In dire need of advice regarding college choices and admission chances! Please help!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m becoming a senior next year, and with that comes college apps! Yay! (sarcasm) I’m planning on applying to a couple institutions only located in California because I prefer studying in the state. Listed below is a brief description of my academic and extracurricular “transcript.”

(class- sem 1 grade, sem 2 grade), UW= unweighted

9th grade
English Honors UW- B, B
Geometry Honors UW- A-, A
Biology Honors UW- B, A
Concert Band- A+, A+
Spanish 1- A+, A+
Comp Ops/ Health Ed- A+, A+
Marching/ Jazz band- A+, A+

10th grade
English Honors UW- B+, A-
Algebra 2/ Trig Honors UW- C+, C+ (very long story lol)
Chemistry Honors UW- A-, A-
Symphonic Band- A, A
Spanish 2- A+, A
AP Euro- A+, A
Marching Band- A+, no sem 2

11th grade-
English CP- A, A
Precal Honors-A-, A-
AP Bio- A, A
Spanish 3- A, A
AP US History- A-, A
Symphonic Band- A+, A+
Marching Band- A+, no sem 2

Cumulative GPA UW- 3.80, Cumulative GPA weighted- 3.99

AP exams- Euro 3, APUSH 4, Psychology 5, Bio 5, APENG 3

SAT- 2170

Extracurriculars- Winter Drum Major competitions 9th 10th 11th (placed top 3 each season), Band Leadership 10th and 11th, Drum major for marching band, saxophonist for symphonic band, HOSA 11th, VP of club (grade 11), VP of club (grade 12), Co-president of outside charity organization (11th), 150 volunteering hours, working in a hospital and currently shadowing a doctor over summer.

These are the colleges I’m considering right now as my safeties, matches, and reach schools.

Safeties- San Francisco State, UC Riverside, CSU East Bay, UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, San Jose State
Matches- UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego
Reaches- UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Berkeley

Financially, I’m not in the best position I could be. I’m mainly aiming for public colleges, but if the financial aid works out, private institutions may be manageable.

I’m well interested in doing pre-med, but I may go in as undecided so I can broaden my options. Are there any other colleges I should consider? If so, please mention them here :slight_smile:

Thanks so much for reading!! I would really appreciate some advice regarding this because I don’t have much of an idea as to what my expectations should be. If you could provide some insight, it would mean the world to me. Thank you!

2

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

UC GPA?

UCSD would be a High Match/Low Reach
UCSB would be a Match not Safety.

3

Alright, thanks!

4

UC GPA is a 3.95

5

You’ve got a pretty good handle on your chances at the schools you list.

Good luck

6

I agree with @NCalRent that you have a good sense of your chances at the schools on your list. Regarding your financial situation, if your family has low (or even moderate) income, you will get some serious need-based aid at some private schools in CA.

These schools in CA offer “full financial need”:

Claremont McKenna College (CA)
Harvey Mudd College (CA)
Occidental College (CA)
Pitzer College (CA)
Pomona College (CA)
Stanford University (CA) - crazily hard to get into of course, and your SAT score probably isn’t where it needs to be
Thomas Aquinas College (CA)
University of Southern California (CA) - not as generous typically as the others

You should consider researching the above and see if your family could afford them.

7

Yeah, I’ll look into the financial aid that they provide. I’m planning on taking the SAT again this year, and I’ve prepared extensively. If I reach my aim, 2230, would it reasonably increase my chances at Stanford? I know it’s still a reach, but I want to know if it’s a “realistic” reach. I don’t want to spend like $50-70 on an application that will be inevitably rejected :confused:

8

There is no major called “pre med”. You can major in anything that you want, as long as you take the courses that are required for medical school admissions.

9

I think you have a very solid list! I also think that you have a very solid shot at your reaches! Good luck with your college application process!

10

bump

11

Wait, does a UC GPA count a weighted honors class? Precal honors, specifically.

12

^ it does if you live in CA but only up to 8 semesters of UC honors class count toward your UC gpa

13

In that case, my UC GPA is a 4.0. does that change my chances?

14

bump

15

I think that you have a chance at the colleges you listed. A 4.0 GPA is definitely a nice plus. Keep that up and it’ll definitely help. Make sure to get your SAT scores up to a 2230 boost your chances (even more) at Stanford. Good luck!