I really want to go to UCSC and I don’t know if my chances are too great. I’m from a low income family and a first generation college student. I’m a California resident. I know that no one has a sure way of knowing, but I appreciate any input! Im in my junior year of high school and second semester just started so I don’t have my gpa just yet.
-3.56 w gpa
-Student Advisory Board for LA Times HS Insider
-Silver Key winner in Personal Essay for Scholastic Art & Writing awards
-Founder of Journalism Club
-VP of Political Club
-VP of Key Club
-Historian and Publicist of Red Cross Club for three years
-VP of Junior State of America club
-City Council intern
-LA Times summer intern
-1260 on PSAT with 730 on reading and writing and 540 on math
-3 APs total with a 4 on the one I took last year (Im taking 4 APs next year)
-I campaigned for a candidate during the elections
-over 500 hours of community service
-staffer in school paper
-in the process of starting/hosting a podcast with the help of the LA Times
i know my gpa is low but i can hit it out of the park with a personal statement if i know i have a chance. im also taking sat prep classes now to improve my score. ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED !!!
@Gumbymom thank you for your help! im going to take four APs next year as a senior. will they have any impact on my GPA before i apply or will it be too late?
Senior grades are not included in your UC GPA only 10-11th but doing well Senior year with a rigorous course load will help in keeping your provisional admission if accepted.
Just do great during this year GPA wise and study hard and do well on the SAT.
You have good EC’s, and just make your essays strong.
However, GPA is your weakpoint, especially because what you stated is WEIGHTED.
UC’s use GPA as main factor, so don’t keep your hopes 2 high.
But still, good luck!
SDSU admits by eligibility index and major so to calculate your EI you need to your CSU GPA=UC capped weighted and SAT Math/EBRW scores.
(CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math + EBRW). You want a target EI of 4100+ for the best chances but threshold is not a guarantee for admission.
Santa Clara and Chapman will look at your UW GPA 9-11th, along with test scores, EC’s, essays and LOR’s. Chapman is possible but I think SCU will be tough with your GPA. Private schools can be more holistic in their application review so your chances are difficult to determine.
What you want to do is not focus on just one school, but apply widely. I would apply to Chapman, SCU, UCSC, SDSU along with your local Cal State as a possible safety and maybe UCR/UCM.
Formulate you college list by starting with a safety school: Affordable, high chance for an acceptance and one that you are willing to attend no matter what happens. From there, you can add some Match and Reach schools.
I think you have a really good chance! I’m a freshman at UCSC and I had a 3.6 GPA, 8 AP classes, about 6 similar EC’s as you, a 28 on the ACT (I think thats similiar to your SAT score) and 60 hours of community service. For UCSC your gpa isn’t actually that low and your EC’s are really good compared to most people here. I saw you mentioned UCSD and Chapman, and I have friends who went to both of those. Chapman is incredibly expensive (twice of the cost of a UC), but i think you might possibly have a chance of getting in because my friend who went there had slightly better stats than me. As for UCSB, you could possibly get in, but you should really take into account the culture there. From what I’ve seen from my friends there is the party culture is very prevalent and they never partied in hs. Personally I love UCSC, there is very little peer pressure, people wear whatever they want, it’s super open minded, the professors are nice, and the residential college system is amazing.
@Fefe887 thank you so much, this was super helpful!! and yes, those are actually the exact reasons why those two schools aren’t on my radar as much i love SC culture, it seems so chill and laid back. thank you again for your helpful response!!!
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