<p>I'm a Junior in High School as of now, in the Bay Area of California.</p>
<p>Let me start off by saying I know that most of the posts on here are like "I have a 4.4 GPA and don't know whether to go to Harvard or Princeton!" That is not my predicament.</p>
<p>I have moved a lot. This is my seventh house in sixteen years. I'm not using that as an excuse, but it doesn't really help my focus when there is so much else going on. I have really been putting off High School, and as of now my cumulative GPA is right around a 2.5. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a dumb kid, I just have been lazy and figure there's more important things than school. </p>
<p>I now realize how stupid I was to put all this off, but there is very little I can do heading into my senior year.</p>
<p>I took the SAT yesterday, and felt pretty confident after the test. I took an SAT Prep course for eight weeks before the test, and in the process took three full Practice SAT Tests and pretty consistently scored between 1850-1950. Not awful, but I don't think it'll get me into any decent colleges.</p>
<p>That's why I'm here. You guys know college better than anyone. What do you think my odds are to get into a decent school with a 2.5 GPA and.. let's say a 1950 SAT score? </p>
<p>Thanks for any advice you can give, this has really been bugging me and it'll be great to hear what you guys have to say.</p>
<p>You really think I could get into UCSC? I mean I know it's not Berkerly but with a 2.5 I thought any UC was out of the question. Maybe, MAYBE a State. SDSU.. eh. </p>
<p>Nothing wrong with SDSU. Apply to a few of the bottom UCs/CSs...Is Santa Monica open enrollment? I just met a kid goin there and he said it's pretty popular.</p>
<p>r u reluctant to go oos...there are better u's u might be able to get into other than the uc system...which is really great dont get me wrong but i think u could do better oos</p>
<p>loslobos71: not even the lower UCs would be very likely for the OP. UC Riverside, for example, has some 8% with a GPA below a 3.0. The UCs are meant, usually, to take on those with at least a 3.0 GPA, though they do have some with lower than that.</p>
<p>To the OP: look into some of the CSUs. They'd be easier to get into for you. You might also go to a community college for a year or two and then transfer to one of the UCs. I personally would do that.</p>
<p>loslobos.. When you say "Nothing's wrong with SDSU" does that mean it's a good school or I could get in?</p>
<p>I was actually planning on going to Austin Community College and transferring to UT-Austin after a year or two of really stepping up my game. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with SDSU means that it's a good school. I honestly dont know about admissions to UCs, so take anything I say about getting/not getting in with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>make up for your low grades with a great senior year and, more importantly, killer essays that explain your situation. get teachers and your counselor to pull for you. you have a compelling story...use it to your advantage.</p>
<p>if you bang out a 2000, who knows what could happen? best of luck to you</p>
<p>When you say "get teachers and your counselor to pull for you", does that mean letters of reccommendation? After a little bit of research, I have found that many schools could care less if a teacher likes me, but if you know differently, that'd be fantastic, because I know of a few teachers who know my true work ethic.</p>
<p>Also, you think I should write about all of my moves in my application essays? I feel like I'd be handing out excuses :-/. And won't my grades senior year not really matter, because I will apply before first semester is over, and will get accepted/rejected before the year is over.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for all of your input. I just wish I had thought about it sooner.</p>
<p>Have your guidance counselor write about your moving issue. That kind of stuff should always come from guidance, not from you. That way, they're both aware and you're not using it as an excuse.</p>
<p>Also, I think you could find a way to incorporate your moving into your essays, but not necessarily base your whole essay on that topic. That way it wouldn't really sound so much like an excuse as a means for writing a great essay. </p>
<p>Like, maybe you could write about something new you learned about life oryourself in each place that you lived? Like have each place be a new paragraph. Or about one friend you met in each of the places you moved. I think that, if you are a good writer, something like that might evolve into something really nice. You could do a lot of imagery with it...boxes, bubble wrap, packaging tape...that'd make for a great opening.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to go the community college route, so you could get your degree from a great college. That's just me though, if you want the total college experience, shoot for a CSU, Long Beach, San Diego State, and also apply to Cal Poly SLO for the hell of it :).</p>
<p>Any University of California Campus requires a GPA of 3.0 for Freshmen applicants. The OP might want to consider one of the 23 California State Universities. The minimum Math/Critical reading SAT score required for a student with a 2.5 GPA is 900. Sounds like the OP would clear that by quite a bit. If he wants to go to a four year University he might want to look into the Cal State system. The Cal State Universities are a great deal for a good education. I know many graduates of the Cal State system that are doing extremely well .</p>
<p>Go to a community college for two years and work very hard. Then transfer somewhere better - your experience of moving so many times and then getting serious about your studies could even make a great essay topic.</p>
<p>
[quote]
make up for your low grades with a great senior year and, more importantly, killer essays that explain your situation. get teachers and your counselor to pull for you. you have a compelling story...use it to your advantage.</p>
<p>if you bang out a 2000, who knows what could happen? best of luck to you
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly agree with this. </p>
<p>Although the CC -> transfer to UC option others have proposed is also definitely good. </p>
<p>Or you could also take a gap year and do something REALLY interesting (like start a successful social enterprise, write a book, or something), and then anything's possible.</p>