Reverse chance a below average, hookless, sophmore!

College Search & Selection
1

(some of these are things/ classes that I will do junior year but havent yet- I have no idea yet for senior year)

Demographic:

  • female,

-California

  • half asian half jewish (lol, I'm screwed)
  • I go to a top 30 in the country private school on some FA but thats new this year- grades k-9 were at a local public school

Stats:

  • 30 on the practice act. idk if thats a good reflection of the test
  • freshman yr: 3.9 both semesters
  • Sophomore 1st semester: UW: 3.6. W: 3.9 (theres a blip bc I moved to a harder school but I talked to my college counselor and she says bc of my circumstances, colleges will overlook it more if I can bring my grades up junior and senior year)

-Sophomore 2nd Semester: 3.8, W: 4.2 (my school is keeping 3rd quarter grades bc of covid so theyre already set)

AP: (my school replaced most of the AP’s with honors classes):

  • 10th: honors chemistry, honors US history
  • 11th: honors english 11, AP environmental studies , honors western civilization -12th: def some but idk yet

EC’s (ik, kinda lacking- I spent a lot of freshman yr doing my private school application and ssat stuff so I don’t rlly have much free time):

-Debate for 5+ years

-Harvard debate council over the summer freshman year

-Girl scouts 8+ years

-uc berkeley academic talent development program

-Ive sailed (not very well) for 5+ summers

-“Davidson Institute for Profoundly gifted youth summit” 3 summers- idk if im going to include this one bc its not rlly an accomplishment or anything since all I did was score well on a test when I was 9 and then just like show up

-I went to DC and lobbied for immigration immigration reform with my temple

-Ive councilored for the summer camp at my temple

-I go to my temple teen group on wednesdays

Application:

  • I obv havent written the essays yet but for my appplications when I was applying to private high schools, one of the admissions people said that my essays were some of the strongest theyve seen so I think that might be one of my stregnth for my college app?

-I participate a lot in class and my teacher comments on interims are really positive so I dont think that teacher recs will be a problem.

-I have no idea what my hook will be

I know that I have no shot at the T20 (or even really the T100), but what are some reasonable schools that I should look into? I want the college experience so I’m not really interested in a super small school. Preferably, east coast bc ive always liked the idea of living there. I’m looking to the UC’s bc I’m instate but I have no chance at uc berkeley or ucla and also I heard that private schools give better FA. Both my parents went to uc berkeley but I dont think that public schools do legacy so that probably affects nothing.

Any suggestions for schools or how to improve my application would be really helpful! Thanks!

2

First of all, a GPA between 3.6 and 3.8 is not below average. The average GPA for all high school students in the US is closer to 3.0. You are well above average.

I agree that UCLA and UCB are unlikely. However, all of the UC’s are very good. I do not know the CSUs well enough to know which are best but my understanding is that they are good also. I have worked with a few people from SJSU who were very good but I do not know the other CSUs at all.

In terms of east coast schools (I am from the northeast), there are a lot of them. Which ones would make the most sense is going to depend upon what you want in a school, and what your budget is. You likely intended major is one consideration. Whether you want to be in a city or small town or rural location is another issue. You could be in the northeast where it snowed yesterday and will hit 60 degrees tomorrow, or further south where it is warm in the winter and oppressively hot in the summer, or somewhere in between.

3

UC’s and Cal states do not consider legacy. Idea for intended major?

UC’s and Cal states also only used 10-11th grades in the a-g course requirements to determine GPA (exception Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades). Cal states use a capped weighted GPA = UC capped weighted GPA.

The UC’s also consider your unweighted UC GPA and Fully weighted UC GPA so at the end of Junior year, you can use this calculator to calculate your GPA’s:

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

When you apply in 2022, UC’s and CSU’s may again require the SAT and/or ACT so you want to continue prepping for these tests and when available sit for at least one exam.

Cal states (exception SLO) admit based on CSU capped weighted GPA, test scores, local vs. non-local resident and HS course rigor. They use an eligibility index to rank applicants based on major.

EI= (CSU capped weighted GPA x 800) + (SAT Math + EBRW) or (CSU capped weighted GPA x 200) + (ACT x10)

SLO has a few added requirements such as EC hours and leadership and uses an MCA point system vs. and Eligibility index like the rest of the CSU’s.

https://mca.netlify.app/

UC’s are very GPA focused so a capped UC GPA below 4.0 at the end of Junior year will be below the 25th percentile for the majority of the campuses. If they remain test optional for the 2022 admission cycle, then GPA will be even more important in their application review.

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html

Some UC admission data for 2019 admits and note not major specific so competitive/selective/impacted majors will require higher stats and have lower admit rates:

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 9%
UCSB: 6%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 9%
UCSC: 40%
UCR: 53%
UCM: 80%

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 12%
UCLA: 7%
UCSD: 33%
UCSB: 32%
UCD: 47%
UCI: 35%
UCSC: 72%
UCR: 87%
UCM: 96%

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 38%
UCLA: 35%
UCSD: 71%
UCSB: 73%
UCD: 84%
UCI: 55%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 97%
UCM: 98%

2019 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.23 (4.15-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.32)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.03-4.28)
UCSB: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCI: 4.13 (4.00-4.25)
UCD: 4.13 (4.00-4.26)
UCSC: 3.96 (3.76-4.16)
UCR: 3.90 (3.69-4.11)
UCM: 3.73 (3.45-4.00)

2019 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT totals:
UCB: 1340-1540

UCLA: 1330-1550
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1280-1520
UCD: 1230-1490
UCI: 1250-1510
UCSC: 1200-1450
UCR: 1130-1400
UCM: 1020-1290

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT composite + language arts
UCB: 28-35
UCLA: 29-35
UCSD: 26-34
UCSB: 26-34
UCD: 24-33
UCI: 24-34
UCSC: 24-32
UCR: 21-30
UCM: 18-26

4

Have you spoken with your parents about what they are prepared to pay? That is a conversation to start now. And yes, with the current crisis there is no easy way to predict where things will be next week, let alone a year from now when you are finalizing your application list, but money is a deciding factor for most students.

What have your own guidance counselors told you about your record? What do they suggest you look at?