I am currently a Junior at a pretty good high school. I am trying to get into several UC schools, namely Davis, Berkely (I know it’s a long shot) UCLA, and maybe San Diego. My high school track record is as follows
Freshman Gpa: 4.0 First Semester/3.8 Second
Sophmore Gpa: 3.8 First Semester/3.8 Second
Junior Gpa: 3.8 First
I am currently in 4 AP classes: Physics 1, Us History, Computer Programming, and Rhetoric. I also took AP World History as a sophomore and was in accelerated math and English. I’m also in Honors Trig right now.
I am worried that colleges won’t like that I have so many AP classes but not that spectacular of a GPA. I haven’t taken the SAT yet but I got a 1350/1520 on the PSAT.
I am also worried about my glaring lack of EC’s. I do have played baseball for 7 years now, and skipped fourth grade, but other than that I haven’t done much for community service or taking part in any clubs.
Do I have a realistic chance at getting into any of these schools? Thanks
Are those GPAs weighted or unweighted? If they’re unweighted, then you’re very competitive. Also, UCs dont consider freshman grades, so calculate your capped and uncapped UC GPA. (https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/) Colleges will evaluate your GPA in context of your courseload, so since you took several APs, your GPA will be considered in light of this. Again, not sure if those are weighted or unweighted GPAs, which makes a big difference.
I suggest you look at the Freshman profiles for each UC campus. The profiles list the 25th and 75th percentile ranges for UC GPA/ACT and SAT test scores for admitted applicants. You want to target at least the 50th percentile to have the best chances.
See link for 2016 Freshman: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/davis/freshman-profile/index.html
there is a LOT of subjective when it comes to UC admission so, it is certainly possible and well worth the application but, with a sub 4 GPA - your target UCs should be UCSC, UCR and UCM.
CSUs like SDSU and LB are also very good and will be happy to have you.
Keep an open mind and see how the rest of Jr year plays out.
Good luck.