Hello everyone, I am currently in my Junior year of high school, and would greatly appreciate any feedback you guys give me. I am trying to apply to the UC’s, (UCLA, UCSD, UCB, etc.) as well as other schools roughly around the same standard of acceptance (for example, USC).
My Grades:
Freshman Year - 6 A’s, 2 B’s (No honors or AP)
Sophomore Year - 6 A’s, 2 B’s (No honors or AP)
Junior Year - 6 A’s, 2 B’s (All IB Classes, 3 of which are Higher Level status) GPA - 4.3-4.4 weighted, 3.7 unweighted
Senior - TBD
(4 years of Japanese and College Prep)
Scores:
SAT - 1260, however this was my first time and I plan to raise it into the 1300s at least in the following tests.
ECs:
Soccer (for club) until start of Junior year
Soccer JV for Freshman and Sophomore
Paddling Varsity for Junior year
Part time Job (10-12 hours a week)
Clubs (Korean Club, Avid Ambassador)
Surfing
Online Entrepreneurship/Freelancing - stocks, online jobs, affiliate marketing
Piano for 9 years (if that matters haha)
Planning on Majoring Business/Economics
(From out of state)
If there is anything you recommend me doing between now and application dates next school year, please let me know :)>-
At the end of Junior year, calculate your UC GPA: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
UC’s only 10-11th grades in the UC a-g course requirements for their GPA calculation. You will need to post your Capped weighted UC GPA (8 semesters of AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th) and the Fully weighted UC GPA (unlimited semesters of AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th).
You also need to make sure you meet all the a-g course requirements for the UC’s by end of Senior year including the year of Visual/Performing arts course.
Since you are OOS, make sure your parents can afford to pay full fees at $65K/year for you to attend. OOS students get little to no financial aid (need based or merit) from the UC’s.
Your SAT definitely needs to bumped up for the best chances at UC’s and USC.
Some statistical data for UC capped weighted GPA/SAT scores and not major specific:
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
UCB: 1.8%
UCLA: 2.2%
UCSD: 7.2%
UCSB: 10.1%
UCI: 11.1%
UCD: 16.6%
UCSC: 43.8%
UCR: 63.3%
UCM: 88.7%
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
Updated 2018 data should be available on the UC website in August.
I will definitely meet the A-G requirements in my senior year. Assuming that I maintain the same GPA, but my SAT hits minimum of 1350, would my GPA and EC’s be enough to give me a good shot at getting in?
UC’s tend to be GPA focused so having a High GPA will get you over the first hurdle. Test scores and EC’s are icing on the cake and your EC’s and essays will help differentiate you from the rest of qualified applicants. If $65K/year is affordable for your family, then definitely worth an application and giving them a shot.