My daughter…
Junior in LI high school
Hispanic - National Hispanic Recognition Program
31 ACT
GPA 4.53
AP Comp Sci (4) Sophomore
A Psyc, Stats, Physics - Junior - expect 4-5
All other courses are Honors
Varsity soccer and lacrosse
Some additional ECs: Key Club, Tutoring younger kids, summer work at golf course
Potential Majors are engineering or sciences
I believe she wants a UC, but who knows. If not, probably within 3 hours of NYC
You have been very helpful with my son. I would love some input here.
Can you pay the full cost of attendance (could be in the above $60,000 a year range) each year? The UCs don’t give need based aid to OOS students and the merit awards given are really very small.
With a 31 ACT, probably wouldn’t get merit. Although as a Hispanic Scholar, that might help. Still the merit awards aren’t that much relatively speaking.
Also, engineering is an impacted major at many UCs.
UC’s are test blind until the 2025 admission cycle so ACT will not be considered for admission purposes.
As stated above, the UC’s offer no need-based financial aid and very little, highly competitive merit so expect to pay full fees at $67K/year. UC’s also do not consider NHPR students for any merit nor any race/ethnicity into their admission decisions.
Engineering at all the UC’s is very competitive.
UC’s have their own GPA calculation using the link below. She will also need 1 year of a Visual/Performing arts course as part of the UC requirements. OOS applicants get the extra honors weighting for AP/IB or DE UC transferable courses. HS designated Honors courses for OOS applicants are not weighted.
We are very lucky to be in NY, but SUNY is worst than death in certain parts of Long Island, and it is a very hard culture to combat.
Her Mom went to UC Berkeley, so she has her heart set on a UC. She is realistic and gets it probably wont be UCB, but is hoping UCSD, UCIrvine or UCLA.
If not a school her in in the NE. Bing is probably the only SUNY she would be interested in.
We have been saving since kids had a SS# (a week old) so fortunately we feel confident we can pay for most if not all of private school cost.
The UC’s can’t use Affirmative Action in their admissions.
There is no financial aid for non-residents. The UC’s are public universities funded by California taxpayers and cannot afford to providing state funding for non-residents.
Assume $67K per year.
Merit aid is minimal-assume $2K to 6K at the most.
Most of the STEM majors are competitive and impacted.
Honors courses are calculated differently. In calculating an out-of-state student’s GPA, UC will grant honors weight for AP or IB courses only, but not for school-designated honors courses. The weight is given to letter grades of A, B, or C. Out-of-state students | UC Admissions
Is there a specific reason your daughter is targeting the UC’s?
Honors and Advanced classes aren’t given extra GPA points.
2021 OOS acceptance rates for the UC’s are pretty good but the matriculation rate is low due to the high costs. Also, the UC campuses are limited on the # of OOS and International students they are allowed to accept and there is increasing pressure to limit these numbers even more.
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic):
UCLA: 13.9%
UC Berkeley: 14.1%
UC Santa Barbara: 36.3%
UC Irvine: 74.0%
UC San Diego: 59.3%
UC Davis: 80.8%
UC Merced: 71.8%
UC Riverside: 85.7%
UC Santa Cruz: 82.2%
I only have 2020 GPA admit data based on the capped weighted UC GPA so the 2021 numbers are not yet available. For the highly competitive majors such as Engineering/CS/Science majors, the admit numbers will be lower.
2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 2%
UCLA: 1%
UCSD: 8%
UCSB: 9%
UCI: 9%
UCD: 17%
UCSC: 59%
UCR: 65%
UCM: 95%
2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 8%
UCSD: 39%
UCSB: 40%
UCD: 55%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 82%
UCR: 90%
UCM: 97%
2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 37%
UCLA: 38%
UCSD: 78%
UCSB: 81%
UCD: 86%
UCI: 60%
UCSC: 92%
UCR: 97%
UCM: 98%
2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCSB: 4.15 (4.03-4.27)
UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)
UCD: 4.10 (3.95-4.25) Updated for 2021
UCSC: 3.94 (3.71-4.16)
UCR: 3.88 (3.65-4.11)
UCM: 3.68 (3.40-3.96)
No reason not to apply to the UC’s as long as they are affordable.
GPA is obviously very important. It looks like OOS are at a disadvantage due to Hs having no weight, but resident Hs getting the nod. APs are a leveling of the playfield. Is that right?
I thought UC was test blind for residents, but OOS could submit and have it considered.
My daughter is fairly solid, but the little reading I have done here tells me UCSD and Irvine would be a reach at best and UCLA and UCB a pipe dream?
“Will Out-of-State or International Students Have to Submit ACT or SAT Scores? No. For students applying in Fall 2021, 2022, and 2023, the UC system is test blind for all students, including out-of-state and international students.”
There are lots of excellent private colleges in CA. If your kiddo is really interested in engineering, look at Santa Clara University. It’s my personal favorite🙂
Out-of-state high schools’ honors courses are not listed at University of California A-G Course List that is used to give +1 honors points (note that not all California high schools’ honors courses are honors for UC purposes as well). AP courses with C or higher grades are given +1 honors points from any high school.
Forget UC unless you have $$ and likely a lesser. Your 31 won’t hurt you due to test blind. Withininn3 hrs of the island…SUNY….they are not all the same such as RPI, Hofstra, Manhattan, quinnipiac. If wants large, Delaware and UConn. Umass a bit farther As is Pitt.
She is just starting her Junior year, and taking 3 AP’s and one last year. We thought she was doing well.
Now early in Junior year we are starting to think about colleges, it turns out this race started freshman year- and she should have started the AP marathon then, and be complete her 4th or 5th at the end of Sophomore year.
Not sure UCs are worth 67K from OOS… What does she want to major in?
She has a good shot at UCD, UCI (more commuter than UCD), UCSB. These are really solid for most majors and top notch for a few. However is she up for large lecture halls and housing issues?
What about Cal Poly SLO (less expensive and fewer large lecture halls, but still highly selective)?
Research some other CA universities: beside Santa Clara, listed above, what about Occidental, Scripps, Pitzer?
Closer to home, she can look into all the nearby states’ flagships (UConn, UMD, Penn State, Pitt, UDel…) as well as private colleges with various selectivity levels (ConnColl, Franklin&Marshall, Dickinson, Fordham…)