The title says it all. I’m a first generation student (oldest sibling in the family) and when I entered high school, I didn’t look far enough into the future to keep up my grades nor did I get into extracurricular. My cumulative unweighted GPA is 3.51 as of now (I’m going to Senior Year) and I want to attend a UC.
Here is my GPA for each year -
Freshman Unweighted GPA: 3.41 (First Semester was 3.33, Second Semester was 3.50)
Sophomore Unweighted GPA: 3.42 (funny story, my first semester GPA was 3.14 and second semester GPA was 3.71 because I realized I needed to get myself together)
Junior Unweighted GPA: 3.71 (3.71 for both semesters)
Senior Unweighted GPA: ongoing
Furthermore, my SAT score is only 1210, but because of the SAT score suspension, I’m planning on not submitting scores. So my GPA is basically the only way that colleges can see if I’m college-ready or not. Also, I got bad AP exam scores. 2 on AP Chem, 3 on AP Lang. For AP World History and AP Psych, I got 4s. I have no 5s.
I’m afraid that I won’t compare to other students who have 4.0 unweighted GPAs, good AP exam scores, AND have submitted SAT scores. Could I get into a UC with these stats? I really don’t know what else I can do anymore since it’s already senior year.
You won’t compare to a student with a 4.0. Your application will be assessed on its own merits. You have to work with what you have and not worry with what you don’t have.
Are you in CA? I think you need to add some CSU’s to your list. I’m not sure a UC is realistic with your GPA as it is, but maybe UC Merced is worth a shot. They do consider your first gen status and it seems your SAT score is within their range. @Gumbymom , which CA colleges might work for this student?
You don’t need to go to a UC to get a good education. What are your career goals? What major do you want to study?
UC’s only use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation so you need to calculate your UW UC GPA, Capped weighted UC GPA and Fully weighted UC GPA. Since UC’s are test optional, more weight will be placed on your GPA if you do not submit a competitive SAT/ACT score. EC’s, HS course rigor, personal insight essays, First Generation will also be considered in your application review. If you are a CA resident, then you have plenty of options that would fit your academic stats including the many Cal states.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Here is the 2019 Freshman admit rates by campus and capped weighted GPA to gauge your chances at the UC’s. Also your UC capped weighted GPA = Cal State weighted GPA so I have also linked the averages by Cal state campus. Data for both UC’s and CSU’s are not major specific so the more competitive the major, the higher the bar will be for your GPA.
2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 9%
UCSB: 6%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 9%
UCSC: 40%
UCR: 53%
UCM: 80%
2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 12%
UCLA: 7%
UCSD: 33%
UCSB: 32%
UCD: 47%
UCI: 35%
UCSC: 72%
UCR: 87%
UCM: 96%
2019 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.23 (4.15-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.32)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.03-4.28)
UCSB: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCI: 4.13 (4.00-4.25)
UCD: 4.13 (4.00-4.26)
UCSC: 3.96 (3.76-4.16)
UCR: 3.90 (3.69-4.11)
UCM: 3.73 (3.45-4.00)
2019 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT totals:
UCB: 1340-1540
UCLA: 1330-1550
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1280-1520
UCD: 1230-1490
UCI: 1250-1510
UCSC: 1200-1450
UCR: 1130-1400
UCM: 1020-1290
Target UC’s are probably UC Merced and Riverside.
https://www2.calstate.edu/attend/counselor-resources/Documents/freshmen-2019-admission-impaction-chart.pdf
For the Cal states, look to your local Cal state as a Safety and then consider CSU’s where your GPA is at least the average or higher.
Best of luck and repost with your calculated GPA, intended major and college budget.
@Lindagaf I added CSUF, CUSLB, and SDSU for CalState schools. I’m not sure which other ones are good for nursing or biology major.
@bouders I either want to become a dermatologist or a mental health nurse practitioner so I’ll most likely major in Biology or Nursing.
@Gumbymom Thank you so much for the information! I will consider adding UC Riverside and UC Merced to my application list. Do you know of any CSUs with good nursing programs or a good biology department?
So what is your UC capped weighted/CSU capped weighted GPA?
Knowing your GPA will help target Safety, Match and Reach schools.
Nursing in California is highly competitive so a CSU/UC GPA below a 4.0 will probably not get you into any direct admit programs like SDSU or CSUF.
SDSU Nursing stats: https://nursing.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/FTFAdmissionProfile_2016-2020.pdf
SDSU also will not allow an internal transfer if not admitted as a Freshman into Nursing so you would have to try for a transfer or consider just a Biology major. SDSU also does not look at alternate majors for Freshman applicants so you either apply for Nursing or Biology.
CSU Fullerton has a direct admit into Nursing also as a Freshman but will consider an alternate major if you are not accepted into the program. They do allow internal transfers but very few.
All the Cal states are good for Nursing and Biology. Other than SDSU and CSUF, the rest are 2+2 programs where you start off as a Pre-Nursing student, take the pre-req courses and then apply to the Nursing program. With the 2+2 programs, there is still no guarantee that you will be able to get into the Nursing program at the CSU you are attending, so you will need to reapply widely after Sophomore year.
Since test scores are not being used by the CSU’s in their application evaluation, GPA will be a huge factor along with having excellent grades in your science and math courses.
There are several other options if you want to go into Nursing.
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Get your RN by completing your Nursing pre-req’s at a community college, work in the field and then apply for a BSN program as a Transfer.
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Get your Biology degree and do an accelerated post-Bacc Nursing program.
Only UCLA and UCI have Nursing programs, so if you are targeting UC Merced and Riverside, then you would have to look into Post-Bacc Nursing programs after you complete your Bachelors.