<p>hi everyone- im an asian american girl residing in southern california and i just had a question-- my freshman year grades were so/so... with 2 a's and 3 b's both semesters... and after i received the grades of 1st semester sophomore year i was pretty dismal. i got straight b's except for spanish 3 which was an a. im taking all honors classes- ive taken academic decathlon last year and i plan to take it all 4 years. i received 1st place in speech and 5th in literature. ive also started up a teen council for my city and i plan to receive a lot of hours and community recognition awards for it. if i plan on taking academic decathlon for the next 3 years, take tennis junior and senior year, receive straight a's 2nd sem. soph. year and hopefully the rest of high school, get 5's on my ap tests and do well on my sat's, do i have a good chance of getting into ucla? also, will the admissions office take the fact that i had a very personally hectic freshman and sophomore year with the separation of my parents and emotional damage it caused me? </p>
<p>starry, you have to start now. UCLA is extremely selective with an Avg GPA of 4.25 for acceptees in Fall 2004. You have to get at least a 4.3 and 2000 on the new SAT I to have a fighting chance.
And the worst thing about UCLA is that they dont care too much about EC's. Berkeley counts EC and essays as 30-40% of the factor in admitting a student. UCLA just wants good grades and good SATI scores. It appears almost to be a public relations stunt to get their stats high, but as they're doing so, LA falls in the rankings. THe lastest rankings place Berkeley as the number 1 public school, followed by UVA and UNC-CH. Even UCLA's admissions director seems to be arrogant. I was accepted to UCLA with a 1490SATI and 4.3 GPA.</p>
<p>thanks for the insight bubbles. ill definitely work towards achieving top notch grades for the rest of my high school career. does the fact that im going to do academic decathlon all 4 years weigh anything?</p>
<p>Starrynight, I think you'll have a great shot at UCLA if you study hard, get the grades, and get some good scores on the SATs. I'm sorry to hear about your parent's divorce, and you should definitely mention it as one of your essay prompts because not only will it show a reason for your early gpa, but it'll also show that you still managed to stay involved in activities and had to juggle everything with that hardship hovering above you. Academic decathlon will certainly weigh in, especially if you do it for four years, because it shows commitment to an activity outside the classroom (as a member back in the day myself, it was draining especially the month prior to competition, but those medals and the chance to represent your school more than compensates for that). I've always believed that commitment and time spent on a few activities speaks much greater than lots of sporadic two time only activities. Your ECs sounds great and so just maintain what you're doing and continue to show commitment while studying for those desired scores on the sides and I'd say you'd have a great shot. As Bubbles said, I also believe that UCLA is becoming more and more stats driven so your top priority should be grades and exam scores. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>wow guys thanks a lot for the replies! they were certainly very helpful. i really appreciate the time you put into answering my questions. ill definitely work on what you all have suggested.</p>