Hello guys, I’ve been worrying alot lately about my GPA. I really want to go to UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Merced and some other UCs. I am a Sophomore going to be a Junior soon, I’ve also taken AP/Honors courses and my current GPA is:
Class Rank: 292 of 612
Weighted GPA: 3.28
Unweighted GPA: 3.20
College Prep: 3.42
Do you think it is possible for me to make it into these colleges? It’s just been making me feel down lately. I also plan on working really hard Junior year.
UC’s and CSU’s use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation so you are only half way there in regards to your GPA. Class rank is not used so much will depend upon your UC/CSU capped weighted GPA, test scores, HS course rigor and your essays (for the UC’s only).
Here is the Rogerhub UC GPA calculator so when you complete Junior year, plug in your grades into the calculator to get your UW UC GPA, Capped weighted UC GPA and Fully weighted UC GPA. All the UC’s and all the CSU’s (exception Cal Poly SLO) use the Capped weighted UC GPA.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
I would say based on your posted GPA so far, UC Merced might be your only option but you still have another year to bump up your UC/CSU GPA.
Below are admit rates for different capped weighted UC GPA’s which are not major specific to give you an idea of your chances:
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
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%
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%
Below is the SAT/ACT target ranges for the UC’s:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1280-1490
UCLA: 1280-1500
UCSD: 1250-1470
UCSB: 1210- 1450
UCD: 1190-1430
UCI: 1190-1420
UCSC: 1170-1380
UCR: 1090-1310
UCM: 1020-1230
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
Your intended major will also have an impact on your chances for the UC’s and CSU’s, so the more competitive the major, the higher stats are needed.
I would start looking at some of the Cal States since there are far more options with your GPA for the CSU’s vs. the UC’s and you can get an excellent education at any of the CSU’s. I have one son that just graduated from a CSU (SDSU) and another that graduated from a UC (UCD). Both got a great education and are doing well in their major fields post graduation.
Then calculate your Eligibility index:
If you took the Redesigned SAT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 800) + (SAT Evidence Based Reading & Writing (EBRW) + Math Score) = Eligibility Index
Eligibility index for ACT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 200) + (ACT Composite x10)= Eligibility Index
**CSULB and SJSU use a modified EI for STEM/Engineering majors:
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html
You will then be ranked based on EI and major and they accept from the top down until all spots are filled.
You will get priority at your local CSU which you can look up on this link. Local applicants usually require a lower EI to get an acceptance unless the program is highly impacted.
http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf
Impacted campuses/majors: https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/ImpactedProgramsMatrix.pdf
Which of the Cal States would be good choices I can set my goal to? And thank you for your reply!
Since you have no test scores, it is difficult to recommend any CSU’s. What is your intended major?
First, figure out which CSU is in your local service area using the link I posted above: http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf
Other than SDSU and Cal Poly SLO, your local CSU will give you priority and you can use that CSU as a safety school.
Based just on your GPA, I would say any of the CSU’s other than CSU Long Beach, Fullerton, San Diego State, Cal Poly SLO, San Jose State (for CS) and Cal Poly Pomona would be within reach. If you are able to bump up your GPA next year and get a competitive SAT/ACT score, then some of the above CSU’s might be within reach.
Three very popular ones are CSULB, SJSU, and SDSU.
My intended major is Engineering/Computer Science
Yes, SDSU/CSULB and SJSU are very popular and can be highly competitive so much will depend upon how you do Junior year with your GPA and test scores along with intended major. All these campuses are impacted, meaning they have far more qualified applicants than spots available so work hard and see where you stand next year.
Start at the bottom up for your college list and identify 1-2 safety schools first and then you can build from there once you have your final GPA and test scores.
Engineering/CS will be tough admits for the impacted schools mentioned but if you check the CSU impacted matrix link, there are many CSU’s where these majors are not impacted and that is where I would look first.
https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf
If you do a best case scenario and get all As in 11th grade your unweighted GPA will go up to around 3.50. Assuming you’ve taken a decent amount of Honors/AP classes that would put your UC capped GPA at around 3.8. That would put you in the high reach category for schools like UCD and UCI but puts you in the match category for UCSC and UCM. Do note that CS is a highly impacted major so that definitely will lower your odds overall. There are of course other factors that will come into play - test scores, essays, the rigor of your classes, and ECs.
with a 3.4 UC/CSU GPA, all the a-g classes complete and an SAT in the 1200 range, you will be competitive for most of the CSUs but, none of the UCs. For CS and Engineering, I’d encourage you to take a good look at Chico, Sac, SF, San Marcos and East Bay.
Good luck