I know these schools are super reach, but I just want your guy’s opinion of the possibilities of getting in.
(UC Irvine, UCLA, Stanford Chances)
Background -
Male, Asian, and lives in CA
GPA (very low) -
Sophomore grades:
B/B - Pre-calculus
A/A - Band
B/B - English 2A
A/A - Chinese 2
B/A - AP Physics 1
A/A - World History
Junior grades:
B/A - AP US History
A/A - Chinese 3
A/A - Wind Ensemble (auditioned for this band [best in the district])
A/A - Biology
C/B - AP Literature
C/B - AP Calculus AB
Extra curriculars/achievements - (I hope this could help)
1 year F/S Track, 3 years Varsity Track, 1 year F/S Cross Country
I gathered together a team, project lead, and we as a team of 3 made a game that got 56,000 plays
(A lot of people made videos of my game! Here’s a update video I made of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7R_Xtwsqwg)
Accepted to a company’s private developer forum (700/10+million) currently accepted
Computer software engineering developer internship (healthcare software development)
This was heads up work experience in computer science field, and I got to sit next to the owner of the company and he taught me stuff, and not just CS, but also how to run a successful business.
accepted to Wind Ensemble (best band in the district)
(I am not sure if this one counts, but…) I earned 2 medals in the same track invitational for getting 2nd on the Distance relay and 800m.
Currently -
I am currently working with another coder on making a new game, and I hope this one could be more successful than the other.
SAT/ACT -
Math 2 Subject test - 680 (I got lazy and didn’t study; not sure if I should add this to app)
ACT - 34
My junior grades going down were simply due to my active CS job at the health company at the time, and I was pre-occupied trying to make a popular game. I also spent a lot of time reading self-improvement books like the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, how to win and influence people, the 48 laws of power, etc… I was also into listening to audio tapes like Tai Lopez’s 67 steps.
haha, I did some weird stuff, usually not normal for the majority of teens today, but it cause the downfall of my GPA and I hope it won’t sacrifice a lot of my chances to a good university/college.
UC 3.67 (used roger hub), UW 3.58 (UW not including freshman year, but I think I calculated the UW wrong. I just stuck all my letter grades into a CSU calculator w/ no honor points added.)
@MathFan21 Sorry, did not see your “chance me?” Your academics are really nice, due to the fact that your GPA is guess near the median, or at the median at a lot of good universities, in the top 10% of your class, decent exam scores, and a rigorous schedule. All this marks you as a academically competent student from my point of view.
I also love your passion for Tae Kwon Do, and great EC including your internship at a social security office.
Although your application is great, I believe your majors have really low admit rates, at least from what I heard of electrical engineering.
@Gumbymom Thanks for your advice/support! Do you think I should add in my 680 on math 2, not sure if that’s considered good since I’ve heard a majority gets 800’s on the exam.
@UCmaximillian From what I’ve heard, anything on your UC application only strengthens your app, meaning that nothing will weight you down or add “negative points” to your profile.
SAT Math 2 is a standard subject test to take for more engineering/CS/Physics majors, so I believe its worth sending it in.
Based on this PDF, the average for computer science/Engineering is about a 4.05+ UC GPA.
Your ACT is great, but UC Irvine is more of a GPA school, and weights SATs and ACTs less heavily.
Your GPA is considerably far off from what is reasonable, and your ACT can only patch that up to some extent.
UCLA is even more brutal for CS. My friends with 4.5 weighted GPAs and 2200+ SATs decided to not apply for computer science in UCLA because they know how selective the program is; in short, don’t expect to get in.
Stanford is a crap-shoot for even the top notch students with insane 4.7 GPAs and 2300+ SATs. I would expect close to a 0% chance of admission into stanford because you don’t even fall into the 4.0 GPA range. You have focused extra circulars for computer science but in comparison to the pool of Stanford applicants, that’s just mediocre.
I hope I didn’t sound harsh but I trying to be real here.
Hopefully your essays were strong and you applied to many backups. On a bright note, UC’s can be unpredictable, and there is an enrollment expansion for undergrads at UC’s next fall (you can google this).
Sadly, I believe not. Privates focus a lot more on E.C’s than UC’s.
The only school I can think of is UC Berkeley. Too many qualified 4.0 GPA applicants swarm the pool, so the Berkeley officers tend to look holistically at E.C’s, put more focus on essays, consider the area you come from, etc.
Otherwise, no. Most UC’s look for that golden 4.0+ UC GPA. If you raised thousands of dollars or won national awards maybe that would help, but from what I see, your E.C’s are pretty solid/standard…
I think Stanford might actually be viable, the fee whole make a game and get a head start on your career thing sets you apart and showed initiative. If you look at Stanford’s stats they have a couple of people with lower gpas and scores. However, I think Stanford might require 2 subject tests, I’m not sure.
This is all my opinion anyway, I’m also applying to Stanford so I’m equally unsure as to what they want. If you want to see my creds: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1837466-stanford-mit-columbia-what-do-you-think.html#latest
I’m scared.
