***uc san diego class of 2023 decision thread (stats only)***

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
21

Decision: Accepted
Electrical Engineering

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1410 (720 W 690 M)
Capped Weighted UC GPA: 4.35
Uncapped weighted: 4.45
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 42/749
AP (place score in parenthesis): 9 APs, Hum G(4), Bio (4), Cal AB (4), LIT (4), US H (4), Physics (this year), Calc BC (this year), Gov (this year, Lang (this year)
Senior Year Course Load: 4 APs, 1 honors, 3rd year language, plus extra 7th class in robotics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): FIRST Robotics Dean’s List finalist, Eagle Scout, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 12 years competitive robotics, (FRC team CEO)
Job/Work Experience: Employed as fencing armorer
Volunteer/Community service: 300+ hours, Eagle Scout, STEM outreach
Summer Activities:Engineering program at Berkeley
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8
Supplemental Review or LOR submission:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type:Public High School
Gender:M
ELC Eligibility:yes
First Generation:no

Reflection

Strengths: Good GPA and lots of extra curricular applicable to degree
Weaknesses: Not a good test taker, lower SAT, no 5 APs
Why you think you were accepted:
Where else were you accepted/: Purdue, Virginia Tech, WPI, SDSU, CalPoly SLO, UCI, UCSD, UCSB
Waitlisted: Georgia Tech
Rejected: U Texas at Austin

22

Son Admitted
Major: Aerospace Engineering
SAT 1480
GPA Unweighted 4.0
GPA UC capped 4.33
UC Fully weighted 4.58
Class Rank 4/728
11 AP classes including senior year. All 4 or 5’s for tests taken
Internships, work experience, sports all 4 years including team captain in 11th and 12th, tons of community service and active in youth group and church service
Accepted: UCSD, UCSB, UCLA, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, CSULB, SDSU Honors, University of Arizona (full scholarship)
In State
Will likely go to Cal Poly SLO (his first choice and better fit personally-learn by doing approach)

23

Decision: Accepted!
Accepted to Revelle College for Political Science
First Generation
UC Weighted GPA: 3.88
SAT: 1380 w/21 writing score
I am not going to lie, I got 4 C’s my sophomore year so I was flabbergasted when I got in, however, I did have an upward trend that jumped to a 4.3 during junior year.
Extracurriculars: Speech and Debate, Associated Student Body, Environmental Awareness Club, Service Club, Sophomore and junior Committee, varsity badminton, 12 years of art and 4 years of guitar.
Supposedly though, I had one of the best essays
Anything is possible don’t think just stats define you!!!

24

Decision: Admitted

Marine Biology
Marshall College

3.8 GPA
27 ACT
Lots of ec’s and leadership positions
Good essays showing struggle and then growth

Out of state
Asian male

Accepted to UC Santa Cruz, UIUC, Cal State Long Beach
Rejected from UC Santa Barbara :frowning:

25

Decision: Accepted
College: Sixth
Major: Biochemistry/Chemistry

Objective
SAT: 1590 (790 W, 800 M); 1 sitting
ACT: 36; 1 sitting
Single-subject SATs: Biology (800), Chemistry (800), World History (800), Math 2 (800), Physics (780); 1 sitting for all
Weighted GPA: 4.75
Unweighted GPA: 4.00
APs: World History (5), Calculus AB (5), Physics 1 (5), English Lang (5), US History (5), Biology (this year), Calc BC (this year), US Government (this year), English Lit (this year), Spanish Lang (this year), Psychology (this year)
Senior Year Course Load: 6 APs, 4th year language, one semester Philosophy class, two semesters as TA
Major Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction, Harvard Book Prize, National Merit Scholarship Finalist, U.S. Presidential Scholar Nominee

Subjective
Extracurriculars: 13 years taekwondo, 9 years kung fu, 9 years gymnastics (5 years competitive acro)
Job/Work Experience: Employed as martial arts instructor
Volunteer/Community service: Tutor at local library, volunteer martial arts instructor for 3 to 5 year olds
Summer Activities: Competed in taekwondo, travelled to China for kung fu

Demographic
State (if domestic): California
High school type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Applied for financial aid: No
Highest level of parent education: Doctorate
Living with both, one, or no parents: Both
First Generation: No

Other colleges
Accepted: Santa Clara
Waitlisted: Case Western Reserve
Rejected: Stanford
Have not yet heard from: Brown, UC Berkeley

26

ACCEPTED (Sixth College)
Biochemistry

UW: 4.00
UC Capped: 4.05
ACT: 30 (W: 8)

Chem AP: 4

27

Decision: Admitted
Human Biology
SAT 1490
GPA: 3.97 (School doesn’t weigh)
IN STATE

28

S Accepted! UCSD - Computer Engineering (Regents Scholar)

1550 SAT
Sat M 800, P 780

GPA 4.65

Accepted: UCSD(Regents), UCLA
Rejected: CIT, MIT, Purdue
WaitList: GT, UIUC

Waiting: UCB, USC, Cornell, UPenn, Stanford, Harvard, Canegie, UMich

29

Accepted out of state!
Major- neurobiology
College- Muir
Rank: n/a
4.2 GPA
1470 SAT
good ECs, good recs, essays abt pre-college brain research and internship at medical center
concentration in musical arts- all state musician and local/state level piano competitions
12 AP classes in HS, took all honors courses
Race: white/first gen asian-American (southeast)

30

Son Accepted
Electrical Engineering
Warren College
In-State
GPA: 4.0 UW
SAT I: 1590 (800M)(790E)
SAT II: 800 Math2, 800 BiologyE, 800 Chemistry, 780 Physics

Admitted: UCLA, UC Santa Barbara (Chancellor’s Invite), UC Irvine (Regents), Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona (Honors), San Diego State, San Jose State, Colorado School of Mines
Waitlisted: UC Davis
Rejected: none so far
Awaiting: UC Berkeley

31

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 800 Math ; 670 R/W
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: 720 Math II ; 690 Bio M
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.45
Capped Weighted UC GPA: 4.4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 32/786
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chinese(5); Language and Culture(3); US History(3); Bio(4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Econ, AP CompSci, AP Physics C, AP Calc, Prep English, AP Spanish Lang
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Superintendent’s Honor Roll (straight A’s all three previous years of HS)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): NHS, CSF, Red Cross, Get Cultures(Prez), Robotics Club(VP), SNHS(secretary), Math Club, Leader of Book Club
Job/Work Experience:n/a
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered with the clubs listed above and at the library ~200 hours
Summer Activities: n/a
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
9 about bullying and how I stood up to defend a victim
7 my passion for art
9 struggle with teamwork (risky essay)
8 choosing between pragmatism and passion
Supplemental Review or LOR submission: n/a

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: computer science
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Middle
ELC Eligibility: yes
First Generation: no

Reflection

Strengths: GPA and extracurriculars??
Weaknesses: not really any awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I really spoke my mind in my essays so they were a bit risky (wrote about not being good in teamwork) but they were brutally honest ;(. IDK if that’s what stood out. I also am in a lot of clubs.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected: MIT, UT Austin, UCLA, Cal Poly Slo
Accepted: SDSU, SJSU, CPP, UCSD, UCSB, UCI

General Comments:
Don’t stress about college that much because you can prob see that these decisions are pretty unpredictable. My advice is to definitely try your best but know that you will thrive no matter which college you attend because you are just that good. Really be passionate about the things you do in high school and if your purpose to doing some things is just to put it on a college app then you’re wasting your time. Fighting!

32

Decision: Admitted

Merit scholarships awarded (if any): not sure yet

Major (and division if applicable) applied to - Cognitive Science: Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience

Academic stats:

Cal Grant GPA: 3.96
UC Weighted GPA: 4.74
Eligibility in Local Context?: Yes

Rank, percentile rank, or percentile range (if available): N/A
Comments about course load (including senior year):

  • 10: 1 AP, 2 Honors
  • 11: 5 APs, 1 Honors, BYU sociology course
  • 12: 6 APs, 1 Honors
    SAT (total and sections): 1560: M 770, R 790
    ACT (total and sections): N/A
    SAT Subject Tests (if any): M2 800, BioM 780, Lit 790
    AP exams (scores in parentheses): Euro (5), APUSH (5), Seminar (4), Bio (5), Calc AB (5), Lit (5), haven’t taken senior AP tests yet (obv)
    IB exams (score in parentheses): N/A
    Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): no major awards (I have several regional speech and debate awards from different tournaments, though)

Subjective:

For the following, indicate level of recognition or award (e.g. local, state, national, international) and/or leadership roles:

Extracurriculars:
Piano since age 6
Carnatic music since age 7
Western singing since age 7 (w/o instruction)
Founder and president of school club Colors for Charity
Treasurer of CSF
Curriculum director of national tutoring non-profit
Varsity member in speech and debate team, etc.

Job/Work Experience: N/A

Volunteer/Community service:
Lotsss of tutoring
DOXA Mexico housebuilding
Managing Creative Minds Art Contest and an art supply drive, etc.

Summer Activities: ATDP at UC Berkeley (advanced biotech), summer neuroscience course Brown online, research at the University of Iowa

Essays (topics, details):

Passion for music, experiences with research and its difficulties, growing through Speech and Debate as a shy introvert, Shooting Stars and my witnessing its growth and effect on low-income college students

Demographics

State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
High school type: Public

Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Asian

Applied for financial aid?: Yes
Highest level of parent education: Graduate school
Living with both, one, or no parents?: both
Income bracket: >100,000

Reflection

Strengths: High SAT/GPA, difficult course load, clear commitment in ECs, pretty ok essays in terms of writing style/grammar
Weaknesses: maybe uniqueness when it comes to ECs, didn’t have many big awards or accomplishments, lack of neuroscience related ECs, very competitive school where it was difficult to stand out, I feel like some of my essays were a bit nonunique and I def could have written something deeper
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think my grades probably helped the most, since UCs really care about them. My essays were ok to read, but I believe some lacked depth. Though I suppose since you’re selling yourself to colleges your essays just need to show your bright sides.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: UPitt accepted, UCSD accepted, UCLA accepted, UChicago and WashU waitlisted, Northwestern rejected, MIT rejected, Emory rejected/waitlisted at Oxford

33

Decision: Accepted
College: Muir
Academic stats:

UC Unweighted GPA: 3.59
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 3.89
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 3.89
Eligibility in Local Context?: Rigorous course load, took 8 AP classes, 9 AP exams

Rank, percentile rank, or percentile range (if available):

Comments about course load (including senior year): terrible GPA freshman year with more B’s than A’s and 1 C, 1 AP sophomore year, 3 AP classes (4 exams) junior year, 4 AP classes senior year.

SAT (total and sections): 1520 (780 Reading, 740 Math)

ACT (total and sections): didn’t take it

SAT Subject Tests (if any): none

AP exams (scores in parentheses): AP World History (4) AP Lang (4) AP US History (4) AP Biology (3)
AP Chinese (5) AP Calc, AP Lit, AP US Gov, AP Environmental Science (not taken yet)

IB exams (score in parentheses): none

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Student of the Month

Subjective:

For the following, indicate level of recognition or award (e.g. local, state, national, international) and/or leadership roles

Extracurriculars: Vice president of a Christian club at school (11th and 12th grade), choir (10th grade), a volunteer club (9th and 10th grade)

Job/Work Experience: Tutored middle-schooler in math and English (but I forgot to put that on my college app lol)
Volunteer/Community service: volunteered at church, organized Operation Christmas Child

Demographics

High school type: Public

Gender: Female
Race/ethnicity: Asian

Reflection

Strengths: high SAT score and strong essays
Weaknesses: extremely low GPA (3.52 cumulative unweighted) with few extracurriculars

General Comments:
College admissions is very unpredictable. I was waitlisted and rejected from my safeties but got into UCSD.

34

International Applicant
Applied for CS at UCSD, but got admitted as undeclared at Muir. I also got waitlisted at UCLA.
SAT: 1500, R/W - 700, Math - 800
SAT 2: Math 2 - 770, Physics - 800
Really bummed right now :frowning:

35

Decision: Waitlisted

Major: Structural Engineering

Academic Stats:

UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.1
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.2
ELC eligibility: No, however, I am eligible for the Statewide Path.
Rank: Top 30%

SAT I: 1370 (650 English, 720 Math)
ACT: 30 (Reading: 32, English: 30, Math: 34, Science: 24)
SAT II: Math 2: 690 Chemistry: 630
AP: Statistics: 4 I am currently taking Calc AB

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: 3 years in an Environmental Club (Treasurer Senior Year), 1 year in a Math Club, 1 year in a Cultural Club, 1 year in a Political Club, 1 year in a Debate Club
Volunteer/Community service: volunteering at my school garden and going to beach cleanups
Summer Activities: volunteering at my school garden

Essays: 9/10 I wrote about my experience in my environmental club, my love for mathematics, my ADHD, and moving to a new home freshman year. My cousin, who is a lawyer, helped me write and correct my essays.

Demographics:

State: California
School Type: Public
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Pell Grant: Eligible for around $4000 a year
Maximum Pell Grant: No
Highest level of parent education: They both dropped out of community college.
Living with both, one, or no parents?: Both Parents

Reflection:

Strengths: Statewide Path, First Generation, my grades had an upward trend, heavy involvement in my ECs, great essays

Weaknesses: bad grades freshman year, no honors courses until my junior year, only two AP courses, applied to a very competitive major, could have gotten higher standardized tests scores

Why I think I was Waitlisted: I was not a strong enough candidate for the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering.

Acceptances: Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, CSULB, LSU, SDSU, SJSU, University of Arizona, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside

Waitlists: UC Davis

Rejections: Colorado School of Mines, Purdue, UCLA, USC

General Comments: I wasn’t really expecting for UCSD to admit me but I decided to go ahead and submit my application. I was a little bummed that I was waitlisted but I got over it fairly quickly. IMHO I think it would be a waste of my time to try to get off the waitlist and besides, I have already been admitted to the Cal Poly SLO College of Engineering.

Congrats to everyone who got into UCSD, it’s an amazing school!!

36

Decision: Admitted

Merit scholarships awarded (if any): No

Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Computer Engineering (Warren)

Academic stats:

UC Unweighted GPA: 3.97
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.19
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.58
Eligibility in Local Context?: Yes

Rank, percentile rank, or percentile range (if available): N/A
SAT (total and sections): 1510 (730 Reading, 780 Math)
ACT (total and sections): N/A
SAT Subject Tests (if any): 800 Physics, 800 Math 2
AP exams (scores in parentheses): CalcBC (5), Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (4), Physics C (4), US Hist (4), Eng Lit (3), Music Theory (3)
IB exams (score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov; AP Econ; AP Eng Lang; AP Stats; Wind Symphony; Jazz Band; Marching Band
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: Marching Band Section Leader, Music Mentor, Science Olympiad Team, Academic League Team, CSF, NHS
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: music mentor, NHS
Summer Activities: community college summer classes (3 summers)

Essays (topics, details): rate 9/10
Letters of recommendation: N/A

Demographics

State (if domestic applicant): California
High school type: Public

Gender: M
Race/ethnicity: White

Applied for need-based financial aid?: Yes
Pell grant eligible?: No
Maximum Pell grant (FAFSA EFC = $0)?: No

Highest level of parent education: Master’s degrees
Living with both, one, or no parents?: Living with both
Relation to alumni of college: No

Reflection

Strengths: Competitive stats, good essays, EC’s with some leadership
Weaknesses: No work experience, only 2 years of foreign language
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Strong stats, good essays

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: SDSU, CPP, Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, UCSB, UCSD
Rejected: Harvey Mudd, MIT, UCLA

37

Accepted!

Merit scholarships awarded (if any):

Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Cognitive Science w/ Specialization in Machine Learning/Neural Computation (Sixth)

Academic stats:

high school gpa: 4.63 (10 - 12 grade)
unweighted gpa: (3.91)
throughout all of high school ive taken 11 AP, 4 Honors

Rank, percentile rank, or percentile range (if available): 97th percentile in my high school (top 20/800)
Comments about course load (including senior year): 7 courses total, 5 APs, one regular course, tennis (counts as a class at my high school)
SAT (total and sections): none
ACT (total and sections): 33 composite
SAT Subject Tests (if any): none
AP exams (scores in parentheses): AP Chem (4), AP Euro (3), AP Eng Lan (5), APUSH (4), AP Comp Sci Pri (5), taking 6 more senior year [AP US Gov, AP Macroecon, AP Spanish Lan, AP Calc BC, AP Comp Sci A, AP Phys C Mech]
IB exams (score in parentheses):
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): school awards and ec awads, ap scholar w/ distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: Varsity Badminton 4 years (won state tournament), Debate team (top 8 in state county), board member of 2 clubs, martial arts, guitar and piano w/ some public recitals, helped start an eSports team @my high school (top 2 in state county)
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: hospital, religious, club
Summer Activities: took a total of 3 summer classes, a lot of tennis practice, traveling the world and opening myself up to new cultures

Essays (topics, details): helping start eSports at my school, badminton, debate team and how that help me overcome a fear of public speaking, surpassing my personal despression
Letters of recommendation: had two but UC’s don’t take

Demographics

State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
High school type: public, pretty competitive imo

Gender: M
Race/ethnicity: Chinese

Reflection

Strengths: high GPA, rigourous courseload, diverse ECs, good essays imo
Weaknesses: Standardized test scores for sure
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: luck
Where else were you accepted: UCI, UCR, USC?, Cal Poly Pomona

General Comments: these applications are pretty random so a rejection doesn’t discredit all the hard work you have put into these past four years and it wall all work out in the end, glhf

38

lol whyd i say tennis i meant badminton LOL

39

Decision: ADMITTED!
Merit scholarships awarded (if any): none (yet?)

Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Environmental Systems/Ecology, Behavior and Evolution at Revelle

Academic stats:
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.63
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 3.84
UC Fully Weighted GPA:3.84
Eligibility in Local Context?: Uh IDK

Rank, percentile rank, or percentile range (if available): my high school doesn’t do any of these things thankfully
Comments about course load (including senior year): all honors and AP except for Beginning Debate, Health, and Personal Fitness 1 in sophomore and senior year, AP Spanish Lit in junior year, all honors and AP senior year except for a PE class and my English classes
SAT (total and sections): n/a
ACT (total and sections): 32 composite with 10 on the writing, 29 Math, 36 Reading, 34 English, 27 Science
SAT Subject Tests (if any): I might do the physics ones this spring
AP exams (scores in parentheses): AP Spanish Lang (4), AP World History (4), AP English Lang (4), AP Human Geo (4), AP Spanish Lit (4), AP US Gov (5)
IB exams (score in parentheses): none
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction I guess

Subjective:

For the following, indicate level of recognition or award (e.g. local, state, national, international) and/or leadership roles:
Extracurriculars: Model UN, Speech and Debate for 2 years, US Geography Olympiad
Job/Work Experience: worked at a bakery for two summers
Volunteer/Community service: Spanish Honor Society, volunteered at local library for 10 hours every summer for 5 years, volunteered at Hike for MS event for two years
Summer Activities: see community service ^

Essays (topics, details): One of them was about not succumbing to academic pressures, another was about why I’m passionate about environmental science. I didn’t think they were my best essays but I guess they were enough to get me in!

Demographics

State (if domestic applicant): Colorado
High school type: public, uber-competitive and well-known, largest in the state

Gender: male
Race/ethnicity: super white (Welsh)

Applied for need-based financial aid?: yes
Pell grant eligible?: no
Maximum Pell grant (FAFSA EFC = $0)?: none

Highest level of parent education: Bachelor’s
Living with both, one, or no parents?: living with both
Relation to alumni of college: none

Reflection

Strengths: ACT score and maybe essays
Weaknesses: GPA, I got Cs in Geometry H and Chem H (just one semester for Chem though)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: maybe they really liked my essays
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted to the following schools (accepted to everything I applied to): UC Davis, SDSU, Cal Poly SLO, CU Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, CSU Ft. Collins, CSU San Marcos, Chapman, Soka University of America

40

Accepted!

Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Polisci - International Relations

Academic stats:

UC Unweighted GPA: 4.0
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.0
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.3

Rank, percentile rank, or percentile range (if available): 20/500
Comments about course load (including senior year): My school didn’t offer AP courses so I’ve been taking duel enrollment classes at my local community college since Sophomore year. I’ve taken around ten classes there in everything from Spanish and Anthropology to Philosophy.
ACT (total and sections): 29 (R:36, E:32, S:27, M:24)

Subjective:

For the following, indicate level of recognition or award (e.g. local, state, national, international) and/or leadership roles:
Extracurriculars: I’ve been in a pre-pro ballet school for six years and have won regional competitions and gone to prestigious summer programs. I’ve actually been offered contracts from a few professional companies so i may end up having to reapply to college in a few years.
Job/Work Experience: Internships in local politics since Sophomore year for City Councilmember and Congresswoman in district office. I organized a lot of art outreach programs while at my internships as well. This past summer I was offered an internship in the DC office as their first ever high school intern. While in DC I also worked at Chipotle every night from the end of my internship until closing in order to afford rent for the summer.
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered with homeless youth at the local LGBT community center. This past summer while in DC I volunteered with National Network for Youth to lobby for a new bill. Also a decent amount of campaign experience as both an intern and a volunteer.

Essays (topics, details): I think they were decent but I definitely could have done better. Wrote about my experiences with politics and ballet.
Letters of recommendation: I honestly can’t remember who I had write these letters so maybe that’s not a great sign.

Demographics

State: California
High school type: Project and internship based charter Freshmen through Junior year, basic public for Senior year.

Gender: Female
Race/ethnicity: White

Applied for need-based financial aid?: Yes
Pell grant eligible?: Yes

Highest level of parent education: Bachelors
Living with both, one, or no parents?: Both
Relation to alumni of college: No

Reflection

Strengths: Extracurriculars and community service/work experience.
Weaknesses: ACT.