Your are qualified. But those schools are reach school for everyone, you have a chance and you are well-qualified. Depending on how they review your application(if 1 Stanford AO dislike your application in round 1, then you maybe rejected), your decision maybe different.
I might potentially end up with 4 B’s this semster :(. I did poorly on my last calc test and need to get at least a 97 on my final to get an A. It’s possible that I could do that tho, but I usually don’t score that high on tests. Wish me luck.
I was just looking and saw that the 25th percentile unweighted at UCLA was 3.85, which accounts for the huge number of humanities majors. I’ll have a 3.82 at the best, which might be the 15th to 20th percentile. Supposedly ucla is one of the “easier” schools on my list. At least my weighted is well above the 25th percentile and average to above averag for engineering at ucla and ucb. I might have great extracurriculars, but I know that those don’t even matter at uc’s unless you have a good gpa. Yes, I know that gpa isn’t everything, but if 80+% of the people at those schools have a higher uw than mine, it seems that I have a better chance winning the lottery than getting in to eecs/cse at the top three uc’s (ucb/ucla/ucsd). Maybe Merced will take me (not sarcastic)
Seriously, what’s wrong with other UCs (including Merced) where you can study CS/CSE?
@ucbalumnus not that I have anything against the other uc’s, but I feel that I would’ve wasted all my hard work towards getting into top uc’s if I ended up going to riverside/Merced/ucsc. Since freshman year, ive had a goal to get into berkeley/la/sd for eecs/cse (other top schools are more of a crapshoot). I’ve also looked at some info on the schools I’m eyeing on and really enjoy the campus cultures, where I’ll find everyone more relatable to myself, and the great student organizations and internship and research opportunities. The people I know who went to Merced and the like all had under 4.0s uncapped and sat’s in the low 1300s at best. If Merced truly was the best option, it wouldn’t even be worth it to strive for the highest stats anymore. I’d also be okay with uci, which wouldn’t be the absolute best option, but I just hope this bad semester hasn’t reduced my chances astronomically for eecs/cse at the top 3 uc’s. I’d even be content if I could get admitted undeclared. Will the patterns in my grades (rough first semester of the most important year of high school) hurt me if my gpa is within range for the uc’s?
D attends UCB as an EECS major. She got in with a relatively low UC GPA but was second in her class. You can look at the UC infocenter (https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school) and see the stats from your high school. Keep in mind these stats are for all admitted students including L&S.
In her case, she had no computer science experience or STEM activities. Only an honors physics class and advanced math. I think she stood out because she’s a musician and photographer who did not fit the mold of the typical EECS student. She graduates in May 2018.
Agree, casting a wider net is a good idea.
Your hard work in high school will not be wasted because it will prepare you to do well in any college you attend.
For UCB, L&S undeclared means that you need a 3.3 college GPA in the prerequisites to get into the L&S CS major. For UCLA and UCSD, admission but not in the CSE major means that it will be extremely difficult to get into the CSE major.
@svlab112 wow, actually restores some hope. the eecs admit rate for the class of 2018 was around 8%, so she’d still need to have been competitive to get in. i feel that i will be able to display unique passion in my essays and a desire to help the community through my volunteering efforts.
i looked at the data and my unweighted is a little below average for the entire school. i should have a 3.82, which is .09 below the average 3.91, which accounts mostly for l&s majors. my uncapped seems to be a bit above average tho at 4.18. however, the admit rate for 3.8-4.19 is only 14% while it’s 42% for 4.2+. the .02 difference seems pretty frustrating as it makes a difference of 28%! i know that these are just averages, but being a bit below average puts me in a tough spot. i have some friends in eecs and a vast majority of them had 4.0’s unweighted, which is kind of worrisome. i feel like i can prove that i’m capable of the content in eecs through my test scores and mostly a’s in stem classes, but then again, i feel like the 3 b’s in a single semester will be a huge red flag and explaining it could only make it worse. no doubt s*** happens, but this is just awful and embarrassing. i just hope that the whole holistic thing applies to engineering majors as well and that they’ll be able to see past one bad semester.
@“Prestigious Nerd” I believe that the universities you listed require a 4.2 GPA and above.
wait no that’s incorrect…
Well I’ve heard of a person who got into Harvard with a less than 4.0 GPA…
Surely, you should have enough logical thinking skills to realize that admission readers will notice a difference between 3.81 and 4.19, and that the difference between 3.81 and 4.19 is likely bigger than the difference between 4.19 and 4.21. The relatively large GPA bands are for reporting ease.
You still seem to be fixated on reach schools as the only acceptable ones, even though many others will be good for you to study CS at.
@hardworkerABoss I made a mistake. 4.18 is my capped uc gpa. My uncapped is 4.55
@hardworkerABoss I made a mistake. 4.18 is my capped uc gpa. My uncapped is 4.55, which isn’t too bad. Should put me at a rank of around 15-35 out of a class of 400 based on school stats from recent years. In the past few years, the number of ap’s a student takes at my school has gone down, so a 4.55 in my class is probably higher than for precision classes. My school only reports who’s in the top 10% tho, not the top 5%.
@ucbalumnus But is my gpa high enough to have a solid chance for eecs at berkeley or cse at ucla. I’m probably good for ucsd (should at least be admitted undeclared at the minimum) and ucla for applied math as a second choice. A ucla rep came to our school and said that engineering admissions decisions are only made based off of sat subject test scores (and mine are good) after being admitted to the school. Im probably even good for berkeley l&s cs, but I’m hoping to earn a bs rather than a ba and gain ee experience, so I’m applying to eecs, which is a lot riskier. Will they care about 3 b’s in a single semester?
I’ll definitely apply to some safeties, but I don’t want to give up hope for berkeley and la.
Just UCLA, but UCB will be similar:
"Freshman applicants to (HSSEAS) must first meet the minimum eligibility requirements for the University including the subject and scholarship requirements. Official information about UC eligibility requirements may be found at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/welcome.html.
Because admission to HSSEAS is competitive, merely meeting the minimum eligibility requirements of the University is rarely sufficient for admission to an engineering major."
Be sure to read the link clolsely, including, "In addition to a broad range of intellectual interests and achievements,…
@“Prestigious Nerd” I believe that you can get into a top school with that gpa. One B shouldn’t hurt too much if its like an AP course. Did you take Honors English 9 as a Freshman?
UMich count all years for GPA calculation and they consider GPA and course rigor to be lost important. It seems you have around 1/10 of grades in B which would give you an uwGPA of around 3.9 which is at or below admission average of UMich CoE. Your test score is above admission average and near the 75th percentile. UMich CoE should be a low reach to reach for you.
@billcsho my 9-11 uw is 3.84 (got an 89 in math first semester freshman year). Two of my b’s 10-11 are in humanities classes (apush and Spanish), which is probably not too bad. I have a b in AP stats, but that’s not really a serious stem class and is pretty much a joke anyways. The worst one is ap physics since that closely relates to what I plan to major in. Also, since umich is public and out of state, is go to Berkeley or la over it. I’m just trying to apply to as many top engineering programs as possible so I increase my chances of being accepted to at least one. I’ve definitely seen people get accepted to ivy level schools with 3.75-3.85 without any extreme circumstances provided they had good test scores and extracurriculars. It’s not like I have a 3.3, but a bit lower than average for acceptance. Will they question the 3 b’s first semester of junior year even tho my gpa still gets me past the first round? Do you think my essays, ec’s, and demonstrated competence with material through scores and possibly competitions will mitigate my downfall at all? I used the rogerhub chances calculator and I seem to have about a 40% chance for engineering at berkeley and la and a near perfect chance at sd based off of my 3.82/1540
@“Prestigious Nerd” What is your SAT and ACT scores?
why do you keep making excuses for the Bs you receive. Its not a failure, just own it. Doesn’t matter if its stem or not, fact remains that you got Bs in high school. Thats fine.