Hi. I’m an rising Junior from the Bay Area. I am also of Indian origin. I was wondering what colleges I can get into with a 3.5714(My current cumulative GPA). My ACT score is a 32. My extracurriculars are tutoring little kids, ios app development, and President of a club. I want to go into computer Science. BTW I had a D+ in geometry in freshman year, but I did Summer School and got the grade replaced into an A.
Are you interested in the California Public’s: UC’s and Cal states? Private universities? What is your college budget/year?
Do you want to go to school near home or out of state? Any geographical locations preferred?
Large/Medium/Small schools? Urban/Suburban or Rural?
I would start with your in-state UC’s and Cal states first. Also look at one or two small private schools to determine what type of school would be of interest.
UC’s and Cal states use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation so you only have 1/2 of the needed GPA to determine which colleges might be a good fit. Your ACT is competitive for many of the UC’s and Cal states so start with SFSU (non-impacted for CS and should be a safety).
What is your unweighted GPA by year of high school? If the D was freshman year, it might not matter for some schools.
Have you been able to pull up your math grades since freshman year? Math is important for computer science.
I’m interested in many of the UC’s as well as some schools in the east coast(Rochester Institute of Technology, UMASS Amherst, and RPI). I would prefer the East Coast due to the amount of family I have there, but I am also okay with the West Coast because of Silicon Valley.
I am a junior for the 2019-2020 school year, and yes my D was in freshman year. As of right now, I’ve been able to pull B+'s in my algebra 2 class, and am currently doing precalculus online in hopes of preparing for Honors Precalc or AP Calculus AB.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/2127392-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-2018.html can give you an idea of how GPA has recently related to UC admissions, as well as links about how to calculate GPA for UC purposes.
However, CS is commonly a more selective major than the campus overall, so you should assume that admission will be more difficult than the recent campus admission rates may suggest.
Oh, then this is perfect for me. In Sophomore year my average was a 3.64
So what kind of grades do you have for Sophomore year? What level of Math will you have completed by end of Senior year? Any AP/IB classes for Sophomore year?
Below is some UC statistical data based on the Capped weighted UC GPA which might give some idea of target schools. Some of the more recent data should be available in August of this year. For CS, you are looking to be near the 75th percentile for test scores and well above the GPA averages.
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 7%
UCSB: 8%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 14%
UCSC: 33%
UCR: 49%
UCM: 82%
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 70%
UCR: 84%
UCM: 95%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26
For Cal States (all except SLO), they admit by CSU capped weighted GPA/UC Capped weighted GPA and test scores. They use an eligibility index calculation and will rank applicants based on their EI and major.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
With an ACT test score of 32, you would need around a 4.1 CSU/UC capped weighted GPA to be competitive for San Jose State’s CS program.
A 3.8+ CSU/UC Capped weighted GPA would make you competitive for the rest of the top Cal States for CS (San Diego State, Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, Fullerton).
For SLO, their GPA is calculated based on 9-11th grades using the same calculator and for CS you will need around a 4.2+ SLO GPA to be competitive.
It is fine to visit a variety of schools, but do not fall in love with any school that appears out of reach based on your current stats.
So for Sophomore year, I had a 3.57 GPA in the first semester(7 classes), and a 3.71 GPA in the second semester. I took 7 classes; Honors Engineering, Algebra 2, English, Chem, Computer Science and Software Development, French, and World History. In addition I took AP Computer Science Principles online and recieved an A in the course. I took the exam as well. Next year I plan on doing AP US history, AP Computer Science A, Honors Precalc/AP Calc AB(Depends on how I do in my summer math course), Honors Engineering, African-American Literature, and either Physics or AP Pyschology. By Senior year, I plan on having completed AP CALC BC and AP STAT.
UC’s and Cal states give 1 extra honors point of each semester of AP/IB/DE or UC approved Honors classes taken 10-11th grades.
Any HS can call courses “honors” but for the UC’s and CSU’s only the courses from the approved list will be weighted, so what is your unweighted GPA?
UC approved a-g course list link and type in your HS: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist
You are doing well, but you want a 4.0+ GPA by end of Junior to be competitive for CS at the majority of the UC’s and top Cal states.
Private schools will look at all your grades 9-11th including 1st semester Senior year to determine your GPA. Few schools will describe how they weight your classes but your HS course rigor does look competitive.
Definitely take AP Calc BC over AP Stats unless both fit in your schedule.
How many years of Foreign language? What about a Visual/Performing arts course?
All requirements for many of the schools.
I’ve done 3 years of French, and I plan to take photography at a community college to count as my VAPA. I am doing it a community college, because apparently any course at a community college is weighted! My honors engineering courses are all weighted for UC’s. My unweighted gpa for UC/CSU is 3.64 while for weighted it is 3.78. For my AP’s next year, I am preparing for APUSH to get an A by going to a prep course in July, I am preparing for H.Precalc/Calc AB by doing precalc online in BYU and khan academy. Thank you so much for your help @Gumbymom !
Only UC/CSU transferable courses taken at a community college will be weighted by the UC’s and Cal States. For private schools, it is up to them how they weight CC courses.
“am currently doing precalculus online in hopes of preparing for Honors Precalc or AP Calculus AB”
I don’t think that you should jump to calculus as a junior. Typically calculus is tough for students with B’s or less in algebra and trigonometry. I think that it is good that you are studying math over the summer to get stronger. If you can get a solid A in honors precalculus next year, it will make calculus much easier for the following year.
If you can pull off strong grades in your upcoming junior year, then this should help you a lot in terms of university admissions.
So colleges like to see a lot of improvement from freshman year to Sophomore year right?
“So colleges like to see a lot of improvement from freshman year to Sophomore year right?”
Yes. If you have straight A’s for your full four years of high school that is great. However, a lack of A’s during your freshman year of high school will be much less important than later in high school. Some universities (some universities of California and most universities in Canada come to mind) in most cases do not even consider your freshman year. However, a strong uptrend will help you at nearly all universities.
Well, it’s not quite the situation that private schools love upward grade trends. It depends on all sorts of things regarding the upward trend. It certainly is a plus over a downward grade trend at the same gpa level. The most selective schools want it all and they can get it.
Ok so how would you rate my extra curriculars? President of an engineering club, lots of volunteering, tutoring little kids, and am developing an iOS app for my school.
I think that your extracurriculars are fine. Your number 1 priority is to pull off strong grades for next year. The fact that you are catching up on math over the summer should help you do this.
Here are some East Coast schools that may suit you!
-Stony Brook University
-Wentworth Institute of Technology
-University of Scranton
-Temple University
-NYIT
-Mercy College
-University of Hartford
Is there a chance for me to get into Rochester Institute of Tech, WPI, RPI, or NJIT if I have great rec letters; I will have/have had my honors engineering teacher and comp sci/AP comp sci teacher for 3 years. I am also taking a lot of PLTW courses.