My son wants to send his scores to all the UCs. Does he need to send it to individual UC or just send it to one school and all of the others receive or access to it? He has 2 SAT scores from 2 different test dates, can he choose a higher one to send? Is he required to send both?
His UC GPA is 4.00 and his highest SAT score is 1350/1600. What is his chance to get in any UC? His intended major is biology. Thanks
I am sorry, no sarcasm intended, just clueless - what is UC GPA? And do you mean UC= University of California? Thanks!
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination-requirement/
As for his chances, that will depend on the UC. Off the top of my head: UCLA and UCB will be reaches. UCSB/UCSD high matches or low reaches. UCD/UCI I would consider matches. UCR and UCM would be safeties.
@typiCAmom The UC GPA is the GPA calculated by the University of California for admissions. It is how they are able to compare GPAs between applicants from different high schools (since most high schools calculate GPA different from one another) http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/
Thank you.
According to http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary , 2015 applicants with UC GPA in the 3.80 to 4.19 range were admitted at these rates:
12% UCB
14% UCLA
39% UCSD
49% UCSB
52% UCD
57% UCI
83% UCSC
90% UCR
92% UCM
However, the major or division applied to can make a significant different in admission selectivity at some campuses. Applicants to popular majors should assume that their chances are worse than what overall school admit rates may predict.
@Needyourhelp you might find the University of California section more helpful for your UC related questions. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/
For UCD, is biology or bio-engineer major a popular one? What are the differences between declaring a major or not? Can a major that is favored at admission be changed after admitted? if declaring a major can affect chances for admission negatively, why should it be declared? thanks for your help
For UCD, both Biology and Bioengineering are competitive and popular majors. Declaring a major depends upon how the applicants are admitted into each university.
For example, UCSD admits into the university first and then into the major, so it is possible to be accepted but as undeclared.
For UCD:
Admission decisions are made based upon the qualifications of the applicant pool and the number of available spaces within each academic area:
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences admits by college
College of Biological Sciences admits by college
College of Letters and Science admits by division within the college
(Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)
College of Engineering admits by academic department
Students applying as “undeclared” or “undeclared/exploratory” are considered within the college/division to which they applied.
Undeclared should not have a negative impact.however there are many majors (STEM) that are very difficult to switch into later so the best approach is apply to the major of choice.
A couple of the UCs (UCSB maybe, and one other one) also recommend that incoming Biology majors take the SAT Bio Subject test. It isn’t mandatory, but it gives the school more information to help them process the application. It is listed somewhere on the UC website.
@Fish125, are you sure you aren’t thinking about UCSD? UCSB suggests that you provide as much MATH info as you can if you are applying to the College of ENGINEERING. They would like to see math subject tests, math AP tests, high math scores on ACT/SAT etc. Similarly, if you are applying to the College of Creative Studies, they would like to see a subject test in your area of interest.
At UCSB, Biology is in the College of Letters and Sciences and they accept you into that college regardless of your major or whether you are declared or not. They do not ask for subject tests for the College of Letters & Sciences.
At UCSD, Biological Sciences is a capped major so that might be where you read about submitting extra information (ie. Subject tests) to help show competency. https://admissions.ucsd.edu/freshmen/requirements.html
@Needyourhelp we just returned from UCD this this weekend. We spent three days talking to academic advisors in different departments. We were told multiple times that they don’t have impacted majors and that you can change majors and move between colleges once you get there. Most of the academic advisors expected kids to change majors. If you are, let’s say, a Psych major and want to change into Bio Sci, you will have to do more paperwork because it is in a different college. You will need to have taken some Bio Sci classes and shown competency before changing majors. We were told that the College of Bio Sci does not allow students to stay in their college if they get a D in one of their classes. If that happens, the students are asked to change majors - usually to one in the College of Letters and Sciences.
Regarding declaring or not declaring a major, at UCSB (and probably other UCs as well) you might get accepted as undeclared but priority in class registration goes to those that are declared. For example, if you went in as undeclared you will have more difficulty getting your lower division Bio Sci classes compared to someone who is declared as a Bio Sci major. That isn’t to say you won’t get in a class but you will need to be more flexible about what time you take the class.
At UCD, registration for classes is based upon how many units you have so seniors register first, then juniors, etc. https://registrar.ucdavis.edu/registration/register/pass-times.cfm I could be wrong but my understanding of the Pass system is that Pass 1 is for classes in your major and Pass 2 is for classes outside of your major.
@lkg4answers - I was referring to biology majors in UCSB’s College of Creative Studies - http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination-requirement/SAT-subject-tests/. My children applied (and were accepted to) many of the UCs. They all chose to take subject tests for their STEM majors, whether or not it was recommended, just to give the admissions people extra info when processing their applications. They each took two of the tests - math and a science. As the UC states on their website, “Remember, these are recommendations, not mandates. You will not be penalized for failing to take the SAT Subject Tests. On the other hand, submission of these test scores (just like submission of AP and/or IB scores) may add positively to the review of your application.” It worked for my kids and their friends when applying to the more competitive UC schools.
Just so people aren’t confused. The College of Creative Studies at UCSB is less than 2% of the student population. It is a very small and unique college. The vast majority of students studying Biology are in the College of Letters and Science.
His ACT composite score is 29, but he got 30 on math, 34 science, 32 STEM. Should he take a SAT subject tests in math and biology? If he does and get lower scores, can he choose not to sent them with the SAT test scores knowing that he has to send “all scoers”?
@Needyourhelp - Ah, he also took the ACT - I thought he just took the SAT. Since the ACT has a science section, which he scored high on, that should be fine, unless the school specifically recommends a subject test or you both feel he would score high on the Subject Test. Since the SAT doesn’t have a science section, if a student only took the SAT and wants to major in a science at a UC, the Subject Tests do give the admissions department more information about the student’s academic ability in that area. On the other hand, if you think your child wouldn’t score high on it and it isn’t recommended, it would probably be best not to take the test. You want to give them as much positive information as you can in order to show the admissions people that a student can handle the rigor of the UC system.
The Subject Tests stopped being a requirement for UC applicants starting with the high school graduating class of 2012 apparently in part due to AP scores. But, because the UCs are so competitive, particularly the “top” 6, our kids and their friends were encouraged to take the Subject Tests if they were STEM majors and had taken the SAT, no matter which UC they were applying to, especially if they had any weakness in their applications. The kids usually took the tests after they completed their AP courses for that particular course of study. One of my kids, due to her schedule, took Honors Chemistry instead of the AP one. She felt that looked odd on her record since most of her peers took the AP class, so she took the Subject Test for it to prove she could handle the material.
The idea is that all students get to choose some of their courses before anyone gets to choose the rest of his/her courses. I.e. all students get a chance to pick the courses most important to them (usually the critical ones for their major) before those higher on the registration priority take up seats in those courses when choosing things like out-of-major electives.
However, it does seem odd that the limit for pass 1 is 17 units, which is more than a typical full course load of 15 units (UCB has a similar system, but the first pass is limited to 10.5 units). This may be less effective at keeping critical courses from being filled up with non-majors before frosh/soph students who need them for their majors can register for them. But if the departments can have their own registration priorities (e.g. lower division courses are reserved for frosh/soph students in pass 1), then that may not be too much of a problem.
If the major is one that is more selective than the school overall for frosh admission, it is likely that there is a secondary admission process to enter the major if you enroll at the school as an undeclared student.