What are my chances getting into UCSB, UCI, UCSD, UCR, Pepperdine University, UCLA, Occidental, CSU, CSF, CSSD, CSLB, Pomona, CSN
MAJOR: Sociology
Income: $36,000
Race: Asian
Residency: California
(PROJECTED Sophomore-Junior year (Excluding PE))
Unweighted: 3.7
Weighted/UC GPA: 3.92
SAT: Practice range (1350-1420)
Essay: Highest on practice test is 21-23
AP/H’s I took:
AP Chemistry (Sophomore)
AP Work History (Sophomore) PASSED
English Honors (Freshman)
ACC Math (Freshman-Junior)
AP Art History (Junior)
AP Environmental Science (Junior)
AP Statistics (Senior)
AP Psychology (Senior)
AP Government (Senior)
Awards:
Speech and Debate; 4 1st place awards, 3 other placing awards
Badminton; 2nd place female single out of 5 schools
Art; 3rd place out of 8,000 applicants, 1st place out of 200 people
Bilingual Chord
EC (Associated with School):
Environmental Awareness Club: 4 years w/leadership
Animal Service Club: 4 years w/ leadership
Badminton: 3 years varsity
Leadership: 2 years (ASB and Committee)
Speech and Debate: 1 year
Activities:
Fine Art: 12 years
Violin: 4 years
Piano: 3 years
400+ hours of community service
Tutoring cousins on English and Math
Work Experience:
Babysitting, cook for them, ensure they are caught up on work, tutor
Internship at a hospital (Paid)
The Cal states admit by major and eligibility index. They really only consider GPA/Test scores/Geographic location and HS course rigor. Other than Cal Poly SLO, your EC’s are not considered.
You need to calculate your CSU/UC GPA using grades from a-g courses taken 10-11th.
Cal states and the majority of the UC’s use the capped weighted GPA.
Then calculate your Eligibility index:
If you took the Redesigned SAT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 800) + (SAT Evidence Based Reading & Writing (EBRW) + Math Score) = Eligibility Index
Eligibility index for ACT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 200) + (ACT Composite x10)= Eligibility Index
You will then be ranked based on EI and major and they accept from the top down until all spots are filled.
You will get priority at your local CSU which you can look up on this link. Local applicants usually require a lower EI to get an acceptance unless the program is highly impacted.
At end of Junior year, calculate your true UC GPA capped weighted and your Eligibility index for the Cal States, then post your results for further chances.
@Gumbymom Oh I see, I calculated my CSU EI and it says with my GPA I can already get accepted with any SAT score. In terms of my UC GPA, I’m 90% sure I’m going to have a 4.5 this year and my UC Capped GPA will be 3.92. My priority is UCSB, and I wanted some advice if it is impossible to get accepted with my relatively low gpa.
You want to get your SAT or ACT score up. You want at least a 1400 on the SAT or a 32 on the ACT to be competitive for UCs. Your GPA and ECs are good. Write great essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools
The CSU’s admit by eligibility index and major with the exception of Cal Poly SLO which uses MCA score instead of EI. You are ranked by your EI and major and applicants are accepted from the top down until all spots are filled. Most CSU’s give priority to local in-service area applicants and impacted majors and campuses require higher EI’s to be accepted. EI thresholds for each major will fluctuate from year to year so it will depend upon the stats of each in-coming Freshman class and how you compare. Depending upon which CSU’s you are targeting, your stats may or may not get you an acceptance into your preferred major.
You may meet the minimum GPA requirements but again your test scores will need to be considered if you are applying to impacted majors at the CSU.
Your UC GPA is below the 25th percentile for UCSB based on last years Freshman data. UC’s tend to be very GPA focused by UCSB does but more weight on your EC’s and essays than other UC’s so exceptional essays/EC’s can boost your chances.
Make sure you have 1-2 solid safety schools on your list that are affordable and you are willing to attend.
Best of luck and post your updated stats at the end of Junior year.
@Gumbymom Thank you so much for your insight! I don’t even know why but just thinking about college has given me anxiety lately when second semester hasn’t ended yet lol. I calculated my EI (from my lowest SAT to highest) my highest is 4556 and my lowest 4386. This is out of the blue, but does the comment section below my grades (where you explain why you acquired this grade) help for the administration process and possibly alleviate the adminstration’s wariness of my grades (in terms of UC’s)?
The comment section can be helpful if you have a legitimate reason for some lower grades such as medical issues, family issues etc… but do not spend a lot of time trying to make any excuses. No one is perfect and people do falter. Your EI should get you into the CSU’s. You have a good chance for Pepperdine and Occidental if you can get your SAT scores in the 1400 range. UCR is solid. UCLA/UCB will be tough but possible along with UCI/UCSB and UCSD. Might want to add UCSC to list. As many prospective UC applicants found this year, apply widely and love your safeties.
@Gumbymom Thank you so much for your very descriptive and lengthy responses I really appreciate it A lot of my senior friends (who got accepted to UC’s) stresses that society is the one making UC’s seem harder to get into than they actually are. In your past experience (since ur a senior member here) LOL, do you personally think that’s true?
Not sure what you mean by society is making the UC’s seems harder to get into, the plain facts are that all the UC’s and many of the CSU’s are harder to get into even from 4-5 years ago.
My oldest son graduated last year from UCD so he applied for 2013. At that time, UCD had around 56,000 Freshman applicants with an enrollment target of around 5,000 Freshman. For Fall 2018, there were 77,727 Freshman applicants for around the same number of Freshman spots.
My other son is a current student at SDSU. When he applied for Fall 2014, there were around 57,000 Freshman applicants and this year there were over 68,000 applicants.
The continued increase in applicants for both the UC’s and CSU’s have resulted in lower acceptance rates for all these schools along with an increase in competition for the highly sought after majors such as Computer Science/Engineering/Biology/Psychology etc…
Applicants are applying to more schools and schools that once were considered safeties are no longer a guarantee. There is definitely a school out there for any student wanting to go to a college, but applicants need to apply widely, do thorough research and be flexible on their types of schools they are targeting.
Being a CA resident has some great advantages especially with the number of excellent colleges within the state but you have to be smart on targeting the schools where you have the best chance of being admitted.
Pepperdine has a supplemental question on the Common App that reads as follows:
If you are an atheist, it may be unusually difficult to come up with a compelling answer to this question. You might have to get pretty creative.
Note that even if you do get into Pepperdine as an atheist, you will still have to meet the requirements for attending religious services, which include 100+ sessions of chapel, bible study, etc. over four years. You will also have to take some religion classes, regardless of your atheism or your major:
As an alternative, consider Santa Clara U. They are a Catholic (Jesuit) school, but about half the enrollment is non-Catholic, and they don’t require participation in religious services. SCU has a core curriculum which includes some religion/theology/ethics courses, but the options are very broad (not just Catholic). The location in Silicon Valley is attractive to many smart and ambitious students; test scores are higher than at Pepperdine.
Other private options in CA might include U San Francisco and Loyola Marymount U (also Jesuit), U San Diego (Catholic but not Jesuit), and U Pacific and U Redlands (secular). However, since you are a California resident, the most affordable option is likely to be a UC or CSU. The privates are competitive options for out-of-staters, because the UCs and CSUs charge high out-of-state tuition with no financial aid. But for CA residents (like you), the low in-state tuition at UCs/CSUs is tough to beat.
I don’t even know why but just thinking about college has given me anxiety lately when second semester hasn’t ended yet lol. I calculated my EI (from my lowest SAT to highest) my highest is 4556 and my lowest 4386. This is out of the blue, but does the comment section below my grades (where you explain why you acquired this grade) help for the administration process and possibly alleviate the adminstration’s wariness of my grades (in terms of UC’s)?
A lot of my senior friends (who got accepted to UC’s) stresses that society is the one making UC’s seem harder to get into than they actually are. In your past experience (since ur a senior member here) LOL, do you personally think that’s true?