What are my chances for UCB, UCLA, Scripps, McKenna, Pomona College (favorite one so far), UCSB, UCI, and USC for any biological sciences major.
These are my stats:
SAT 1: 1880 (should I take it again? I have 3 weeks to study)
AP: 3 on APWH, 3 on AP Bio, 3 on APUSH
GPA: 4.0 unweighted and 4.4 weighted
ethnicity: asian
income: 65k
current occuaption: both parents work at Kmart
immigrant, parents were farm workers for 10 years and lived in harsh conditions. Moved to America in adverse circumstances. Minority religion
I know my test grades are not the best compared to many people on this forum, but my personal statements are very good. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback and it is very personal and sentimental. I talked about father’s illness and paralysis. I look after my siblings and father. My parents work double shifts. I talked about immigration and why my parents moved to America. I also mentioned my interest in becoming a doctor and helping others. [so if you were to look at my application and would want to know how my personal statements were like, after reading it you would think they were amazing 
]
Extracurriculars:
Volunteer at Hoag Hospital
multilingual (3 languages)
Went to a medical camp for 3 days
Key club president for 3 years (multiple awards)
Multi-language club
AP scholar award
CSF VP for 3 years
Academic Decathlon medals (3-4 of them) and also president one year (junior year)
Medical association club (treasurer one year, VP one year, and secretary one year)
tennis 2 years varsity
organized and served for a homeless clothing shelter drive for 4 years over the summer
2 community service committees
Walk out of Poverty for NHS
MVP for junior varsity tennis
founder and president of a club 3 years
Tutor kids at SOY program
Emergency Medical Responder Class over the summer + received award for completion and excellence
CPR certified
perfect on CAHSEE math and CR section
that’s all i’ve got so far.
family size: 7 people
Please feel free to ask me any questions! Good day to all of you.
forgot to mention: I have taken all AP classes offered at my school (APWH, AP BIO, APUSH, AP ENGLISH) and have maintained a 4.0 gpa
Your SAT is holding you back from every college but UCI and UCSB. I would retake.
Okay thank you for your advice. I will retake the SAT. This was the breakdown: 580 CR, 630 math, and 670 Writing. I am going to aim for 620 CR, 680 math, and 710 Writing = 2010 in December.
Well, you want to be shooting for a 2100 for UCB and UCLA. For the Claremont colleges, you’re looking at 2200+. A 2010 is not a bad score, but it’s not where you want to be if you’re applying to such selective colleges.
@anxiousenior1 I have about 3 weeks and my plan is to take 2 full length practice tests every week (5 tests in total). I will go over all of my mistakes. I got a 8 on the essay and am shooting for a 10 or 12. My critical reading is really bad and I don’t know how to improve it. For math, I simply make mistakes or omit a lot which results in such a low score. Do you recommend any SAT prep books? I previously used Erica and PWN. I don’t know if I should get Barron’s or Princeton Review.
I used the Barrons and the Blue Book.
A close friend of mine got into UCLA with her SAT score in the 1700 range. Even if you don’t retake it I think you’re solid for that… people act like their SAT score is so much more important than it is (not saying that it doesn’t matter)
@maym0160 Your friend may have had a special case or was an outlier in the scores. Although people do get in outside of the interquartile range, it’s best to have scores at 50% or higher to ensure you have the best shot possible
@maym0160 I agree about the SAT scores. I really hope that colleges do not reject you based on your scores alone, but look at your whole application and take everything into consideration. The only reason why I’m retaking it is because the 1880 was my first sat score and I think I can do better this time.
@anxiousenior1 Do you know which version of Barron’s it was? I got one like 2 years ago; it had a bunch of practice tests and it was very thick.
You should definitely retake it and try to get the highest score possible. I just don’t think anyone should lose hope over just their SAT score.
You don’t need to buy a new Barron’s, but you should use Khan Academy’s materials and actual tests to practice, review your mistakes and do exercises on the same type of problem until you’re good, etc.
SAT scores are heavily correlated with family income, so the level of achievement you need for a particular college is adjusted to reflect that. If you hit a 2000 you’ll be good.
If you like Pomona, I strongly advise you apply to Carleton, a college that’s very similar and where your application will have two additional boosts (ie., fairly uncommon EC’s and geographical diversity). I would also suggest Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke if you like Scripps, plus perhaps Macalester, Bates, Skidmore, Barnard, St Olaf, Dickinson, Denison, Kenyon, Lawrence, Oxford of Emory, Centre. Most of these are 100% need and due to your income you’d get at minimum a full tuition scholarship but more likely close to a full ride.
Look at these scholarships at Centre:
http://www.centre.edu/admission-aid/cost-aid/scholarships/grissom-scholars-program/
http://www.centre.edu/admission-aid/cost-aid/scholarships/lincoln-scholars-program/
Note you need to be nominated and the nomination must be in by Jan 15.
That score is definitely not good for top schools in your list. Do not let people who make judgement by only one sample case (though I do not doubt their good wills) mislead you! Vast majority of applicants with that score would be rejected by likes of UCB/UCLA.
May be you need to try ACT instead?
(It is always better to try something else when the deficit is large!)
^let’s say I’m not using one sample case. 
A kid with a family of 7 and 65K income qualifies for near-full Pell. EFC would be very low.
Therefore, the best bet for a CA kid with these ECs and GPA is to apply to 4 UCs (you qualify for 4 free applications - and if you can chip in a 5th it’d probably be best), keep in mind you’ll likely make ELC AND you already qualify for statewide qualification. So you’re sure to get into a UC.
Next, since you really like Pomona, your job is to find colleges relatively similar to it, or where either your profile would be considered highly desirable, or where you are sure to get 100% need if admitted.
This is the list of colleges that meet this “100%” requirement:
http://www.thecollegesolution.com/schools-that-meet-100-of-financial-need-2/
Other colleges, like Centre, have a commitment to make college affordable for lower-income/first gen students, hence the links I provided above. Your EC’s would be appreciated at many LACs, especially “colleges that change lives”.
You’d probably have a good shot at Clark’s LEEP.
http://www.clarku.edu/undergraduate-admissions/why-clark/leep-scholarships.cfm
@uclaparent9 This is my senior year. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take the ACT now. However, I will retake the SAT and try to get a 1900-2000.
So I have no chance of getting into UCLA with my stats and personal statements? My brother just graduated there but had better scores than me.
I decided to also apply to UCM and UCR. I want to stay in California and go to a good pre med undergraduate program.
If you could raise your score to 2000, maybe by the strength of your GPA you make it to UCLA. Make sure your assays are well written and describe your life challenges.
In any case definitely apply!
UCR is very good for premed. You don’t need to apply to UCM since you’re an automatic admit through the Statewide 9% system.
A “good premed undergraduate program” may not be a UC (except for UCR). The classes are the same regardless of where you go, it’s just basic introductory classes*, what you need to look into is support to students, tutoring system, ease of meeting with the professors, whether classes are weed out or more supportive, resources and networking, proximity to clinics/hospitals and connection of the college to these. UC’s are very large so personal attention, ability to meet with professors frequently, tutoring, are not so good, and classes are heavily weed out. However UCs do have the resources, networking, and connections you need. You need to choose a UC where you’re in the top 10% of admitted students to have a shot and UCR should be your #1 choice in that case.
1° Once you’re admitted, apply for this. 36 premed scholars will be chosen for the all-expense paid premed-prep summer program:
http://faststart.ucr.edu/
2° Other reasons why UCR makes the most sense for you:
http://msp.ucr.edu/
http://fpl.ucr.edu/
https://medschool.ucr.edu/admissions/haider_program.html
http://hpac.ucr.edu/
- all "premed courses" are the same. The only difference is in the suppor surrounding them. "premed courses" have nothing medical about them. You take the same classes are all others completing their general education/distribution requirements; Premeds just have more distribution requirements than others and they have the obligation of ranking in the top 10-20% in all of them in order to have "med school worthy" stats. So, you'll take 1 semester of calculus, 1 semester of statistics, 2 semesters each of English, Biology, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, 1 semester of Psychology, 1 semester of Sociology, 1 semester in biochemistry, and since you're from an immigrant family you'll find a way to continue that language + apply it in health-related contexts such as an internship at a clinic that sees a lot of people from the same cultural group as you and to whom you'll speak in your heritage language. You'll also have a major, which can be anything you want. Biochemistry may make sense since you'll already have 5 classes for the major in the premed core, but you may choose anything from Spanish to Economics to Neuroscience to Philosophy, provided you choose what you're the best at.
Look into this:
http://honors.ucr.edu/
"Students admitted to UCR who are also eligible for University Honors will receive an e-mail from University Honors inviting them to apply. The e-mail will contain a link to the University Honors application. " Usually sent in January-February so check your inbox and don’t miss the deadline.
Considering your stats, if you’re serious about premed, UCLA wouldn’t be a good choice because you would be “weeded out” the first semester. You do have a shot at UCLA but only if you’re fine working as a Physician’s Assistant (lots of job growth and excellent salaries, 90K after a few years’ practice) or another profession that’s not “physician”.
If you’re serious about medicine, beside Centre, I highly recommend St Olaf for you, as well as Rhodes. All three do not have a weedout culture and have excellent internship/research opportunities (St Olaf at the Mayo Clinic, Rhodes at St Jude’s Hospital…) Any of these three would be better than UCM if push comes to shove 
@MYOS1634 I want to become a neonatal surgeon or spine surgeon and I am going to do UCI cancer research this upcoming summer. I know UCLA will be tough for me, but I am going to try my best and do much as I possibly can to apply to a good medical school that will allow for me to become a physician.
All medical schools are good, as they all teach the same thing to highly selected students (I’d estimate 3/4 students who hope to be doctors when they’re in HS never even get to the application part. Then, of those who apply, only about half get even ONE offer, and they’re very glad they did.)
You don’t want a “tough” school for you if you’re going to be premed. For every other major, you do want a tough school with a lot of resources and opportunities, and I can’t think of a person who wouldn"t say UCLA is excellent.
However, med schools don’t care what university you attend - they want you to have a high GPA, which means you were top 10-20% for every single class you took, both in your chosen major and in your required premed core. In order to maximize the odds, you need to be in the top 25% admitted students, otherwise right off the bat your first year your GPA will be too low and you won’t be able to remain premed. It’s not a matter of working hard (every single premed will work hard if they want to have even a chance), it’s a matter of memorizing and synthesizing information very quickly, using resources (tutoring, office hours) to increase your odds of an A, ability to recover when you’ll get that first C or even D (which happens basically to every premed their first year), and preparation. For instance, most students in your calculus 1 class will have taken Calc in HS already. They’ll be in your Bio1 class and have taken AP Bio. They’ll do this to stack the odds because they know that even with this advantage, they may not make the cut. This will be true at UCLA, a bit less at UCR, but still overall pretty exact.
My goal isn’t to discourage you but to prepare you.
If you could continue your cancer research at UCI, this too would be good for you - are you applying to UCI?