<p>UC Santa Barbara (communication, 2nd: comp sci)
UC Santa Cruz (Business Management Economics, 2nd: Computer Science: Computer Game Design)
UC Merced: (Computer Science and Engineering, 2nd: Management)
UC Riverside (Computer Science, 2nd: Business, Pre-)
UC Irvine (Both parents went there with masters) (Business Administration, 2nd: Computer Game Science)
UC Davis (Communication, 2nd: Computer Science)
UC San Diego (Economics and Mathematics (joint major), 2nd: Computer Science and Engineering (Computer Science))</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Asian
GPA: 3.105 (Unweighted)
ACT: 34 (English: 35, Math: 34, Reading: 31, Science: 34, Writing: 10)
SAT II:
1. Math IIC: 770
2. Biology M: 730
3. US History: 610
I took 8 APs and 2 Honors at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino (Its a really hard high school)</p>
<p>APs:
1. AP Comp Sci: 4
2. AP Biology: 4
3. AP Calc AB: 5
4. APUSH: 4
5. AP Gov: Senior Year
6. AP Environmental Science: Senior Year
7. AP Macroeconomics: Senior Year
8. AP Statistics: Senior Year</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
President of C++ Club at school (11-12)
Secretary and Treasurer of C++ Club (10-11)
Treasurer of Basketball Club (11-12)
Internship at company called Sgrouples(11-12)
Paid Job at company called Smartbotics (summer of 11th, entering 12th)
Head Coach of basketball team in Cupertino Hoops Nonprofit Org. (12)
JV Basketball (9th grade: Starting Center on the team, just didnt try out again)
Leo Club (11-12)
Robotics Club(9-10)
Java Club (9-10)
Marching Band (9)</p>
<p>I know my GPA is really low but I feel like the school I went to was really hard and I participated in a lot of activities at once. But I have a high ACT score and a lot of these schools are pretty good and out of my reach but I just want to see what you guys think. Any comments are welcome!</p>
<p>What is your weighted GPA? And aside from that your test scores and ECs are good. I would say:
UCSB: Match
UCSC: Match
UCM: Low Match
UCI: Low Match
UCR: Low Match
UCD: Match
UCSD: High Match/Reach</p>
<p>Everything looks great to me! I think you are a solid candidate for all of these schools! Dont even worry about your GPA, everything else reinforces it!
Good Luck with everything!! :)</p>
<p>Thank you again BrielleVega! I chanced all your posts! I was a little worried at first that I was just not going to make any of these schools but now I feel much better</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara - match
UC Santa Cruz - safety
UC Merced - safety
UC Riverside - safety
UC Irvine - match
UC Davis - match
UC San Diego - reach</p>
<p>I think as long as you expressed the activities in a great way in the app, you have a high chance for almost all these schools! You’re ACT and AP scores makes up alot for the GPA. </p>
<p>I suppose you get the idea on the UCs you applied to, but for LA/Berkeley:
Admission for you to LA is probably unlikely, as the average GPA for LA students is 3.9+. Your ACT and ECs help a bit, but LA from what I hear has quite a reputation for simply taking students with the highest statistics (though it does take a few 3.1s here and there…). Berkeley may be just as unlikely as they also have a high average GPA, but berk is also known for making many more exceptions to the GPA/SAT trend if the students have something amazing on their essays/ECs. The issue is that this is “something”–singular, not plural. Like the Ivies, Georgetown, and etc., they’re looking for a passion. If you have placed on the national level or developed significant research in multiple areas, that’s great, but they’re not looking for someone who participates in a million activities and placing no farther than the regional level (or equivalent… I understand that getting published at the regional level is generally harder than placing in a competition on the state level). Perhaps you could elaborate upon one of your actvities to show that you have something extraordinary. Your internship at Sgrouples and your paid job at Smartbotics both sound quite interesting, and depending on whether you actually got a high-level job, could be just as noteworthy as a state-level competition. I know its a little late to change your application, but you could always send the admission offices an email (and add Berkeley/LA soon if you’re interested).</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara: Match
UC Santa Cruz: Low Match
UC Merced: Low Match
UC Riverside: Low Match
UC Irvine: Match
UC Davis: Match
UC San Diego: Match</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara (communication, 2nd: comp sci)- match
UC Santa Cruz (Business Management Economics, 2nd: Computer Science: Computer Game Design)- low match
UC Merced: (Computer Science and Engineering, 2nd: Management)- safety
UC Riverside (Computer Science, 2nd: Business, Pre-)- safety
UC Irvine (Both parents went there with masters) (Business Administration, 2nd: Computer Game Science)- safety
UC Davis (Communication, 2nd: Computer Science)- match
UC San Diego (Economics and Mathematics (joint major), 2nd: Computer Science and Engineering (Computer Science))- match</p>
<p>Your GPA is a tad low, but Monta Vista and the general area is crazy so the schools will know the difficulty, that being said, they might wonder why you couldn’t perform at as high a level as the 500 other asians at mvhs, homestead, palo, etc.</p>
<p>Going to a difficult high school doesn’t necessarily cut it. There are a lot of very good and very rigorous high schools (a category that doesn’t include my school); if you combine them, you get a lot of top notch students who can handle the work there effectively. It would help if you provided your class rank, which could make up somewhat for grades if high but I know a lot of students from Monta Vista that have great grades, so a 3.105 makes your chances pretty low. Of course, the UCs only look at post-freshman GPA, so I second moronicox’s request.</p>
<p>The other scenario I can see making up for your grades is amazing achievements outside of school. But besides one internship, your activities are mostly (Fairly common) school club activities.</p>
<p>Given the average grades and acceptance rates of entering freshmen at most UCs (and what information you’ve provided) I’m content to call most of them reaches, although I’d give UCSB a slightly better chance than the rest.</p>