My weighted GPA at my school is a 3.8, unweighted is 3.5, and UC weighted is a 4.1. I am a junior in high school (in the top 12% of my class) and I have taken a total of 6 AP classes so far (AP Physics, AP Lit & Comp, AP Psychology, AP Calculus BC, AP World History, and AP US History). I’m planning to take 3 more AP classes next year in my senior year. I obviously don’t get straight A’s, but I also don’t get any C’s, D’s, or F’s. I’ve gotten B’s in some AP classes due to the rigor of the courses. I’m a year ahead in both my math and english courses, so right now, at my school, the courses I’m taking for math are designed for seniors, not juniors.
I’m on a sports team and have been on the team for all 3 years and plan on being captain next year. I’ve also done a considerable amount of hours volunteering at animal shelters, homeless shelters, and for clubs at my school. Also, I’ve taken the SAT once and got a 1300 but plan to take it a couple more times in hopes of scoring higher than 1350.
My main choice of universities is UCLA. I’m also looking into UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara.
- What are my chances of getting into these colleges? (especially UCLA)
- I also want to go into medicine, so what are the chances of me getting into the nursing program at UCLA?
I’m so stressed because I don’t think I will get accepted into any of these schools because of my low GPA. Any feedback/advice will help me out a lot and hopefully reduce my paranoia and anxiety!!!
Is that a fully weighted GPA? Or capped and weighted? If it’s just Capped and Weighted, it’s possible for you to get into UCLA, as that’s what I had. However, my test scores were also quite a bit higher than yours so I would recommend shooting for as high an SAT score as possible to be competitive for admissions. With a 1350, and a 4.1 CW GPA, UCLA is a reach, UCSD, UCSB, UCI and UCD are match-ish.
For UCLA nursing, I don’t see you getting in. It’s super competitive and you don’t have the grades or test scores to get in.
Medicine? Or Nursing? Two distinct professions. Nursing is impacted at the four year (BSN) programs; consider also UCI and CSULB. Biology is also impacted at the UCs due to the number of pre-med hopefuls. Then of course, you have to get into med school.
Your 1300 SAT score does not really correlate with your 4.1 UC GPA–and your GPA is not bad at all, it’s just this hyper-competitive environment that is skewing perceptions. I agree that you should aim to boost SAT, and take ACT. Some people do better on one or the other.
Your GPA is within range for the UC’s but I agree that your SAT score needs to be bumped up if you are targeting any of the UC’s.
Is Medical school your goal or Nursing?
You need to determine which route you plan to pursue and intended major? As stated by @PadreDeTres, BSN programs are impacted and for UCLA it has about a 3% acceptance rate along with UCI. CSU Fullerton and SDSU hover around 5-8% acceptance rate for the direct admit BSN programs. CSULB has a 2+2 BSN program where you are admitted into the Pre-Nursing program and then take your pre-req’s and have to apply to the BSN program once the Pre-req’s are completed.
If Medical school is your goal, then you want select a major that you think you can do well in to get that all important High GPA. UC’s are very competitive for “Pre-Med” students, so make sure you apply widely and have a good backup.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 94%
UCM: 96%