<p>Yeah, I remember reading the UC catalog, and seeing that most middle tier UCs only accepted 15%-20% of people who had GPAs in the 3.0 to 3.3 range, but that didn't discourage me. So I spent a lot of time writing what I thought was a really good personal statement. </p>
<p>Now, keep in mind that I applied to all the UCs (save for Riverside) and got rejected at every single one except for UCSB and UCSC, so it is an uphill battle. But I think if you write a good essay, and you get a person reading it who really understand what you're writing about, you'll have a shot.</p>
<p>You can always go to a community college too. At worst, most majors will have guaranteed transfer programs with the middle tier UCs, and at best, you'll get into a top tier one.</p>
<p>Click on any campus, and then click "download detailed ADMIT RATE chart". Here are the percentage acceptance rates for all the UCs for applicants in the 3.0-3.3 range:</p>
<p>Berkeley: 3.4%
Davis: 17.1%
Irvine: 10.7%
Los Angeles: 1.9%
Riverside: 65%
San Diego: 1.6%
Santa Barbara: 10.2%
Santa Cruz: 36.5%</p>
<p>Then agan, if you look at the SAT score percentages, you can see that a lot of applicants with your GPA have good chances. But that GPA does hurt, especially because so many students who apply to the UCs, including the lower tier ones, have fairly high GPAs.</p>
<p>I would think a lot of the essay stuff would fall into the Step IV catergory. Then all the points would be added up, everyone above a certain cutoff was accepted and everyone below not. At least I think that's how it went, I remember some rejects calling UCSD to find out what their score was. I don't want to say any more about it since I never applied to UCSD and I don't want to mislead you about it. You might want to ask ont he UCSD forum here.</p>
<p>I don't understand. My school does not weight grades (out of state) and I have a 3.9. Would the UC's weight my GPA themselves? I've taken 7 AP courses already, and everything else is honors, so this would really help me.</p>
<p>emswim, read the thread on whether paying UC out od state rates is worth it. There is very little aid for oos students and you would be paying close to $40K/yr for most probably 5 years to attend a UC. That's more than any ivy. Why?</p>
<p>Better schools, IMO: Stanford, Caltech, Pamona, CMC, USC (better than all but top 3) Harvey Mudd. All Claremont colleges are a better experience undergrad than most UCs, Santa Clara is better than many.</p>
<p>May I ask whats a good transfer school in la? And is there any chance of going to top ivy schools if i go to a cc for 2 years and transfer? what do i need to do in order to be accepted into top ivy schools after cc?</p>
<p>dont let these anyone discourage you!! just do what u have to...... but make sure u make it clear in your essay that you came into this country late & academic change..........tell them that you are not dumb... the SAT proves that ....just that you needed time to adapt!! im pretty sure that as an incoming family you had a very strenous first and second year - financially & morally !!! tell the colleges about that ! they are lookin for personal growth! btw: kick ass SAT scores dude!! & yeaa try to get into some EC's before u aaply</p>
<p>Not getting into a UC is hardly about being dumb. The UC system is designed to accept the top 12% of CA high school graduates. A large number of UC aceptees are fairly recent immigrants.</p>