My son has a 3.8/4.5 (4.1 UC) and recently got a 34 on the ACT first sitting. He goes to an insanely competitive top 10 public school in CA. On our school’s Naviance I can see that in the last 5 years UCSB, UCSD, and USC have virtually never rejected a kid with over a 2200/32/ and at least a 3.7. A couple got wait listed at USC but nothing but green dots for the rest. And we’re talking about a solid sample size of over 1500 apps for the schools. I was immensely proud and relieved at his 34 and thought maybe we would even look at some Ivies or Berkeley or my Alma mater Michigan. But after surfing through all the horror stories on here I’m practically convinced he’ll be lucky to get into SDSU. He’s a white heterosexual male so not a big hook there. He’s very limited on ECs because my wife has serious mental health issues, I travel a lot for business, and he has to spend a lot of time caring for his younger sister. He was a D1-D2 caliber pitching prospect but tore his UCL this year so the baseball career is over. Money is not an issue so that helps but I’m struggling to see why we shouldn’t be more confident about some of the non-Ivy top 30 schools.
Caring for his sister is a major responsibility and he should consider it like a job for his application. It should easily explain his lack of ECs.
In today’s world of college admissions, nothing is guaranteed. But he has done very very well so take a deep breath and cast a wide net for schools – reaches, matches, safetys. IMO as long as there is no focus on one hyper-competitive school or group of schools people end up just fine.
Be aware that at the UCs and USC, intended major or division (letters and science, engineering, etc.) can affect admission selectivity. For example, applicants to Berkeley EECS or bioengineering face a higher level of selectivity than those applying to the Berkeley College of Letters and Science. UCSD has several impacted majors; some applicants to those majors have reported getting admission as undeclared, which means that they would have to apply into a competitive admission process to get into the desired major later.
Caring for other family members out of necessity does count as EC or work, so he may want to include that experience in his essays. Baseball would also count as an EC, particularly when he has achieved to a fairly high level before the sport-ending injury.
I would trust your HS Naviance and temper it with major selection, as UCBalumnus mentioned. Somehow, I think that the UCs have the HS’s rigor programmed into their applicant selection computer program. Make sure to add in a few safeties. As for Berkeley, Michigan, or Ivies, you can put them in as a high reach/lottery. 3.8 UW/34 ACT is probably about as low as you can go and still try to apply without some special hook. Check out your Naviance for these colleges as well.
Berkeley College of Letters and Science is probably not a high reach at those stats, but Berkeley EECS, bioengineering, or College of Engineering undeclared (and perhaps other College of Engineering majors and College of Chemistry) probably are.
Each year there are more and more students applying to college and not a corresponding increase in schools, so it keeps getting harder! Just for a data point for you, my DD applied undeclared everywhere, had a 34 ACT, 3.9 UW 4.2 UC GPA, NMF also at one of those top public high schools with 40+ valedicatorians
probably so-so essay, medium ECs (job, sports, standard clubs) - rejected at UCLA,USC, accepted to UCSB, SDSU, USD, UCSC, and Univ of Ariz. That’s all she applied to. My other daughter was accepted to USC the year before with a bit lower academics (not as many AP, 33 ACT, not NMF), but better ECs and probably a more personal recommendation letter. Good luck to you!
OP, your son’s stats are excellent and he should be a contender at any school…but a shoe-in at none when it comes to top-30/35. He MUST cast a wide net, as there is no way to predict which of those top schools will be looking for a candidate that matches his particular attributes for that particular incoming class.
Play up the adversities, but with a positive focus. Adversities can be a small hook in their own way, as long as the kid has positively grown from them.
Beware of Naviance statistics. If your school breaks it down, look only at last year’s reports. Admission rates and stats have tightened up SIGNIFICANTLY over the past five years.
Don’t dwell on CC horror stories. There are amazing high stats kids who don’t get into their favorite colleges but if they are smart applicants, they’ll still have plenty of great options.
Your son has great stats and is a contender anywhere he chooses to apply. Cast a wide net. Yes, the UC’s can be a bit of a wild card but apply to a sampling and he’s sure to have some choices. There are lots of great private school options too when money is not an issue. It’ll work out certainly!
Since the UC’s can’t use race as a factor in admissions, the fact that he is a white male is not going to hurt him. One of the ways UCLA and Berkeley get a diverse population is by generally taking the top 1-2% from each high school, whether that be a top public or a struggling inner-city public. Of course there are always exceptions. Including taking care of his sister, his torn UCL in his essays will be helpful. I am a California resident and have had 3 kids go thru the admission process, and have observed it at our local high school the past 8 years. What was the most eye-opening, was that, as incredible as I thought my kids were, there were a lot of very incredible kids out there. Admission for the UC’s is more than just test scores/GPA they also take into account strength of schedule, leadership, compare you to other applicants from your school, etc… Bottom line, the admission process can be very stressful, but it works out in the end. And my oldest did end up at SDSU (chose it over UCI and UCSC) had a great experience and is now gainfully employed. If you really want to make yourself crazy you can read the Hout Report on the Berkeley Admissions process. http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/05/16_houtreport.pdf
My son was in the same spot as your son 2 years ago. He did have a 4.0 unweighted though but 34 on ACT. He is at CAL as an EECS major. He had lots of great options, but several rejections. You just never know
I agree with other posters that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of an essay your son could write about the UCL that ended his sports career and the family situation that limited his availability for ECs. Compelling, real-life stuff that can set a kid apart. Good luck to him, and congratulations dad on raising a fine, accomplished son. Since he has great stats and money isn’t an issue, you have a wealth of excellent schools to explore, in California and out of state.
The Berkeley evaluator’s guide specifically asks the evaluator to consider whether the applicant’s personal statement or other part of the application indicates that the student has faced significant obstacles, including: "Sibling caretaker, student must help parents (e.g., as translator, conducts business, pays bills, etc.), and quite a number of other issues. The evaluator is asked to code whether or not the enumerated obstacles limited the applicant’s ability to participate in academic and extracurricular activities.
==>The key is that the student needs to disclose the obstacle, and include enough information so that the evaluator can estimate the degree to which it affected the student’s opportunities. “Helped mom” doesn’t say nearly enough.
The UC’s publish their freshman stats. You can see UCLA and UCB here:
http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/berkeley/freshman-profile/
I think your son is in excellent shape for the UC’s, with the caveat of UCLA and UCB being more competitive, particularly the engineering programs.
If your son decides to write about his caregiving responsibilities, I suggest that he be very careful to not give too much detail about your wife’s mental health issues, both to respect her privacy and to avoid any implication that he is “using” her misfortune. (Although I assume from your posts that he would have the wisdom and sensitivity to not need this reminder.)
OP’s son could simply say that his mom is disabled, without disclosing the specifics of her condition. The focus needs to be on how this affects his day-to-day activities. There would be no implication that he is using her misfortune – the evaluator is asked to consider if there are significant obstacles, and how significantly they’ve affected the applicant’s opportunities to engage in other extra-curricular and academic activities. This is not different than the way the evaluator considers a student who must work after school and weekends on the family farm or in the family restaurant, and who, as a result, is less able to participate in other activities due to family responsibilities.
There’s always a chance he gets rejected from any school, you have to look at every application like a probability game, but he’s got good chances and you really shouldn’t worry about it much.
If money is not the issue, perhaps consult with private college counselor, many of them have great suggestions on ECs or essay ideas. I know the even have connection with community or local cooperation for volunteering or intern opportunities.
Or, OP could just save money and read CC. A wealth of information, free.
@katliamom been doing that. A lot. I’m stIll looking for that thread about explaining to your kid why UCSB might be a better investment than USC. I just gag a little bit every time I think about spending $300k for a BA. Especially since he’ll probably wind up in grad school.
@gluttonforstress, There are a lot of threads on the parents forum that discuss this – or, more precisely, the difficulty of explaining such money matters to starry eyed (and name-brand conscious) teenagers! Because money is still fairly abstract for kids, you could try the comparison approach: is a BA worth 6 new Mercedes Benz? UCSB actually has more Nobel Prizes; where would you rather hang out after classes: on the beach or in the hood? Another way to make UCSB more attractive is to talk about having money available for such very enriching (but expensive) opportunities as study abroad or unpaid summer internships in fun places.
When my daughter was looking at schools, I told her that she had to have a SOLID ACADEMIC reason for each of the schools she wanted that cost more than our (quite good) state flagship. She couldn’t just say, “I want to go to Boston University because living in Boston sounds cool.” There was no way I was going to pay 3 times the state flagship because daughter wanted to be cool in Boston. Having to specify in a concrete way why USC is worth $200K more than UCSB might take some wind out of your son’s sails, unless, that is, he wants to major in film. Don’t ask him that question if he wants to major in film. (Smile.)