What are my chances, and what can I do to improve them?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Alright. Here’s the facts. (2nd Semester of Junior Year :()

I am not that good of a student, but I have a twisted and undeserving sense that I am better than community college. This probably stems from a desire to escape my broken home (parents divorced, still living together lol)

Computer Science/Computer engineering major!

CSU/UC GPA: 3.3125 (MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA, I will probably end with a 3.3)

10-12 Class Rank: 78/261 (top 30, but barely)

AP’s: APUSH (A) APLANG (B)

Living: California, (Mom is moving to SC so if theres any schools there you guys could reccomend)

Honors: Honors English (C, B)

SAT/ACT has not been taken yet, but I will be taking the SAT in June, August, September, and December.

Schools I want to go to (a.k.a the schools I want you guys to chance me for): Chico, SJSU (comp sci), UCSC, SDSU, UCSD (no way but wtv) Oregon state, University of Nevada Reno, UC Merced, UC Riverside, Humboldt state, Cal Poly pomona/ SLO.

Really not expecting alot and be brutally honest. If you want to be nice, please tell me what I can do to try and get into any of these schools over the summer

2

for some reason my second semester “b” in honors english was turned into an emoji. Also, I will be taking AP stat, AP gov, and AP lit next year.

3

@mudamudamuda the info is available so you can chance yourself. UC freshman profile data available here: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/index.html
CS eligibility: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/freshman/getting_into_the_csu/pages/admission-requirements.aspx

4

First you need to calculate your CSU/UC capped weighted GPA: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

SJSU admits by eligibility and major like all Cal states except SLO. EI= (CSU/UC Capped Weighted GPA x800) + (SAT Math + EBRW)

For Engineering, SJSU has a modified EI so MEI= (CSU/UC capped weighted GPA x800) + {(SAT Math * 3) + (EBRW)]/2

SJSU publishes their EI thresholds for each major so for 2019, you needed an EI of 4675 for CS and for CE an EI of 430. From these EI’s, you can determine target SAT scores needed to be competitive. If your Capped weighted GPA is 3.3 even an SAT of 1600 would not make the EI cutoffs for either major at SJSU.

SJSU/SDSU/UCSD/UCSC/Cal Poly SLO would be Reach schools for either major.

UCR and Cal Poly Pomona would be High Match/Low Reach schools depending upon test scores.

UCM/UNR/Chico State/Oregon State could be target schools.

Humboldt probably close to a safety/likely.

You need at least 2 safety schools so I would look at your local Cal State where you get priority and select one of the non-impacted CSU’s on the list below:

https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf

2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.00-3.39 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 1%
UCSD: 1%
UCSB: 1%
UCI: 1%
UCD: 3%
UCSC: 12%
UCR: 15%
UCM: 45%

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

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26

5

By all of the schools you called “reach” I assume you mean very unlikely I will get into them.

6

Reach schools are unlikely schools. I would focus on at least 2 solid safety schools which should be a guaranteed admission, affordable and you are willing to attend no matter what. Then look for 3-5 Match schools where you have a good chance for an acceptance >50%, then 2-3 Reach schools to balance out your college list. Since you have no test scores, it is difficult to determine Safety and Match schools as of yet. The higher the SAT/ACT, the more options you will have at the Cal states since a lower GPA can be overcome with a higher SAT/ACT score for many of the campuses but unfortunately SJSU/SDSU/SLO/CPP would be out of the running even with stellar test scores.

For the UC’s, they tend to be very GPA focused so your GPA will definitely have a negative impact for CS/CE at these schools but UC Merced might be an option. OSU and UNR are also good options as long as they are affordable as OOS options.

7

Without an SAT/ACT, it is really hard to say where you will get in. Since you are at then end of Jr year, that’s really the biggest potential impact

Assuming a 1200 SAT and 3.3 CSU GPA,

Chico - probably
SJSU (comp sci) unlikely but, for other majors probably,
UCSC,unlikely
SDSU unlikely,
UCSD unlikely
Oregon state, coin toss and, if you get in will be EXPENSIVE
University of Nevada Reno, probably
UC Merced unlikely,
UC Riverside, unlikely
Humboldt state, highly likely
Cal Poly pomona/ SLO.unlikely - though for some less competitive majors CPP maybe

Here’s some info on the OOS admission and tuition at UNR.
https://www.unr.edu/tuition-and-fees/tuition-discounts

I’d add a couple of the less competitive CSUs to your ap list - maybe Sac and SF… both have solid CS programs and are highly likely to admit you.