UC Chances?!

UCLA (Film and Television)
UC Berkeley (Film Studies)
UC Davis (Film)
UCSC (Film)
UCSD (Media)

Grades:
9-12 GPA: 3.94
Unweighted 9-12: 3.66
UC/CSU GPA: 4.03
ACT Composite: 32 (35 English, 31 Math, 34 Reading, 28 Science)
Rank: 66/244

AP/Honors Courses Taken:
Honors English 9/Honors English 10/AP English Lang./AP English Lit.
Honors Pre-Calc
Honors Chemistry
AP United States History/AP U.S. Govt. and Politics/AP Macroeconomics
Honors Spanish III/Honors Spanish IV

Extracurricular Activities:
Link Crew (11-12)
School Theater (9-12)
Track and Field (9-12, Varsity 10-12)
Cross Country (10-12)
Film Club (10-12; Vice-President in 12th grade)
Founder and President of “Spectrum Superheroes,” school’s first Autism awareness club (11)
Live For Others Club (12)
Presbyterian Church (9-12)
Videography for school’s college and career center (12)
Cartoonist for the school newspaper (12)
Videographer, editor, director, creator of biweekly school video (9, 11-12)
Freelance filmmaker, has had an active YouTube since 9 years old
Haunted house performer (9)

Work Experience:
General Laborer on Construction Sites (11-12)

Volunteer Work:
Youth leader at church’s Vacation Bible School (9, 11-12)
Volunteer counselor for therapy clinics, helping children with Spectrum disorders (10-12)
Volunteer at events for national Autism Awareness association (11-12)

Awards and Achievements:
City’s Junior Citizen of the Year (12)
CIF State Championship Qualifier for track and field hurdles (11)
Honor Roll (9-11 so far)
Countywide award for role in school musical (10)
Highest countywide award for performance in school musical (11)
Junior Varsity Cross Country Coach’s Award (11)
American Legion CA Boy’s State Nominee (11)
PTA Reflections Contest District Division Winner - Film (12)
Orange County Varsity Scholar Athlete (10-11)

Recommendations (I got a request from Berkeley):

Counselor: We’re very, very close. She has been there for me through a lot and knows me very well. She was a huge part in me receiving my Junior Citizen of the Year award.

Video Production Teacher: We’ve known each other for years and have a deep bond. He’s been a huge mentor for me in my journey of becoming a filmmaker.

Essays:
UCs: I spent a lot of time on my UC apps and had many people proofread them. I think they turned out great, and truly and genuinely reflect who I am, what my journey has been, and how my life circumstances have shaped me into the person I am today. They provide a good picture as to who I am. A prevalent topic within these essays is my Autism and how I’ve grown from years of therapy and other hardships associated with it. I also talked about Link Crew and my other qualities and attributes. I won’t say they turned out fantastic; that’s for the readers to decide. But what I will say is that I worked tirelessly on them.

UCLA Supplementals: I took an interesting approach on this one. UCLA said they were looking for storytellers, so I formatted them as narratives. For example, for my personal essay, I spoke directly to the reader using the second-hand P.O.V. and took them on a literal and figurative roller coaster ride through my life. My creative writing supplement was about a parrot who witnessed the murder of her owner and helped the people around her crack the case. I made sure every one of my essays had a compelling story to it.

Other Info:
School: Public
Race: White
Sex: Male

In my personal opinion, while your EC’s and awards look pretty sturdy, I’d say that there is always room for improvement in grades (GPA). I know, it is CRAZY that having a 32 and a 4.03 still puts a kid on the lower side of the UC admissions! I’m pretty much in the same situation ughhhhh -_- As far as your major goes, I’m not sure if it is an impacted major or not (mine is…yay…) BUT here are my thoughts at a first look

UCLA- Sadly it is a reach for basically anyone
Berkeley - Same, if not more, as UCLA
Davis- hmmmm I’d say you have a good chance
UCSC- safe
UCSD- ehhhh it is like a younger sibling of LA and Berk

Which day did Berkeley ask you for a recommendation? I applied there too! My parents told me that they ask for letters of rec for kids who are borderline for acceptance. I didn’t receive a request for a letter of rec, so I feel like it could go either way for me!

:slight_smile:

Great EC’s and awards/achievements. UC GPA is slightly low, but you have good rigor. What is your uncapped UC GPA? LA and Berkeley will use that. Like the poster above said, I would say LA and Cal are high match/low reach, SD is match/high match, Davis is match, and SC is safety. Also, are you OOS or from CA? If you’re OOS, that will probably hurt your chances a bit. Good luck!
Chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/1940116-applied-to-ucs-please-chance-me.html#latest

Thank you both!

@wormholes I’m from California!

UW GPA is fairly low for the TOP UCS, but as a film major, I think they will be more focused on your ECs and Essays.