Hi, I’m an Irish kid from Southern California and I would like to stay in the San Diego area. I loved visiting UCSD, but the admissions feel out of my range.
Stats- My UC GPA is a 3.68W, rough Sophomore year (to be explained in personal insights), 3.29W/UW GPA both semesters, bounced back Junior year, 4.0W/3.86UW GPA 1st semester, 4.14W/4.0UW GPA 2nd Semester. Took IB Film HL, STEM Physics, STEM Precal (Junior year). All other classes taken Sophomore and Junior year were academic (i.e. English 3) or religion courses (private catholic high school).
SAT- 1360 score (670 reading, 690 math), going to retake in August (2019) to (hopefully) get above a 1400. Essay score was 6/6/5.
EC- JV/Varsity Water Polo (4 years) & Club Water Polo (2 years), MVP Water Polo Junior Year
JV/Varsity Swim Team (4 years), Coaches Award, Most Improved, Scholar Athlete 4.0+
EMR Certified Lifeguard (not sure if work counts as a EC)
Film Club Co-Founder, competed in multiple film contests with top place finishes
Started my own trash collecting business (in service for 5 years)
Retreat Leader for school retreats
Personally committed to teaching myself piano for the last 12 years
Volunteering at a relief center for the impoverished/homeless
Using free online tools to teach myself Spanish and Japanese for the last 4 years
Thanks! I appreciate any help I can get. If you have any questions just let me know!
UCSD will be a tough admit since UC’s tend to be very GPA focused. Showing an upward trend is a positive and if you have a compelling reason for the Sophomore slump, then that will be taken into consideration. I would suggest you consider San Diego State and USD also if you want to stay in the SD area. There is always the CC to UC route if UCSD is definitely the school you want to attend, but again no guarantees this way either. Some UC statistical admit data from the most current year:
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 7%
UCSB: 8%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 14%
UCSC: 33%
UCR: 49%
UCM: 82%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1360-1540
UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280
Best of luck and remember there are more than one path to your goals.
SDSU is relatively selective. Unfortunately, they do not publish past frosh admission thresholds (based on CSU eligibility index = GPA * 800 + SATRW + SATM, where GPA is calculated like the weighted-capped UC GPA).
CSUSM is also nearby. It appears to be somewhat less selective. See https://www.csusm.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/impaction/index.html .
UCSD. really unlikely. For the UCs, your best shot will be UCM or UCR. UCSC is certainly worth a shot.
SDSU, CSULB, CPP will probably take you for most majors.