Hello everyone, I am a rising senior with some serious college anxiety. I have a lot of reach schools, but the three that I am most worried about are Caltech, UC Berkeley, and UCLA (for convenience sake, I will mention here and now that I am a CA resident, and all of these schools are RD). My stats are as follows:
GPA: 3.75 UW/4.1 W (And no, I don’t have any Cs. the 3.75 is just a lot of Bs.)
Rank: Unknown, but around top 30% for UW GPA
UC GPA (unweighted/capped weighted/fully weighted): 3.59/3.95/4.14 (I suffered a serious depression my sophomore year following some family issues, I spent all of my junior year recovering and trying to make the best of my situation. I got 2 Bs first semester junior, then a 4.0 second semester)
2210 SAT (680CR/800M/730W/10E)
2220 super score (everything the same except 690 CR) (retaking in November for sake of ED2 and RD)
770 Math 2(Jun 2015) 770 Chem(Jun 2014) (retaking both in October for RD and ED2)
Honors and AP courses taken (please note that my school does restrict the number of AP and honors courses taken by underclassmen): Honors Chinese (9), AP Chinese (10, scored a 5), Chem Honors (10), AP Chem (11, should be a 5), Honors Lit (took APLAC for this, 11, maybe a 4?), Honors Pre-Calc(11), APUSH (11, should be 4 or 5).
Planned Senior Year courseload (as seen on current registar, please note class changes next to certain classes): AP Calc AB (switching to BC if room is available), AP Bio (switching to AP Physics 1 asap), AP US Gov (semester), AP Macroecon (semester), AP Lit.
Intended Major: Chemistry/Undeclared (varies by school)
Should I even consider applying to UCB, UCLA, and Caltech because my stats are not even up to par? I will be applying to other colleges, so don’t worry, these aren’t my only schools (I have 2 schools set up for ED 1 and 2). But if my ED plans fail, should I consider applying to those schools? All input is appreciated.
@fogcity I thought that UCB and UCLA liked over 4.0 UC GPAs? Will I even have a chance since my standard GPA is slightly lower than that? My main concern is: should I put up with all the work and all the extra effort to apply to a school that I barely have a 20% chance at? (I’m pretty sure for Caltech I have less than 10% chance of admission, if not lower than 5%. The concerns are more focused here, because this is my dream school).
I don’t see how you have any chance at Caltech and with your class standing at 30%, UCB would appear to be a reach, although probably worth the application.
@JustOneDad Thanks for the input! Yeah I basically decided not to apply to Caltech because my grades are too low (it’s not like I’m stupid or anything, but the whole disastrous thing regarding my sophomore year), Is UCLA worth applying to?
Yeah UCLA and Berkeley are good for reaches but depends on major. What is your intended major? Cal tech is out of the question though, it’s incredibly competitive.
I agree that CalTech is out of reach, but it is fine to apply to the others as long as you know they are your reaches. Just be sure to have a balanced application list which also includes match and safety schools.
@MegaMetalHead My intended major is chemistry or undeclared depending on the school.
You have an outside chance at UCLA and maybe UCB but as stated above they are Reaches. You want to have a balanced college list, so you need a few reaches on that list. Make sure you have some 1-2 solid safeties that you are willing to attend. Good Luck.
@Gumbymom would UCSD be considered a reach for me?
UCSD would probably be a Low Reach/High Match. Your UC GPA is below the average but your SAT score is above the average. It could go either way, but I think it is worth applying, more so than to UCB.
@Gumbymom if i were to bump my SAT to 2280+, would it boost my chances?
The UCs heavily weight GPA, so your UC GPA is what’s really going to matter. Just be sure to also apply to the mid-tier and lower-tier UCs.
Also, have your parents run the NPCs to make sure they’re affordable. You mention, “family issues.” Those can often cause financial issues that can make many schools unaffordable.
@mom2collegekids I am applying to all UCs bar Merced, Riverside, and SF. I also have a bunch of other schools. My family issues are nothing financial (my parents can afford any college), but it wasn’t so much a family situation as it was personal. I never talked about it in detail with my GC or my parents.
Yeah so not engineering, good. Yeah Berk and LA are reaches. SD is a low reach. SB, Davis, and UCI are solid matches. Santa Cruz is a low match, probably safety but you should have one even safer just JUST in case.
bump because I just had a thoughr: should I apply to MIT? My test scores are in their middle 50% (albeit the lower part in all except for math). I know that I can write good essays, my teachers can write good recs, and if I get a superscore of 2300+, should I consider applying?
bump. really need advice to finalize my college list!
Don’t retake the SAT subject tests. 770 is plenty high enough.
No one can predict for certain which universities you will get in. You have a shot at any of them.
What a sad world we live in when a student feels like he needs to explain away a 3.75 unweighted GPA.
According to UCLA’s website they admit 33% of all applicants that have a fully weighted UC GPA of 4.0 and above. They admit 27% of applicants with an unweighted GPA between 3.7 and 3.99. They admit 52% of applicants with an SAT superscore over 2100. At UCB, your SAT scores fall within the middle 50% range on each section - in math, you are in the top 25th percentile. The average GPA of a UCB admit is a 3.89.
Your stats are certainly up to par. These schools are reaches because their overall admit rate is so low, but given your status I’d say you have a very good chance of admission to UCLA, and a decent chance of admission to UCB as well. So yes, you should certainly apply to these two.
Caltech is a reach for anybody because they have a 9% acceptance rate. Your superscore is just barely outside the middle 50% (2230-2340). The middle 50% range of their Math SAT IIs is just an 800 - so yes, scoring below an 800 puts you in the bottom 25% of Caltech applicants - and 98% graduated in the top 10% of their class. So Caltech would be quite a stretch. You can still apply though, and see what happens - particularly if you do better on your SAT retake. (You’ve done excellently, btw). Your scores fall in the middle 50% range for MIT admitted students, so sure, apply.
Do you have some matches and safeties on your list other than other UCs?
You can apply anywhere, if you are willing to potentially waste the application fee. However, make sure you have some matches … which likely are the UCs other than UCB or UCLA. MIT is as unlikely as Caltech.
Then again I thought UCs were mostly for top 10% class rank kids. If so, you need to reach down the list, at least for some solid safeties.
I find it hard to believe that a 3.75 is only top 30%…
With unlimited funds, a private college ranked below 50 or even lower might be happy to have you. Beats the community college to UC route.