Hi,
I’m currently a sophomore (going into junior year) attending Monta Vista High School in California. I’m currently very worried about my college chances due to my slump in second semester sophomore year. Almost the whole semester, I had only 1 B and 5 A’s, until the end during finals week, where I ended up with 4 B’s and 2 A’s in the semester (out of 6 classes)
I’m an asian male intending to major in CS. I am not aiming for the top tier ivy level schools, but I am aiming for any UC or CSU, as well as other good cs colleges. My GPA trend is:
Freshman 1st sem: 3.5 UW
Freshman 2nd sem: 3.83 UW
Sophomore 1st sem: 3.67 UW and 4.0 W
Sophomore 2nd sem: 3.33 UW and 3.67 W
My EC’s include: Taekwondo, summer job, 100+ hours of volunteering, nonprofit organization teaching kids how to code.
My stats aren’t perfect, but at this point, I am simply curious as to my chances at colleges such as Georgia Tech, UCI, UCSD, UCSB, UCSC, and UWashington. If I get a 4.0 throughout high school, I can achieve a 3.8 UW and a 4.2 W, which is an improvement. Does an upward GPA trend really help that much? Is there a chance I can get into those colleges, and if not, can I get into other decent CS programs around the country (or is community college the only option) ?
Thanks to anyone who helps.
You’re already near or at the border point where it will be hard to get into UCB, UCLA and probably UW for CS. Maybe even passed. Unless you got all straight As in 11th grade. if your 11th grade average is similar to your tenth grade average you’re looking more at UCSC and similar schools.
Also a lot depends on test scores and how rigorous your current and remaining classes are. ECs and essays will play a role. And if you have any hooks (Monte Vista has some of the best chess players in the whole country for example, and being by Apple there may be internship opportunities).
For the UC’s, they only use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation, so anything under a UC capped weighted of 4.0 by end of Junior year will be a tough admit for CS. UCSC might be your best bet but I would definitely at UCR and UCM onto the list. Showing an upward grade trend with increased rigor in your Junior year can help your chances, but GPA alone (although very important) will not be the only item considered in your application review. SAT/ACT scores, HS course rigor, essays and EC’s will all contribute to your chances.
Depending upon how you do end of Junior year, research a wide variety of schools and definitely include some CSU’s such as SDSU, CSULB, Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Fullerton along with some non-impacted CSU programs which you can look up here:
https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf
Below is 2017 admit rates for UC capped weighted GPA and major specific, so expect the CS admit rates to be lower for each campus and below is some data specific to UCI.
2017 data for UCI with 81% of all admits which had UC GPA’s of 4.0+.
UCI CS average UC capped weighted GPA was 4.11 with an average SAT of 1402.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%
The UCs have their own way of calculating your GPA, with only grades from the summer after freshman year to the summer after junior year included. They count Honors and AP classes as weighted grades, but cap the number of weights to 16 semesters. You could increase your UC capped/weighted GPA by taking a UC-approved a-g course or two this summer, since those will count. Take classes next summer as well to further bolster your GPA, and try to get the 16 semester weights if you can.
Your odds also change depending on your SAT scores. Studying can indeed help, so this summer would be a good time to begin some study prep. Be mindful that the UCs require you to send in ALL your scores, and they only consider the best scores from one sitting (they don’t “superscore”). So, don’t try taking the SAT too soon figuring you have nothing to lose, because they will see everything you take.
Your ECs look solid – keep those up! You could also try taking a look at the UC application. There are no essays. There are only several short-answer questions. Think about what you could do over the next year to make your answers to those questions authentically rich.