Sort of an Unexpected Result.

Applying to College
1

<p>Stats:</p>

<ul>
<li>Major Applied To: Bio for all</li>
<li>Fee Waiver Used?: No</li>
<li>SAT I (by section): 2310; Math 800, Writing 800, CR 710</li>
<li>SAT IIs: Chem - 790 ; Math IIC - 800 ; Bio - 760 ; Physics - 760</li>
<li>GPA (Weighted & Unweighted): W GPA - 4.04 ; UW - 3.54 </li>
<li>Rank: Top 20%</li>
<li>ACT: N/A</li>
<li>APs: AP Biology-5, AP Chemistry-5, AP Psychology-5, AP US History-4, AP Physics B-4, AP English Language and Composition-4, AP Environmental Science-4, AP European History-3</li>
<li>Senior Year Workload: AP Microeconomics, AP US Government, Spanish III, AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature and Composition, Guitar, Cross Country</li>
<li>Number of Apps from Your School: N/A</li>
</ul>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<ul>
<li>ECs listed on app: NSHSS, AP scholar with distinction, National merit semi-finalist (now finalist), Varsity Cross country 3 years-Freeway league champion, JV Badminton, Varsity Track, Red Cross, Orchestra</li>
<li>Essays (subject and responses): Not extraordinary. Just decent.</li>
<li>Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): None</li>
</ul>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<ul>
<li>State or Country: CA</li>
<li>School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Pretty good, a lot of students get into good schools. Last year was ranked 20-ish in california by Newsweek. It's a..silver medal school? Blue ribbon and everything. </li>
<li>Ethnicity: Taiwanese</li>
<li>Gender: Male</li>
<li>Income Bracket: N/A</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</li>
<li>Strengths: AP/SAT scores</li>
<li>Weaknesses: GPA</li>
</ul>

<p>I was rejected from UCSD, UCLA, UCB. I only got into UCI and UCD. Was I rejected from all these schools because my GPA was too low? I thought my test scores could make up for it. I kind of went into this admission's process thinking that UCSD was my safety. I was expecting a better result for my three years of hard work..and...I am really dissapointed...</p>

<p>Anyways, any ideas where I went wrong? Thanks you guys in advance. Don't worry about being too critical. Was I expecting too much to get into UCLA or UCB with my stats? Or at least UCSD?..
Thanks Again.</p>

2

<p>Stats:</p>

<ul>
<li>Major Applied To: Bio for all</li>
<li>Fee Waiver Used?: No</li>
<li>SAT I (by section): 2310; Math 800, Writing 800, CR 710</li>
<li>SAT IIs: Chem - 790 ; Math IIC - 800 ; Bio - 760 ; Physics - 760</li>
<li>GPA (Weighted & Unweighted): W GPA - 4.04 ; UW - 3.54 </li>
<li>Rank: Top 20%</li>
<li>ACT: N/A</li>
<li>APs: AP Biology-5, AP Chemistry-5, AP Psychology-5, AP US History-4, AP Physics B-4, AP English Language and Composition-4, AP Environmental Science-4, AP European History-3</li>
<li>Senior Year Workload: AP Microeconomics, AP US Government, Spanish III, AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature and Composition, Guitar, Cross Country</li>
<li>Number of Apps from Your School: N/A</li>
</ul>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<ul>
<li>ECs listed on app: NSHSS, AP scholar with distinction, National merit semi-finalist (now finalist), Varsity Cross country 3 years-Freeway league champion, JV Badminton, Varsity Track, Red Cross, Orchestra</li>
<li>Essays (subject and responses): Not extraordinary. Just decent.</li>
<li>Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): None</li>
</ul>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<ul>
<li>State or Country: CA</li>
<li>School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Pretty good, a lot of students get into good schools. Last year was ranked 20-ish in california by Newsweek. It’s a..silver medal school? Blue ribbon and everything. </li>
<li>Ethnicity: Taiwanese</li>
<li>Gender: Male</li>
<li>Income Bracket: N/A</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</li>
<li>Strengths: AP/SAT scores</li>
<li>Weaknesses: GPA</li>
</ul>

<p>I was rejected from UCSD, UCLA, UCB. I only got into UCI and UCD. Was I rejected from all these schools because my GPA was too low? I thought my test scores could make up for it. I kind of went into this admission’s process thinking that UCSD was my safety. I was expecting a better result for my three years of hard work..and…I am really dissapointed…</p>

<p>Anyways, any ideas where I went wrong? Thanks you guys in advance. Don’t worry about being too critical. Was I expecting too much to get into UCLA or UCB with my stats? Or at least UCSD?..
Thanks Again.</p>

3

<p>Did you go to Sunny Hills or Troy? My guess is less weight on SAT 1’s this year and more on essay and EC’s. Why do you only think your essay was just okay? This is one of the most important parts of the application process. Your stats should smoke you thru in any other normal case.</p>

4

<p>“* Ethnicity: Taiwanese”</p>

<p>That is not an URM.</p>

5

<p>Dude, if you are not lying and I don’t know why som1 would go through the trouble of doing that (but u never know on CC), then I would appeal to LA and BK. I believe if those scores are corrct, those 800s and 2300s I would frickin b ****d at those schools. That would b messd up. I think maybe you did somethin wrong in ur app. Or something offensive on ur essays or smthin like that. Because only SD, LA and BK prlly read your essays (even if it is only 2 min).</p>

<p>I got into some and you can check my stats. Not similar but enough to make you want to appeal. maybe cuz i didnt have a 2250+, although my SAT IIs and AP scores are on par with urs. and my gpa is higher with more ecs.</p>

<p>But UCs are numbers first, and othr stuff later. sooo do it!</p>

6

<p>“I only got into UCI and UCD.”</p>

<p>With your UW GPA, and bio as a major, UCD is not half-bad. I know students with higher GPA’s than yours (& higher weighting) who did not get into UCD.
Consider UCD somewhat of a reach this year, for anyone in sciences. </p>

<p>Congratulations.</p>

<p>For the sciences (again), UCSD would have been more of a reach with your GPA, versus other science applicants. As for UCLA, they accept a significant number of high-achieving students with slighter higher GPA’s than yours, combined with serious challenges to opportunity.</p>

<p>Also, your self-described “non-extraordinary” essays can be tipping points for schools like UCLA. People with great essays & slightly higher gpa’s would have had a slight edge over you.</p>

<p>Hope that helps. Go for UCD. It’s a very, very fine school for sciences, with lots of new stuff happening there. Congratulations.</p>

7

<p>jsfire90:</p>

<p>Yes, congrats on UCI and UCD. Remember that UCs heavily weight GPA. I actually find it kind of hard to understand how a really, really smart guy like you, who works hard, didn’t crack the top 10% in gpa at your school.</p>

<p>As you now fully appreciate, being really smart (as demonstrated by test scores) is only 1/3 the equations… with the other two being GPA and ECs. A three legged stool, so to speak. You need all 3 legs for a top 30 program.</p>

<p>You are probably smarter than 80% of the kids who got into UCLA, UCB and UCSD… but that 80% who got in, who are less smart than you, somehow figured out how to get into the top 10% in gpa at their school. So maybe they have more “street smarts” than test smarts.</p>

8

<p>Indeed ,even with that SAT score, the adcoms would be suspicious that your GPA did not correlate with such a good score.</p>

9

<p>P.S jsfire90 – I’m sure you will now assess the situation, and in preparing for graduate school, realize that gpa will be just as important as test scores, and adjust your strategy accordingly.</p>

10

<p>hey, thanks a lot everyone for your input.
And DunninLa, I will definitely take my GPA much more seriously. Thanks again you guys.</p>

11

<p>Am I the only one who’s really shocked?</p>

<p>So many APs and great test scores. I can’t believe you didn’t get into SD.</p>

12

<p>I am shocked that you didn’t get into SD. Your class rank is a bit low, but other than that, you are more than qualified for that school.</p>

<p>Berkeley and LA I am less surprised about. My friend with similar stats was rejected by berkeley (2320 SAT score, national merit finalist, etc).</p>

13

<p>I wasn’t too surprised that I didn’t get into LA or Berkeley. </p>

<p>I was definitely caught off guard by my rejection from SD though. And when I called the admissions office, they told me I had only received 5740 of the 5742 points necessary. I only missed by two points! Well, I am definitely going to appeal. </p>

<p>For my new info, I am going to send in

  1. National Merit Finalist
  2. Documentation of my Volunteer Hours
  3. Explanation that I did not take Track senior year in order to focus on marathon training, and thus far have successfully completed the LA Marathon and am planning to run another one very soon. (or maybe not, because I read that UCSD doesn’t care about sports unless you’re a captain)
  4. My weakest grades throughout my high school career have been my only two C’s in spanish 2. I would inform them that this year, taking spanish three after forgoing the class last year, I have worked hard and gotten a B in spanish 3 first semester.
  5. Other stuff. Not sure yet.</p>
14

<p>Sorry, I forgot to finish off my last post.
I meant to ask you guys for advice. Do you guys think I should appeal? And if yes, would that be enough new information, or should I write another essay for them about why I think I would fit in at SD or something like that?</p>

15

<p>hrm. i am surprised you didn’t get in to all those UCs! but this happened to a lot of ppl. actually, some ppl i know didn’t even get into Davis even though they did pretty well in high school</p>

<p>I got into Davis, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB for undeclared letters and sciences. honestly, your SAT scores are way higher than mine (i got a 1980) and I got mainly 4s on my AP tests. but i guess my GPA and ECs helped me, cause I’m in the ELC program and i think im top 2 in my class. I also participated in sports, student government, music, and many various volunteering activities</p>

<p>your test scores are really good! so i think your personal statement may have been the problem and your extracurriculars..cause what about volunteering? you were in clubs, but you didnt volunteer in your community.</p>

16

<p>i think you should appeal jsfire90. i mean, it’s true that most appeals end up getting denied by UCs, but if you try, at least you have a chance and you won’t have any regrets! </p>

<p>my counselor also suggested to include in an appeal letter:
-that the school is your first choice and if you get accepted, you will definitely go
-recommendation letter from teacher</p>

<p>when you called UCSD, did you ask why your application was lacking? you could probably justify what went wrong. i think you should write another essay, to show that you really do want to go there</p>

17

<p>Most definitely appeal. Search this BB for tips on the most productive way to present your “new information”. Missing by only two points? They actually specify that?</p>

<p>There must be some aspect of your application that is updatable that is worth two points!</p>

18

<p>Wow, I cannot believe you got rejected from those three schools. I would have thought you’d get in to at least 2/3. Maybe you can appeal. National Merit Finalist is new information after all that you can throw in.</p>

19

<p>If you missed by 2 points at UCSD, I’m pretty sure they’ll accept your appeal. What exactly was your essay like?</p>

20

<p>I think it is important to have your GPA correlate to your test scores. If your GPA is much lower than your test scores than it appears as if you didn’t apply yourself in HS. There are many good test takers, but it is much harder to be consistent over 4 years.</p>