<p>Could anyone possibly give me some quick input on the likelihood of being accepted into mechanical engineering here? I’ve searched around but have been unsuccessful in finding admissions data from the college of engineering. </p>
<p>GPA:
~3.857 Unweighted
~4.3 Weighted</p>
<p>SAT: should I submit this score or omit it in favor of my ACT due to the fact that my math score (620) is 80th percentile while it is 91st on the act?
1980
CR: 710
M: 620
W: 650</p>
<p>ACT:
28
E: 28
M: 28
R: 30
Sci: 26
W: 9</p>
<p>Classes:
All honors with the exception of English Freshman and Sophomore year.
One trimester of each APUSH (A) and AP Chemistry (B+) Junior year, and AP Language and composition (A both trimesters) with a 5 on the AP test.
3 years of spanish
Taking AP Calculus, AP Physics, and AP Gov/Econ senior year.
I am slightly concerned with the fact that I only took two of five classes (AP Language/Comp and Pre-calculus) for one trimester this year (junior year), but I am under the impression that since the school runs on a trimester system, I have enough “extra” classes to make up for this. </p>
<p>Sports:
3 Years of Track and Field (as of completion of senior year)
1 year of football
1 year of rugby (club)
1 year of row team (club)</p>
<p>Clubs:
Robotics club
Treasurer of Auto Club
NHS</p>
<p>Class rank:
Top 9% of historic GPA (ELC qualified)</p>
<p>I am a white male from California from a very low income family. Public HS with an API of 832 and state rank 9/10 (according to school-ratings.com).</p>
<p>I think you would have a great chance if your SAT/ACT score was a little bit higher. You should also try to get some volunteering hours to broaden your ECs.</p>
<p>i think UCD is a slight reach for you, because your SAT/ACT is slightly low, although your gpa is really good. and yes, i would submit the ACT if i were you, since your ACT maths score is more impressive than the SAT maths score.</p>
<p>Are there any advantages given to children of faculty? My mom has organized and run a program through a cooperative extension of Davis for many years.</p>
<p>As far as your scores go, the SAT score comes out to be slightly higher: ((1980/2400) * 36) = 29.7. Your math score comes out to ((620/800) * 36) = 27.9, so as far as math goes there’s virtually no difference. Based on that, I’d go with the SAT score or just send both. If you send both, they take whichever one is higher overall.</p>
<p>I think that Davis is a high match with your scores and major. Raise either of your scores a bit and I’d call it a match. Your GPA is great, and with solid essays that’d make it even more of a match.</p>
<p>Personally, I think you are a good match for UC Davis. UCD takes students from a wide range of GPA and SAT brackets, so I think you definitely have a good chance of getting in. That being said, you could definitely strengthen your application through a couple of ways. First, you should consider bringing up your SAT or ACT scores up a bit, say maybe 100 points overall on your SAT and maybe 3 points on your ACT, though you would definitely want a majority of this improvement to be in your mathematics scores. Have you considered taking SAT MAT II? A good score there would also solidify your chances. </p>
<p>Also, I disagree with what Wassupman99 said somewhat, though he might not have meant it specifically this way. I don’t think volunteer hours are the end all be all, critical EC for college apps. It certainly helps to have some under your belt, but I think the best thing you can do for your app is to diversify your interests and build on already established interests. For example, you show your engineering interests in your club involvement. You could build on that (I think it might be too late though to apply) by being an officer for any of those clubs. You could also join competitions or do work related to basic engineering stuff. Just get involved in your interests. The other thing you can do is, like I said, broaden your interests. Show that you have other things you love other than academics/engineering. Sports is definitely a good fit for this, but if you want your application to stand out, ask yourself if there’s anything else you love doing. If not, then that’s totally fine. But if there is something that has peaked your interests recently or that you have always thought of doing, find some event/whatever in your community that lets you pursue it. This could be a very helpful experience to reference when writing your essays.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. On the lack of EC’s, I do have others - most notably volunteer work through a local mountain biking group in maintaining trails - but this “passion” for a activity that you speak of lies in the outdoors for me. The problem with this, however, is that I am not sure how/if I would be able to quantify this in any meaningful way for my application - I can’t exactly say that I average around 30 miles of hiking every weekend and have it carry any weight.</p>