What are my chances at UCs?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Background: Male, Asian, junior attending a public high school in California</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.071
Unweighted GPA: 3.929
Class Size: 550~ (somewhere around there, I'm not really sure)
Class Rank: My school stopped reporting class rank this year.</p>

<p>AP Courses:
Sophomore year: AP European History (got an A- both semesters, 3 on exam)
Junior year: AP English Language (got a B+ first semester) and AP U.S. History (got a B first semester)
Senior year: AP U.S. Government, AP Calculus AB, and AP English Literature</p>

<p>SAT I: first time: 2140 (CR - 770, Math - 660, Writing - 710), I don't plan on taking it again.
SAT II: will take Math Level 2 and U.S. History in May, will take Spanish with Listening in November.</p>

<p>ECs:
-No clubs.
-No volunteer hours.
-Never employed.
-Does band count as an EC? I began playing the flute first semester of freshman year, and I joined band sophomore year. I'm doing it this year and I'll continue with it next year.
-Teaching myself Mandarin and Russian (if that matters).</p>

<p>Awards:
-Most Improved Musician (2007-2008)
-Nothing else, really.</p>

<p>I'm applying to UCSD and UCI, perhaps UCLA and UCB. I don't plan on going out of state for college.
Ideally, I would like to go to UCSD.</p>

<p>Major: undecided (considering Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Linguistics, International Relations, and English)</p>

<p>So...what are my chances?
Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>For some reason, UCSD was really screwy this year. I knew a lot of very smart people who were rejected. I even have friends that were accepted to both UCLA and Berkeley but still rejected from UCSD. Not to mention they had that email accident, haha.</p>

<p>So looking here, I"m gonna say you have a solid average chance. You might want to consider retaking the SAT I again and getting a higher score. Also, if you are planning to pursue science in college (I see Chemistry under potential majors), you may want to take SAT II Chemistry. If it’s been a while since you last took the class, grab a study guide and work to get that 750+.</p>

<p>The biggest hole in your application is definitely your lack of extracurricular activities. School band itself does not count as a extracurricular, since it is a class. However, if you play outside of school (i.e. county honor band or orchestra/learn with a private teacher), I believe that would be an extracurricular. Teaching yourself a language doesn’t count either. You could, however, write about it in your personal statement (i.e. how much of a challenge it was for you to overcome or something).</p>

<p>At this stage, considering that you are a junior and the school year is almost over, you really don’t have much options, as anything you do wouldn’t show long term commitment.
I would recommend either getting a job over the summer, performing A LOT of volunteer work, taking some courses at a local community college (to show your interests/motivation), or maybe even all three. Definitely do well on your AP tests coming up in May. The 3 in AP European History is kind of a buzz kill. Study hard and aim for 5 in AP English and AP US History, although 4 would be okay too.</p>

<p>If you do all that, your chances would definitely go from average to highly possible.
As for UCLA and UCB, you definitely have chances there too, but they’re not great. Work on writing a good personal statement too.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, I’m planning on taking Physics and Spanish at a community college this summer.
I’m also looking for some opportunities to tutor people who speak English as a second language, or something along the lines of that.
I hope that will be enough.</p>

<p>I appreciate your comments. =)</p>

4

<p>Buuuuuuuuump.
I would appreciate more comments.</p>

5

<p>Bump. 10char</p>