UC chances for Chemical Engineering/Chemistry?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi,
I would love it if anybody could chance me on some of the schools i was thinking of,

MAJORS

Chemical Engineering:
-UC Santa Barbara (dream goal)
-UC Riverside
-UC Davis

Chemistry
-UC Santa Cruz (Fallback maybe? It’s my last name too!)
-Santa Barbara

If not any of those, have lots of Cal States in mind.

GPA

3.65 UC GPA

School:
A rather poorly performing school from a rather poor city, my rather bad GPA is top 89% in school.

Classes
Freshman: (1st semester grade/2nd semester grade)
-Advanced English B/B
-AP Biology C/B
-Geometry C/B
-German 1 A/B
-Health/Geography A/A

Sophomore:
-ADV Eng 2 B/B
-Algebra 2 C/B
-AP European History C/A
-Chemistry C/A

-(semester 2 is when i found my love for chem, hence the dramatic grade boost)

-Drama 1 A/A

Junior:
AP English/Comp. A/C
AP Psychology A/A
AP US History B/A
Drama 2 A/A
French 1 A/A
Math Analysis (Pre-calc) B/B
Physics B/A

Senior year Classes
AP Chemistry (woohoo!)
AP Literature
AP Human Geo
AP Calculus
French 2
Gov/Econ
Intro to Law (Dual enrollment with local Jr college)

SAT
1750 (That is my first attempt without any prep. Taking it again in the fall with lots of studying. Only a handful of students in school scored higher.)

ACT
27 (1st attempt with a little bit of studying. Taking it again because i bombed the reading section)

EC’S (by end of senior year)
Interact club, 100 hrs+ community service, 3 yrs
Drama club, Involved in every show, 4 yrs, Vice Pres
Link crew, Helping incoming freshmen, 1 yr
French club, 2 yrs

Have a rather heart wrenching UC essay in mind about how my sister made poor life decisions that have inspired midway through my high school career, and to not want a life like that, and to strive for education.

Ethnicity
Half white and Half Mexican. Would applying Under Hispanic be of any help?
CA Resident

Also, Do i need to take any SAT subject tests for a Chemical engineering major?

2

UCSB/UCD: Reach
UCSC: Low Reach/High Match

Overall your UC GPA and SAT scores are below average for all three UC campuses. Unless you write some outstanding essays (in the eyes of admissions), then the Cal States will be your best option. For the majority of Engineering students, Math 2 and another science such as Chem/Physics/Bio are recommended. I would definitely take these tests to make you a more competitive applicant.

California schools banned affirmative action, so being Hispanic will not help.

3

Applying hispanic would really help. Definitely try and take bio and chem SAT 2’s to improve chances. Get your SAT score up and you’re a low reach or high match

4

@denardog2: California publics do not consider race/ethnicity in their admissions decision. OOS colleges that are looking for diversity would consider it important but not for the UC’s or Cal States.

5

What would be a good sat/act score to aim for that would make things more likely, seeing as how fixing my terrible GPA at this point is pretty much impossible? Maybe 1900+, Or 30+?

6

To compensate for the lower GPA, you would probably need an SAT in the 2000+ range and ACT 31+ (especially for UCSB) and outstanding essays. Again, there is no guarantee, so that is why they are Reach schools. Just make sure you have some solid safeties and match schools on your list that you love and are willing to attend. UC admissions at times can be a crapshoot, so avoid being shut out.

7

I believe math 2 and chemistry will help anyone who is applying for chem engineering… also, UCSB engineering is EXTREMELY hard. I visited UCSB and when they talked about their engineering program, they said they wanted (or liked) to see As in math classes. You don’t have that. Be wary. Get some safety schools. UCSB engineering is a big reach.

8

I’m assuming you’re in-state? I would apply as a chemistry major if I were you. In-state competition, especially for engineering majors, is brutal. Also, if you aren’t performing well in math now, I think it’d be really hard to catch up as an engineering major at a UC. I had friends with ~3.8 UC GPAs and 2100 SAT who couldn’t get into Davis for biology last year, if that’s any indicator.

I agree with @michelle426 to take math 2 and chemistry. I applied for ChemE last year and took those subject tests.

As for CSUs, try looking into SJSU! It has a pretty good engineering school!