How to get into the UC's

<p>I was wondering if anyone can give me an idea, in general, what I should be getting GPA, SAT scores, EC's, etc in order for me to have a chance at the top UC's? Thanks</p>

<p>GPA and SAT scores carry much more weight in UCs than other top schools.</p>

<p>Basically if you're an A student with a 2200+ SAT score and 750+ SAT IIs you'll get into Berkeley even with minimum of ECs.</p>

<p>The UCs play the numbers game. They don't ask for recs and it's rumoured that only Berkeley really puts any weight on the essays.</p>

<p>focus more on your gpa than ur sat scores for sure.</p>

<p>Very true, you never need unending lists of EC's for a UC.</p>

<p>For more higher UCs like UC Berkley = 2090 SAT with a 4.5 GPA will do</p>

<p>For medium UCs like UC San Diego = 1800 SAT with a 4.0 GPA will do</p>

<p>For more lower UCs like UC Riverside = 1600 SAT with a 3.5 GPA will do</p>

<p>really?? im predicting by college app time i will have a 3.6 UW gpa , 3.85 W and im hoping for a stellar SAT score.... what are my chances for UCLA and UCSD based on the numbers?</p>

<p>Generally speaking, UCs aren't as "random" as the elite privates and takes a lot of the guessing game out.</p>

<p>For example, using danielkwak's numbers, if you have a 2090 SAT and a 4.5 gpa and don't completely screw up your essays, then you can pretty much say that you got into berkeley as soon as the application is sent in.</p>

<p>On the other hand, even if you have a 2400 and a perfect GPA, there is still a very real chance that you will be rejected from HYPSM</p>

<p>i agree with everything people are saying here. It's also important to note that the UCs tend to put extra (i'd say undue) emphasis on GPA/class rank: 99% of UCB freshmen were in the top 10% of their graduating class, a higher percentage than Harvard, Yale, Princeton or any other elite college. </p>

<p>I wouldn't say that the UCs don't put any weight on the essay, it's just that there's usually a very clearly defined line between a UC admit and denial based on SAT/GPA alone. Unlike the elites, it's very easy to have stats that make the UCs clear safeties, so it really doesn't matter what your essay says.</p>

<p>There's a report published by the UCs that breaks down the percentage of applicants admitted with a certain range of scores. If I recall correctly, a 4.0+ student has about a 50/50 shot at admittance, which is the same chance a perfect scorer has at getting into Harvard. If you consider the full range of 4.0+ students in our wonderfully grade-inflated high schools, you'll realize that very few truly qualified applicants are denied from the UCs.</p>

<p>first, what's HYPSM?</p>

<p>and for Anisha08, your chance of getting into UCSD really depends on your SAT. If you get over 1900 with a 3.85 GPA, I would say your in.
For UCLA, normally, you would get rejected unless you get 2100 + (still risky b/c of low GPA). But if you have great EC's, then there might be a possibility. One guy had a 2.8 with ASB President status and got into UCLA.</p>

<p>HYPSM = Harvard Yale Princeton Stanford MIT, basically a quick and easy way of saying "the elites"</p>

<p>if i have around a 4.3-4.4 gpa, what sat score would i need to get to be accepted in ucla?</p>

<p>Of the 10,005 applicants with a fully weighted GPA of 3.70-3.99 that applied to UCLA, only 1109 were admitted in the class of 2010. So, I don't know that I would be as quick to say that they are in. But, it's definitely possible. Here are the early stats for the admitted class this year at UCLA.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof06.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof06.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>How important are AP and Honors courses?</p>

<p>UCs put a cap at how many AP and Honors courses can be counted in their weighted gpa. I think it is 8 semesters. However, I'm not sure how taking more than 8 semesters of APs and Honors would affect admisions</p>

<p>my unweighted gpa is like a 3.5 is that bad? like do uc's care more about the weighted gpa than they do about the unweighted one?</p>

<p>Well I'm planning on having 18 semesters of Ap and Honors courses and get a 3.93 GPA.....Since that is over the limit my gpa will go down with the more I take. Would it be best to have 14 semesters and get a 4.00 UC GPA??? Or is there really a difference between a 3.93 and a 4.00</p>

<p>And Mangogo. I think the UC's mainly use the UC GPA which is the a-g courses in 10th and 11th grade, with a maximum of 8 honors pts.</p>

<p>I think it's probably best to just take as many AP/honors as you can and just do well in them. Don't think about sacrificing GPA for added honors/AP classes.</p>

<p>I had an 1870 and got into UCLA and UCB (poor test taker). However, I had near perfect grades, I'm full IB, I'm ranked 6/370 and I had great essays. So you can lack in one area and make up for it in other areas. But if you are out of state, you are going to need the works.</p>

<p>I guess they do care slightly about the UW since low UW GPA might tell them that all those AP classes you took were way too rigorous for you.
3.5 Isn't that low UW for the colleges your aiming for, like UCLA (kind of low, but not a BIG problem.)
Also, if you have a 4.3~4.4 GPA, then you would need to get somewhere around 2000 and I would say your safe.</p>

<p>Stop giving advice guys! U never know with college.. that's the truth. I got into UCSD and UCI and UCR with a 3.3 (WEIGHTED!) GPA and a 1970 SAT. My SAT 2s were crap... like 400 Spanish and 580 math 2c. I also got into CAL POLY SLO and San Diego State. Aim for 2+ UCs and u will almost certainly get into 1.</p>

<p>Also do you guys know how UC schools view summer school....Does it look like you are trying to get ahead...??? Or trying to get out of taking AP classes.?</p>