UC Davis: Safety, Target, or Reach?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hi, I’m an in-state applicant who applied to Davis as a linguistics major. I’ve been told I have a “fairly good” chance of admission but to be honest there might be a wide scope of interpretation for that. Here are my stats:

Background: Asian, female, high income, large fairly competitive hs

Class rank: top 5%

UC/CSU GPA: 3.88/4.21 (fully weighted is 4.21 but I took just enough to get the max capped)
The dead average is about 4.16 so I’m guessing this puts me around the 60th percentile?

School offered several AP/honors courses, took 4 APs
Bio (5), Lang (5), USH (4), WH (5), no honors classes
No test scores, sat got cancelled

Extracurriculars
Legal Careers Pathway classes (2 yrs)
Volunteered 80 hrs at aquarium during summer after 10th grade
2 week summer internship in local county for medical/business/law/interdisciplinary, got UC credit and A in course
Review college essays online and give feedback
Culture Club 4 years, VIP member
Choir for 1 year
No leadership positions, a bit concerned about that and also I should have done more stuff related to my major.

Other Info
Will become bilingual due to AP Spanish
Started Spanish 1 in 10th grade, convinced teacher to let me self study over the summer and go to Spanish 3, which I did (I had no Spanish background whatsoever before that)
I am a synesthete meaning I have multiple types of synesthesia and life is uh very trippy sometimes
Homeschooled up until 8th grade, went to public hs for the first time, didnt get any of the classes I wanted cuz I was last priority and didn’t come from the local feeder jr high

Essays:
Uh, horrible. Execution was messy but I wrote about some of the topics mentioned above and hopefully I can stand out somewhat. I have experience reviewing college essays and I can tell you that mine were sloppy. It’s all over now.

Got accepted to CSUN, NAU, SDSU (applied for Weber) and I think I have a strong chance of getting into UCR where I also applied. UCSD is debatable if I will get in or not but that’s my opinion.

Lol i’m just getting anxiety at this point. Labeling a school as a “safety” or “target” doesn’t mean you’ll get in. Please comment what you think

Edit: forgot to mention that transition to public hs was rough, didn’t take any advanced classes my 1st year and got some C’s. Upward trend in grades and got straight A’s junior year. Currently taking 4 AP classes.

Also, my major is kinda uncommon I think? Not super niche but you get the point. I heard that UC’s don’t admit by major but some are hard to get into? I don’t think I have to worry about that much but yeah. I want to go into political or international law

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You are a competitive applicant and I would say that it is a target/match school. Definitely not a safety since the UC’s tend to be very unpredictable and UCD looks for student fit. Based on the below data, you have a better chance than 60% but again no guarantees. HS rigor will be very Important so taking just the minimum could hurt your chances but your GPA looks good.

2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:

UCD: 86%

2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:

UCD: 4.11 (3.97-4.25)

2 Likes
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I took 1 AP in 10th grade and I was still adjusting a bit. I’m trying to focus on progress so I took 3 APs in 11th grade and 4 this year as mentioned. Thanks for the input!

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I agree - you look like a well qualified candidate.

good luck

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You’re obviously qualified but it’s a strange year with increased apps. So even saying it’s a target or match has some risks. I’m surprised you weren’t pleased with your essay when one of your ECs is to review college essays for others online and giving them feedback.

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I wrote it at 4am… it wasn’t good I looked at it the other day