Hi, so I am a student from one of the top 6 percentile of public schools in the USA (sorry I think my grammar is wrong). Anyway, I am only a freshman, going to be a sophomore, but I am already hyped about college and really want to go to a UC, preferably Davis, Irvine, San Diego, Berkely, or LA. I am starting off with a very low weighted GPA (or at least in my opinion) of 3.67 and unweighted of 3.5. Other than academics, I am a 2nd-degree black belt in taekwondo and a level 1 judge, getting my level 2 certification in 2 years (hopefully) and 3rd-degree black belt next year (hopefully). I was the treasurer of my middle school for one year, served in 2 district-student run organizations in 7th grade, became a member of NJHS and a leadership club in 8th grade, made my own club this year, and founded a tutoring group out of school as well (with some friends). What are my chances? Also, I might get an officer position or 2 in 1-2 other clubs for next year and joined another leadership club. Obviously, I will be running for more positions for my junior and senior year. I did take an AP class (APHUG) and got a B+ both terms (our school runs on a semester system).
If you think my chances are low (so do I), what colleges do you recommend I think about?
Thank
I forgot to add a few things:
I have around 30 volunteering hours this year. My class rank is in the 34th percentile. I am planning to do 12 APs in total (1 done this year).
Also if it gives any background, my middle school GPA was something like high 3.8 or low 3.9, for comparison.
UC’s look at Freshman grades to make sure you meet the a-g course requirements but they are not used in the GPA calculation only 10-11th grades. So you are on the right track but without your grades from Sophomore/Junior year, no test scores and some possible leadership positions, no one can chance you until end of Junior year. Come back once you have completed all that you have set out to do.
Just do the things that interest you and not for the sake of listing them on a college application.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Check out the Freshman profiles which are updated each August to see what to aim for in stats.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/index.html
In order to have a good GPA for sophomore and junior years, don’t overload on AP classes. From my experience, I believe the UC’s care more about high GPA than number of AP’s, although both are important. Both my kids got into most of the UC’s with 7 or fewer AP classes, including senior year. They were competitive, even though their school offers many more AP classes, because they got A’s in them because they weren’t overloaded. They also took some honors classes and a summer college class. If there is an AP class that you plan to take but you think that you might not do as well in it as the others, try to save it for senior year.
Be sure to buy PSAT, SAT, and ACT prep books and make them your constant companion over the next couple of years. Take timed practice tests in the weeks before each test.
If possible, try to find an extracurricular activity that demonstrates interest in your future major. Your leadership and service to others sound good. One of the essay prompts this year was to describe a leadership experience.
Thank you! I came on here early on just to get a handful of what to expect and consider, but you can definitely count on more posts in coming years