of family and medical circumstances freshman year.

Cumulative 9-11(4.0 scale w/ the +/-): 3.15
Cumulative 10-11(4.0 scale w +/-): 3.5
Cumulative 9-11 weighted: 3.56
Cumulative 10-11 weighted: 3.9
CSU/UC GPA: 3.75(10-11 GPA a-g)
Junior year taking 3 AP classes: Apush, Ap Lang and AP bio
ACT: 33
SAT 2 bio: 710
SAT 2 Lit: 730

I can write pretty well and overloaded myself with EC and volunteer work as well, so I would say that area is decent.

2

Freshman grades and ECs don’t really count at SDSU and CSULB. Based on your stats above, (and as long as you complete the a-g course list) you should be a strong candidate for both. With a competent essay, I think you are likely to be admitted to USD, Pepperdine and LMU too.

With your stats and story, UCSC and UCR seem likely too. UCI/UCSB and UCD are even worth a shot.

Keep up the momentum and good luck.

3

Thank you!! @NCalRent