Hello, I am currently a senior in high school and I was wondering how will I know if a school would be a reach or a match or a safety for me?
Just to provide some info my stats are
SAT I : 1460 (680 R + 780 M)
GPA: 3.97 unweighted (9-12) but 3.95 unweighted (10-12)
Rank: 10 / 450
I have EC’s but I do not want to include them because everyone has their personal laundry list of EC’s and mine is nothing amazing enough to truly separate myself from other applicants
I am a CA resident and I will be applying to most of the UC’s (all except for Merced and Riverside) and I wanted to know which of the UC’s would be matches for me if just looking at my stats.
However, I am also an Asian male with a family income of about 90,000.
UC’s so not consider race/ ethnicity in their admission decisions.
You have competitive test scores.
Have you calculated your UC GPA capped weighted and fully weighted?
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
HS course rigor. SAT subject tests?
Intended major?
Look at the stats of accepted students for a college by looking at their common data set. Very basically, If your stats are above the 50th percentile, your application has a chance. If your stats are into the 75th percentile, you can consider the school a match or safety, depending on acceptance rates. Colleges with low acceptances rates will mean they can be reaches for all, despite having very high stats.
Use the website college data, which will let you put in your stats and will estimate your chances. Your grades are good, but much depends on your course rigor and test scores. I think with a score of 1460 a college like UCB will be a high reach.
Be sure you also look into the Cal State campuses that are strong for your intended major to get good coverage in matches and safeties. Also, don’t write off Riverside entirely. If you haven’t already, look specifically at the programs for your major there. You may find some rare opportunities at a school which is a solid match school for you.
@Gumbymom I have taken 5 AP classes so far and currently enrolled in 4 AP classes, for a total of 9 AP classes overall out of the 12 or 13 offered at my school. I could have taken maybe 2 more, but there were no classes because not enough students signed up, even though my school still lists them as offered courses.
@Gumbymom I have taken 5 AP classes so far and currently enrolled in 4 AP classes, for a total of 9 AP classes overall out of the 12 or 13 offered at my school. I could have taken maybe 2 more, but there were no classes because not enough students signed up, even though my school still lists them as offered courses.
@Lindagaf I am taking the SAT one last time next month, so what should I for so that UCB would be a slight reach instead of a high reach? I am planning on applying for the EECS major, which I know is extremely competitive.
@Otterma Riverside is ranked lower than the rest of the UC’s and isn’t really a school I ever considered, so I would rather go to a community and transfer rather than Riverside.
UCB EECS should be considered a reach.
You should also expect CS to be more competitive than the school overall at most of the UCs. Some of the UCs may admit you to the campus but not the CS major, but then getting into the CS major after enrolling as undeclared or in another major can be very difficult (particularly at UCSD).
@ucbalumnus I am taking the SAT one last time. What should I aim for so that UCB EECS is a slight reach instead of of a high reach?? I am also taking the SAT II for chemistry and math 2. Although I am aiming for 800, would a score of 700+ be sufficient or do I need at the minimum 750+?
UCB EECS is always a reach, although higher scores (within a reasonable number of tries) are always better than lower scores.