Hello, I am new to this forum. I am currently a sophomore in high school.
I’ll start off by saying that my thing is math and science; they are my highest grades ( Both A’s above 95 and I’m in accelerated classes). I’m OK in English, my average essay grade is in the B+ area but I have an A in the class.
As of now, my cumulative UW GPA is 3.83 and my weighted is a 4.0 ( I only took 1 ap this year) and I attend a fairly competitive high school.
I have not taken the SAT or ACT yet so I know it is hard to gauge my chances.
For extracurriculars, I play football and rugby, however, I highly doubt I will be able to play sports in college. I also volunteer a few times a month if that means anything.
I know this isn’t really a lot to go off of but it’s the best I can give. It is practically impossible for me to see a counselor at my school. I do not know what exact major I want to pursue yet however it will most likely be something in STEM. I would appreciate it to know my brutally honest chances at the three schools in the description, what SAT/ ACT results I should shoot for and what I can do to improve my chances. Thank you very much for any replies.
Oh and sorry if I forgot to mention this but I live in NorCal.
My S is a senior, just finishing up. By two years ago this time, he had one AP course, ready to take his 1st AP test; and several honors classes ( math, science and English). His uw gpa is currently very similar to yours, but his weighted is much higher (capped & uncapped). He was accepted to UCSB and UCLA (among others), and waitlisted at UCSD (due mainly, we think, to the size of his chosen major program; very smal at UCSD). My advice is to work on figuring out what you want to do with your interests/strengths and investigate the programs at the schools you are interested in. Let the programs you are interested in drive the schools you focus on.
He had already taken the PSAT, twice, as well by this time his sophomore year. Did you take that last fall? How did you do?
Is that GPA just your sophomore year? UC weighted GPA doesn’t count 9th grade.
Assuming yes, you are on track to be competitive but not a sure thing. Does your high school have Naviance? If so, go check the scatterplots for the schools you are interested in to see what SAT /ACT you need to be targeting.
UCSD admits by major so engineering, CS, and biology majors take higher stats to get in.
Here is the UC GPA calculator which uses 10-11th grades for your a-g courses. You get an extra point for each semester of UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses taken during this time.
All UC’s will look at your UC GPA capped weighted (8 semesters of honor points) and UCLA/UCB do also consider your fully weighted (no cap on honor points).
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
As stated above in the other posts, competitive majors such as STEM will require higher stats than average to get an acceptance offer. UC’s are very GPA focused so a 4.0+ UC GPA is pretty much required for the best chances along with competitive test scores (above the 50th percentile) SAT subject tests if recommended for your major, compelling essays and EC’s.
Here is some statistical data for all the UC’s for 2017. The GPA listed is the capped weighted UC GPA and I expect the admit rates to be lower for this year’s in-coming Freshman class.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above:
UCB: 42.7%
UCLA: 47.2%
UCSD: 84.2%
UCSB: 82.0%
UCD: 90.3%
UCI: 94.1%
UCSC: 92.7%
UCR: 97.5
UCM: 98.1%
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1280-1490
UCLA: 1280-1500
UCSD: 1250-1470
UCSB: 1210- 1450
UCD: 1190-1430
UCI: 1190-1420
UCSC: 1170-1380
UCR: 1090-1310
UCM: 1020-1230
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-34
UCLA: 30-34
UCSD: 29-34
UCSB: 28-33
UCD: 26-32
UCI: 26-32
UCSC: 26-31
UCR: 23-30
UCM: 20-27
All 3 of those schools are looking for a UCGPA north of 4.15. Reachable from where you are but, it is going to be a LOT of work.
Good luck