Is UCLA a reasonable goal?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Looking at various scores and posts by other prospective college students, I've realized how badly I've slacked in my schooling. Ever since I was young it's been my dream to attend UCLA; the atmosphere, the spirit and pride in atheltics, and of course the prestigious academic record have all drawn me in. Basically I know that as of now my chances are realistically slim to none, but I want to know if there is something I can do to increase my chances. The following is some basic stats:</p>

<p>School Type - Public
Location - California
Race/Gender - Caucasian, Native American, F
Prospective Major - Psychology (but after being dead-set for years, I am now unsure)
Unweighted GPA - 3.83
Weighted GPA - 4.10
Class Rank - 32 out of 541 (I am in the top 6% of my class)</p>

<p>SAT l Scores
Math - 550 (SO BAD I KNOW)
Reading - 620
Writing - 640 </p>

<p>Okay so I have SERIOUS concerns about my SAT score report because this calculates to a total of 1810 which is garbage, but when I first checked my scores my total was 1880 (still garbage..). I know this for a FACT because I calculated it literally 10 times!! I scored a 10 on my essay and 60 on my MC so is that the 70 points that are missing? I'm confused. Also I did absolutely zero preparation for my SAT (never took PSAT, didn't study a single bit, only got 2 hours of sleep the night before, etc.) which was really dumb but do you think if I actually prepare and try hard for the next one that I will see a significant jump?</p>

<p>ACT Scores
Composite - 29
English - 28
Math - 25
Reading - 32
Science - 31
Combined English/Writing - 30 (scored a 12 on my essay) </p>

<p>ECs/Sports
- CSF Club (CJSF two years for middle school, CSF soon to be all 4 years of highschool; will be a seal bearer at graduation)
- Honor roll award for every semester so far (maintained 4.0 all 3 years and plan to continue doing so)
- 12 hours of volunteer work with my team over summer (not sure if this counts?)<br>
- Several hours of tutoring but I no longer talk to this guy so I'm not really sure how proof of hours will work?
- Assistant coach for a rec league
- two years JV softball (team captain 1 year), 1 year varsity
- Unofficial, but also looking to do some volunteer reading at the local library for kids</p>

<p>Job Experience
NONE :((((( I am not allowed to work because I would have no way to work (can't even afford a license and especially not a car to get me there). Which brings me to another point, my parents have an entire $0 saved towards my college fund. I get all my necessities but dealing with funds is like foreign to my parents because no one in my family has really gone to college.... so I also would like info on financial aid. I know some people were able to get into UCLA with lower scores than mine with a killer essay, and writing has always been my strong suit (trust me I would never write essays the way I'm talking now) but I don't feel comfortable sharing my "story." I don't know, it's just a weird thing with me. I feel like my achievements should speak for themselves instead of getting in on the notion that someone feels bad for me? </p>

<p>But back to the point, what do you think my chances are for UCLA? What about other schools like UCSD? Any responses are much appreciated!!! </p>

2

<p>Calculate your UC GPA, see link for calculator: <a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
Your GPA looks good, SAT not so good/ACT not bad, EC’s are average. You will need to get that SAT up to 2100+ or ACT to 31+ to be competitive. At this stage, low reach.</p>

3

<p>If you didn’t prep and got 1810, you can do much better for next SAT. I just graduated UCLA so my info on this stuff is outdated by 4 years but i got 2010 on my first SAT by studying about 3 weeks before the test (which was stupid in hindsight) but then studied about 10hrs/week from Sept to April + 10hrs/day over 2 weeks in winter break and got a 2340 on my SAT in april. It took a lot of determination and studying but it was very very very worth it. It was actually a lot of fun too cuz i had a friend retaking the SAT with me. The experience made me much more disciplined from then on and i’m going to stanford for med school now… in retrospect, it’s mainly learning from mistakes and doing the best you can to not repeat them. </p>

4

<p>The UC’s are somewhat GPA-centered, and thus admit a wider range of SAT scores than most top schools. Also, although all colleges will consider your application in light of the opportunities you’ve been given, the UC’s are specially sensitive to socioeconomic background. I had a friend get into UCLA with a similar SAT score this year; she was also a first generation student. Another friend got into Berkeley with a lower score; he was also first generation. Colleges understand that you guys are at a disadvantage/haven’t had the same opportunities and try to level things up. Since this is your first try, you do have a lot of room to raise your score. Do prep as much as you can, since you want your score to be as competitive as possible. But if for some reason it doesn’t go up much (it should, but in case it doesn’t), don’t stress about it.</p>

5

<p>@Gumbymom - my UC GPA was the exact same as my unweighted GPA when I calculated it. Also, in terms of past trends I thought 29 was a really good score for UCLA. I think 75% accepted had around a 25-27, but my source could be outdated and/or wrong. :-/ But it doesn’t hurt to improve! </p>

<p>@JustOneBruin - Wow that score is crazy!! Definitely motivates me to actually work hard and congrats on the med school! This definitely gave me some much needed inspiration </p>

<p>@Lilliana330 - Thanks for the encouragement! I feel pretty confident that I’ll see a jump in my score, and it’s nice to hear about other people who aren’t incredibly academically outstanding with a similar background who are still getting in. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies, it helped a lot! </p>

<p><strong><em>I totally forgot to include my recent AP scores in my 1st post</em></strong></p>

<p>AP Psych - 4
AP English Lang. & Composition - 4 </p>

6

<p>If you look at the UCLA Freshman profile: <a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm&lt;/a&gt;
you will see that your ACT of 29 is near the 25th percentile for this years in-coming freshman. The majority of admits were 30+. If you study hard at least a 2 point increase would definitely make a solid applicant.</p>