UC's and CSU's: Chance Me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys,

I’m currently a senior in high school and I’m plan on applying to (I’m in state):
San Jose State (SJSU)
San Diego State (SDSU)
UC Santa Barbara (UCSB)
UC Santa Cruz (UCSC)
UC San Diego (UCSD)

Cumulative: 3.86
UC GPA: 3.73
Unweighted GPA: 3.57 (Hopefully I calculated that correctly).

I kinda (understatement) struggled through APUSH and H. World History. I don't even know why I took APUSH since I already knew I was bad at writing, but I wanted to try it out.

SAT: 1420/1600 new (~2010 old SAT)
ACT: None

SAT II: None

I’ve taken three AP test:
AP US History - 3
AP Computer Science - 4
AP Statistics - 5

This year:
AP Calculus BC

AP Physics

My EC’s and Volunteering:
Eagle Scout (11 years in scouting program, ~100 service hours through Boy Scouts + various organizations, leadership positions)

Officer in Space and Astronomy club

Summer:
Worked at Cub Scout camp (Did it 2 years for 2 weeks each = 4 weeks - working around 14 hrs/day)

Part-time job

Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Physics or Engineering

Nothing special, I know that my GPA is kinda low,my SAT is average, my EC’s are little, and my intended majors are competitive. I’m kicking myself in the face because I tried my hand at some advanced history classes, but I just tanked my GPA instead.

Like many others, I truly found myself after taking physics junior year, practicing meditation for that part-time job, and evaluating myself and how people interact. I just wish I could of had the same development during freshman or sophomore year.

My first choice is UCSB by the way, even though it might be a long shot.

Thank you for reading, let me know if I missed anything. :^)

2

For UCs, see http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903428-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa.html . Note that, based on 2015 admit rates by GPA, your chances for the UCs you name are not that good (so you may want to add UCR and UCM).

Engineering is often a more competitive major, but physics usually is not. However, enrolling as a non-engineering major and trying to change into an engineering major later is often difficult.

For SJSU, http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html indicates that, for frosh entering in fall 2016, physics majors needed only baseline CSU eligibility index of 2900, but engineering majors needed higher indices (this index is calculated by UC/CSU GPA * 800 + SATCR + SATM). Of course thresholds could change this year. See http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/ for more information.

3

Agree with @ucbalumnus that for the UCSB and UCSD are going to Reaches based on your UC GPA.
UCSC is a High Match 50/50.

Based on your UC GPA for 2015, the admit rate for UCSB was 13% and UCSD was 6%. UCSC’s admit rate at your UC GPA was 57%

I would add UCR and UCM.

SJSU looks like a Match except for CS. SDSU is a Match. I would add another Cal State or two as safeties such as Cal Poly Pomona or CSU Long Beach.

Good Luck.