I know their decisions are about to come out very soon but I have a lot of anxiety and stress : (
Sophomore year: 3.5 1st semester and 3.0 2nd semester ( both weighted and unweighted) . Junior Year: 3.7 and 3.8 weighted. In-state.
UC GPA: 3:42. SAT: 1320 17 on the essay.
Did tennis and 500+ hours in community service tutoring. 0 APs sophomore year (took 2 honors courses that do not boost GPA. School didn’t offer any AP’s to soph) 4 AP Junior Year. 5 AP Senior year. I took the maximum amount of honors/AP possibly for each year, so I didn’t really slack off in terms of course rigor…
I applied for Computer Science with an alternate in chemistry. I didn’t really take my academics seriously during my sophomore year and, in combination that I took honors classes with no GPA boost, got a very low gpa especially second semester. I started taking school more seriously Junior year, jumping from 0 AP’s to 4 and my gpa rose mainly due to the availability of AP courses as a junior.
I think my essays are somewhat good but nothing outstanding.
I have already been admitted to UC Merced and SF State University under Computer Science. Denied from SDSU, SJSU, and UC Davis. No determination from Cal Poly Pomona/ Slo.
What are my chances of getting into UC Santa Cruz and UC Riverside? or Waitlisted?
Your SAT is within range and competitive. Your GPA will impact your chances greatly especially for CS which is one of the most competitive majors at the UC’s. An upward grade trend will help but I would put your chances at UCR as 50/50 and most likely waitlisted. UCSC will be an extremely tough admit. You have some good options so best of luck.
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCSC: 33%
UCR: 49%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
Thank you for your information. Would it be likely that they would accept me for my alternate major if they choose to deny me for computer science?
If they do admit you but not to the CS major, check what the requirements are to get into the CS major.
UCR would consider your alternate major and UCSC sometimes considers alternate “proposed majors”.
Are you allowed to take computer science related courses without being a cs major? I am willing to commit if I can change majors to CS later on, but I heard it is very difficult to do so.
If you are not admitted into the Baskin School of Engineering as a “proposed” CS or Engineering major, then you cannot change into any of those majors later at UCSC.
It is possible to change to CS later at UCR but even if you meet all the requirements for the major change, it is not guaranteed.
For Both schools you would need to talk to an advisor about changing majors and the difficulty of getting CS classes as a non-major.
If you got a Direct Admit into CS at UC Merced or SFSU, then I would highly consider these 2 schools. The name on your diploma will make little difference when you apply for a job. Make use of all the available resources either campus offers, apply for internships to help develop your job skill set and you should have good job options once you graduate.
Updating in case anyone sees this and is curious. I did end up miraculously getting accepted by Riverside into BCOE under my alternate major: Electrical Engineering. I forgot to write that my alternate is different for UCR. I am going to commit to Riverside but I am going to look towards changing into computer engineering or computer science.
Also, I got rejected from UCSC and both Cal polys, but I am just happy to get into Riverside 
UCR is a wonderful option and best of luck.