<p>10th grade gpa - 2.7[1st]/3.0<a href=“sister%20was%20diagnosed%20with%20autism%20and%20was%20very%20hard%20on%20me%20and%20my%20mom”>2nd</a>
11th grade gpa - 1st semester 3.8uw/4.2w
2nd semester will probably be around the same
Projected UC gpa - 3.6w
Projected SAT score - 1900-2000
EC’s:
2 years of JV football
1 year of varsity football
100+ hrs of volunteering</p>
<p>Difference makers:
Hispanic
Low income
Live in a bad nieborhood
1st generation
Abusive father
Mentally unstable mother
I have the responsibility to help my mom pay for my sister’s schooling and therapies
Got a bad concussion in 9th grade and haven’t been the same since
Had appendicitis in 10th grade which affected my 1st semester grades</p>
<p>AP’s that I’m currently taking and plan to take: spanish, compsci, physics, calculus, compsci 2, and bio</p>
<p>I want to major in Computer Science (taking ap compsci right now and I’m going to take ap compsci 2 next year). Please chance me for all UC’s and USC. Also what can I do to help my chances?</p>
<p>P.S. I’m going to apply undeclared at UCB and UCLA</p>
<p>The biggest difference maker is whether or not your a Cali resident? If you are maybe UCR or UCSC. The higher ranked schools like - UCLA, UCB, UCD & UCSD are pretty big reaches, especially for engineering.</p>
<p>Just letting you know, applying undecided in engineering is not easy and is a very competitive spot. You should know what you plan on majoring and stick to it as the budget has made it hard to have the flexibility private schools have.</p>
<p>Being Hispanic doesn’t make a difference either, neither do your other “difference makers” have a big influence (it’s naive to think like that, don’t use that as a crutch) unless they’re talked about in your essays.</p>
<p>UCSD - High reach
UCI - Reach UCR - match school
UCLA - Very high reach
UCSB - Reach UCSC - match school
UCD - Reach
Berkeley - Very high reach
UCM - Safety
USC - Very high reach</p>
<p>This is going off only what you’ve provided. Sorry to hear about your personal circumstances…but they won’t be much of a “difference maker” in the end. Unless you can demonstrate how you’ve grown from these experiences, and have actually done something extraordinary as an outcome, there’s very little they can add to your profile. The UC admissions are heavily stats-driven (with GPA more heavily considered than test scores), even if they say they use a holistic system. If you can get the projected GPA and SAT scores you’ve indicated, you have a decent shot at UCR and UCSC (which supposedly has an amazing CS program), with UCM as your safety school. </p>
<p>What you can do to increase your chances at these schools is to make sure you get the highest GPA possible this semester. Don’t let it drop any lower as this may be a deal-breaker for SC and R. It is your last shot as grades after your Junior year are basically not looked at. Study for the SAT and score well. There’s less pressure in this respect as the UC’s weight GPA more heavily. Do something worthwhile in the summer that you can write about in your personal statements (this should tie into what I was saying about growing from/overcoming adversity, something like that). If you can’t find anything to do, look into attending community college for summer session. I’m not sure if these grades will factor into your application UC GPA, but even if they don’t, it’s a good sort of a head start into college. Good luck.</p>
<p>@ vulpesinculta
Yes I do plan about writing about these things in my essay and I meant applying undeclared at the college of letters and sciences
@ oceanPartier
Thnx for the feedback!</p>
<p>Hardship can, in fact, play an important role in UC admissions. If your essay indicates that you have dealt with a serious hardship that may have compromised your ability to reach your potential academically, some campuses (including Berkeley) will send you a supplemental questionnaire. If you receive the supplemental questionnaire, you will also be allowed to submit a letter of recommendation. This is a huge plus.</p>
<p>Yes, just wanted to echo what Mirabile said. Now if you do plan to write about your hardship, don’t write in a ‘woe is me’ style. Focus on showing the adcoms how you matured or became stronger like oceanpartier said. A lot of people write about hardships but the real question adcoms want to know is how they overcame it. Good luck kikijon! :)</p>