I'm a senior with POTS syndrome, bradycardia, chronic fatigue and others. What ar my chances at UCs?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

Since the 8th grade, I have had genuine medical conditions that affected my energy levels. I’ve missed a lot of school and had to do home instruction for my 9th grade year. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I attended high school for the first time. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of my sophomore and junior year due to my health. As a result, I have to be delayed not one but two years. By the time I’m an undergrad, my peers will be starting their 3rd year of college. These conditions have affected my ability to learn greatly and at one point, left me sleeping up to 20 hours a day.

Fortunately, this year as a senior I’m doing a lot better. I have a total of 23 days gone which is down from the time where my absences exceeded the seat time that was required. I intend to major in physics and minor in comp. sci. I still have one more year to go and applications are due next year.

What are my odds at a UC? I want to go to Standford or UCLA but am unsure if they will even consider me.

My stats:
-I have only taken one honor’s class (Honor’s geometry) and that was my sophomore year.
-Piano as only extracurricular but I dropped it because I didn’t have enough energy to practice
-GPA is 3.7 despite several absences
-intend to take AP physics next year
-No ACT (unfortunately, my advisors were too busy to set me up with a schedule for the test this year.)

2

Is your medical condition under control? You can’t miss 3 weeks of a 16 week semester and expect to do well in college.

You don’t need a guidance counselor to register for the ACT. Go to their website, pick a date/location, and complete the registration
yourself.

3

@dddrizzle Welcome to College Confidential. I concur with @austinmshauri and wonder if your Medical condition is under control and will it continue to hamper your performance in college?

First of all you need to have some test scores to see if you are in the ball park of any these schools. Secondly, even if you have a perfect GPA, test scores, amazing EC’s etc… you and the majority of applicant’s chances at these schools are low so there is no way to chance any individual. All you can do is compare your stats to the in-coming Freshman class and see where you stand.

If any of these schools are really important to you, then definitely apply but have no expectations of getting an acceptance.

The best thing you can do now is make sure your health issues are stabilized, take the ACT or SAT and do some prep prior to test day, continue to do well in your courses and start formulating your essay topics since your health issues will be a focal point.

When formulating your college list, start with identifying at least 2 safety schools. These are schools where you have almost a 100% chance for an acceptance so your GPA and test scores need to be in the 75th percentile or higher and the school has at least >50% acceptance rate for your major.

After you find some affordable safety schools, then you can work on Match and finally your Reach schools.

For UC’s, they use a specific calculation for their GPA which is weighted based on your a-g courses taken 10-11th grades. Please post your UW UC GPA, Weighted Capped UC GPA and Fully Weighted UC GPA.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Here is some statistical data from the 2017 Freshman class for admit rates and test scores so you can gauge your stats. UC GPA quoted is the Capped Weighted UC GPA and this is not major specific. CS will be a much harder admit for all the UC’s.

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%

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above:

UCB: 42.7%
UCLA: 47.2%
UCSD: 84.2%
UCSB: 82.0%
UCD: 90.3%
UCI: 94.1%
UCSC: 92.7%
UCR: 97.5
UCM: 98.1%

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

If you are a California resident, start looking at the Cal states especially your local CSU for a possible safety school. Also you might want to take a look at private schools which might be better for your situation in terms of individual attention and smaller class sizes.

If you have any questions about CA colleges, do not hesitate to post your questions and I am sure CC posters will be able to answer them.

Best of luck and hope your health continues to improve.

4

Adding on to the comments above, only UC Berkeley and UC Merced are on the 16 week semester system. The rest are on the 10 week quarter system, which many find challenging. I’m not going to say what you can and cannot handle, it is just common for even the best students to fall behind there and something that turns people off from the UC system.

Best of luck!

5

your GPA is below mid-point for all of the UCs except UCM, making it an uphill climb at most of them. Without an ACT or SAT, it is hard to give you anything more specific than that. I will add that UCs get so many applications and are so GPA focused, it is hard to essay yourself into them.

If you are a Sr in HS now and haven’t been admitted anywhere, what do you plan to do come August/September?

A CC then TAG transfer might be the perfect path for you.

good luck.

6

Have you tried seeking the advice of the colleges Disability centers?
They may be able to help with some modifications.

I have to agree with @OhWhatsHerName, that most of the schools are on the 10 week quarter system. The system and coursework/readings are intense. Studying goes late into the wee hours; can your system handle that?

The UC’s are tough enough to handle without having to deal with a significant medical condition. Many courses require labs that are often taken at late hours.

As for the ACT, generally the students sign up on their own according to announcements on the calendars. There is usually a sign up sheet.
Counselors typically don’t sign up for you unless you need very specialized accommodations.

You may want to take a number of your courses as an online student.

7

I’d consider starting out at a community college. You can take as many classes as your health allows and extend the time out a bit, then, if you complete all requirements, can transfer into most of the UCs (look into TAG). UCB doesn’t participate in TAG but you can certainly attend one of the ones that do.