Hello all,
Stats:
GPA: 3.4 (had first semester of a 2.2 to family reasons explained below, last two semesters of 4.0.)
Ethnicity: Hispanic, white
I am currently waiting to hear back from UCLA as a sophomore at a California Community College. My application is a bit unique due to the fact that I had a personal circumstance in which my Uncle was murdered in a home invasion which led to me becoming deeply depressed. This caused me to become very unmotivated in school (wasn’t attending class, felt sorry for myself,) and I ultimately withdrew from USD with a 2.2 GPA. My last two semesters at saddleback, I have taken 20 units each semester and have gotten A’s in every single class. I will do the same for this Spring and meet all the requirements for my Sociology Major. I know schools value upward trends pretty heavily, but not sure how much the UC’s do.
Extra Cur:
Three internships throughout the span of two years
Job at a beach resort and at Nike (current)
Member of the Phi Theta Kappa honors society
Started a flag football league in my city for the Boys and Girls Club
Member of the Accounting Society Club at my School.
What are my chances? Thanks for any input. I just really hope my one bad semester due to depression doesn’t ruin my college dreams.
Also, do UC’s wait to ask for spring grades?
Sociology transfer. Okay, sociology is one of the most applied majos in all of UCLA. Reviewing the 2016 transfer admission rates shows that over 1150 people applied and the admission rate was around 38%. The average GPA for the 25th %for Admits was 3.60 while the average GPA for the 75% for Admits was 3.87. UCLA could be a reach for you right now, but they could still accept you if they find something special in your application. My biggest concern is the amount of people that apply to sociology and their GPA’s are slightly higher than yours.
If UCLA is your dream school and if you are not accepted, maybe you should re-apply next year and take additional courses to boost your GPA to get closer to that 3.6 GPA threshold.
If I am not mistaken, the other UC’s, in Southern California, you do have a good shot at UCI,UCSB, UCR and UCSD, that is if you applied to do those schools.
Thank you. Yes, my reason for optimism would be the fact that I faced a tragedy and that was the reason for poor grades as well as two straight semesters of 20 units and all A’s. 38% is very doable… I just have to wait and see. Thanks for your feedback.
Jeez man, I’m sorry to hear about your uncle. Absolutely insane.
The GPA is out of range for your major, and I’ve seen plenty of people on past forums get rejected for Soc in the 3.7 range. It’s an impacted major so it’s super competitive, and Soc’s major prereqs aren’t necessarily the toughest around so a lot of people are gonna have high GPAs
But obviously UCLA takes a holistic approach and GPA isn’t all that they look at. A 3.4 isn’t an auto-reject, and if you can write some stellar essays to explain that maybe they will be willing to give you a chance, since you do have a upwards grade trend. But if I were you, I’d try to retake as many classes as possible, bump up that GPA cuz no matter how you slice it’s gonna be tough to be accepted with a 3.4 for your major. When you retake a class lower than a C, the UCs only look at the higher grade. And no UCs don’t look at your spring grades but you’ll have provisions in your acceptance that require you to get a certain GPA and grade in all major prereq classes.
@ericbadmon really appreciate your reply man. I agree with you in all your points. I applied sociology because that is the only way you can take real estate classes at UCLA. I actually got a D in econ at USD and then retook it at my juco and got an A. Does this mean that when they calculate my GPA, they won’t take the D into consideration because I retook the class? Thanks
@ericbadmon because if that’s the case I would have a 3.6, which would make me feel a lot more confident about my application!
@jobsoutofcollege if it’s a course equivalent, then yeah they shouldn’t hold it against you. Although I’m not 100% since it’s UC to CC, you might wanna check with your counselor. But when you retake a course, or a course equivalent at another school, your higher/retaken grade replaces the original grade completely and the original grade wouldn’t be used for GPA calculation. The schools do see it tho, they wanted you to report it on the app and they’ll see it on your transcript… but it won’t be used against you.
@ericbadmon yeah I checked with my counselor and you are correct. I actually have a 3.66 now. Going from a 3.4 to 3.66 makes me a lot more confident. Thanks for your help.