Hi!(: This is my first time posting, so bear with me, it get’s kind of long!
I’m a junior in my second semester, I’m very much a nontraditional student.
I did public high school in ninth grade, but due to bullying/racism and curriculum I felt I couldn’t get my education there. I switched to online school, where I did much better, but they required me to do testing that was 3 hours away, it was too much. After much research my parent’s decided to homeschool me for the rest of junior and senior year. I’m also going to be the kinda first generation. I’m biracial if it helps.
- My overall GPA is 3.6 so far. (3.2 UC GPA)
- My practice ACT was a 25, I took this in 9th grade, so I'm expecting a higher number this summer when I take it.
- My EC's over the past 2 1/2 year's include:
-Book club
-Debate club
-Pen Pal's
-College planning club
-Newspaper
-I’ve volunteered with veterans, helping them with event’s
-I’ve helped my younger sister start selling things on her store (I’m the business part, she’s the crafter.)
-I’ve also helped with my mom’s Doula business, coming up with idea’s/ helping her right things out on her website. When she get’s it going, I’m sure I’ll be doing organizational things etc.
-I’ve done a ton of babysitting for my cousin’s while my aunt and uncle work (Not sure if this counts?)
I was also one of 15 other kids to take part in a 3 day bullying prevention class at my public high school. (The irony huh?(
Now, I plan to take a gap year after I graduate next summer. I want to volunteer in an African orphanage for a month next summer, and then join City Year (an 11 month program, where you help kids in schools in underprivileged areas.) I’m going to start volunteering in a hospital and get a job this summer. I plan to start doing a ton of more volunteering when I move.
I’m also thinking of graduating a semester early. Depends on how much work I have left. (A-G’s are almost done.)
With that said, some school’s I’ve looked into and really like are:
-UCSB
-CSULA
-CSULB
-UC Davis
I’m open to every suggestion! Especially UC’s and CSU’s
Thank you so much for reading!(: My parent’s believe I can do anything, I love my parent’s but I have to be more realistic(:!
CSULB is impacted and more difficult to gain acceptance. CSULA; not so much.
The UCs are research institutions and are a very different experience from CSUs. They have a more “academic” feel to them as opposed to a classroom feel.
As a home-schooler, paradoxically, you may have better luck applying to a holistic acceptance school, such as a Small Liberal Arts College (Scripps College, for example) or UCLA/UCB, than UC Davis. Your ACT score is so out of date that it is meaningless. Be sure to take practice tests!
Good luck! I am sure you know that often people will apply in 2016 and then defer entrance, once they know where they are going, in order to do the gap year.
Based on your posted stats, CSULA is your only probable Match school. Your UC GPA is below the 25th percentile for UCD and UCSB along with a lower than average ACT. CSULB is also a slight reach at this point.
Thee issues you had in school (bullying) could be a compelling essay topic for the UC’s if presented right. Since you are taking a Gap year, you have till the end of Senior year to bump up your GPA and test scores. If you can get into the 3.6 range for your GPA, UC Riverside and Santa Cruz are possible. UCD and UCSB would still be reaches but worth an application.
CSULB/CSUF/CPP/Sac State/SJSU/SFSU could be all possible with better test scores and GPA.
Work hard and good luck.
Thank you both so so much! This really help’s! I’ve been getting better grade’s this semester than before, so that’ll definitely help! I plan to start focusing my classes around ACT prep when it get’s closer to the date of when I take it.
I have a question about deferring my application, how would I go about putting the things I did on my gap year on my application? Do I say I’m going to do City Year and go to Ghana? Do I leave it out?
Cal states and UC’s do not allow you to defer. You would have to apply after your gap year. For private universities, you would have to check each schools policies.
Ariana, look into Questbridge. I truly think you need some strong guidance. You may be a better fit for Mills College, Scripps, or maybe Occidental (if you want to stay on the West Coast). The gap year thing could best be leveraged for college by figuring out what school you want to attend (for you a small private school is probably a better bet than a public school- don’t ask, just get yourself to Questbridge and ask them!). If you can collaborate (via email) with a professor on putting together the plan and on developing goals and reflections out of the experience to make it more of a guided education, that professor can also lobby for your admission from within the school, and more importantly, can help you to continue your studies/work when you matriculate to that school.
I believe you can do anything, too! But you need guidance in packaging yourself so that you present all there is about you that you will contribute to the university. Please contact the folks at Questbridge!