What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello everyone. I’m an upcoming senior and I am really anxious about applying to college. I feel that my stats right now are very low and I would appreciate it so much if you can give me opinions or words of advice.

GPA - Weighted: 3.5, Unweighted: 3.2 ; passed all classes except PreCal 2nd semester (making it up through the summer)

EC - Key Club: Treasurer 2015-2016, President 2016-2017
National Honor Society Member (2 years)
LEO Club: Activities Director
ASB: Student Service Foundation Representative 2017-18 (dealing with grant applications of school district; only one
rep from each school in school district)
AVID (5 years)
Tennis; JV (2014-15), Varsity (2015-2016), maybe joining again senior year

SAT- TBD, est. 1200

Schools of Interest: UCI, UCD, Chapman, La Verne, Pepperdine, UCSD, UCSB, CSULB, UCLA, Cal

Story: My parents have been divorced ever since I was an infant. My father wanted to abort me and said my mom would never be able to raise me on her own and that I would never be successful. My mother has been raising me and my brother on her own with very little in her pocket. Although I see him every two weeks, my father has been absent most of my life as he is taking care of a different child now. I am very distant from him and I can’t hold a conversation without having tears form in my eyes because I feel that I do not know my own biological father at all. My father’s side of the family hates me. I want to prove to them that I am able to succeed and to make my hardworking mom proud. I was a student of promise, straight A’s and good test scores. I’m by far from the smartest kid, but I really had no problems until high school hit. When I was a freshman, I was put into a STEAM program which I never signed up for. I absolutely hated it. I was supposed to take Alg2/Trig, but they put me in Geometry again because all students in the program had to be in the same pace and math class. I hated that they held me back. They also put me in Physics which I totally sucked at. I hung out with the wrong crowd as well and I ended up having a 3.47 GPA first semester of my freshman year. I was so disappointed in myself because I know that I am more capable than that. I worked really hard 2nd semester to maintain all A’s and 1 B because I knew that I couldn’t pass Physics with an A no matter how hard I tried. I was able to do so. Because of that determination, I felt that I could continue that drive until end of Junior Year. I maintained a 3.86 until junior year. Junior year has been one of the best yet worst years of my life. My uncle who is working and decided to go back to college forced me to do his college homework because he isn’t fluent in English. My parents bickered and fought a lot, and I was the one who had to break it up and take care of my little brother. My grandpa, whom I was extremely close to, died of prostate cancer. To fill the missing void I had, I volunteered a lot and was super active in my school’s Key Club because I simply love helping others, but my mom despised that. My mother had been very strict with me this year. She locked me outside of the house many times, forcing me to sleep outside, provide my own food because she believed that I was too into my extracurriculars. That caused me to not be able to focus on my academics. My mental health was extremely low and I was always depressed. Everything seemed to go downhill ever since the beginning of my junior year and that caused my grades to drop. I was on the verge of failing all of my classes but I managed to pass all of them beside math. I messed up bad. Although personally my experience was arduous, I still feel that my problems are minuscule and that colleges won’t understand.

Right now, I am very scared because I really want to make my mother proud by attending a UC, preferably UCI. However, my GPA is really bothering me because it is so low and it’s too late to try to bring it up. Community college is an option for me but I’d still like to know if I have a shot at any 4-years and if there’s anything else I can do to try to strengthen my chances.

2

Here is UC admit rates based on UC GPA to give you an idea of your chances. An upward grade trend will help and if you explain your family circumstances in one of your personal insight essays, it could also boost your chances.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:

UCB: 2%
UCLA: 3%
UCSD: 6%
UCD: 15%
UCSB: 14%
UCI: 13%
UCSC: 59%
UCR: 78%
UCM: 92%

Your best bet for the UC’s would be at UC Merced, Riverside and possibly Santa Cruz depending upon intended major. Also you want to get your SAT test scores up into the 1300+ range for a decent chance at these UC’s.

Based on what you have posted regarding stats, you have a lot of Reach schools, 1-2 Match schools and no safeties.

There is nothing magical about the UC’s and you can get an excellent education at many other schools in California. I would remove several of the UC’s such as UCB/UCLA/UCSD and replace them with University of Redlands, Whittier College and some Cal States such as Cal Poly Pomona, San Jose State, Sac State, Chico State.

Best of luck.

3

Your chance at mid to upper UC are very slim. You are also rather late in taking SAT. Most junior students thinking about college should have at least one test score on hand by now.

4

chances at top UC, Cal and UCLA, are very low. It might not be worth applying. However, you have a compelling story which you should write about in essays. I think if you get SAT to 1300 you can get into the others.

Wishing you good luck.

5

Have you thought about non-UC schools that take more of a holistic approach? You have a really good story and I think colleges would deeply consider that.

6

Hello, do you have any examples? Thank you for your help!

7

Most private schools tend to be more holistic and look at your overall application along with letters of recommendation. You have Chapman, Pepperdine and Univ of La Verne on your list. I suggested Whittier and Univ of Redlands. You could also check out St. Mary’s, Concordia of Irvine, Univ of San Diego, University of the Pacific, Mills College, Cal Lutheran and Cal Baptist.

Are you focused on California schools only?

8

Can you tell me what my match and safety schools are so I can get a more realistic visual? Also I’m taking my SAT on June 3rd and I’m studying really hard with my friend who had received a 1400. If I am able to get a 1400+ would that give me a better shot at UCI, UCD, or Chapman? I’m sure of myself that I am able to get a higher SAT score and provide strong personal essays. I ruled out UCLA, UCB, and UCSD. I just really want to go to UCI, UCD or Chapman. Does my intended major play a role? I wish to go into either Psychology, Sociology, or English. Also are my EC’s weak? Thank you so much for your help.

9

I’m only interested in CA schools because I want to stay local. Thank you!

10

Intended major does play a significant role in your chances, more for Psychology which happens to be a very popular major than Sociology or English especially at the UC’s. Getting a good SAT score will help show the colleges you are a very capable applicant and your lower than average GPA is due to the extenuating circumstances. Again, UC’s tend to be very GPA focused, but providing strong essays and addressing these circumstances can definitely help you. No one on this website is an Admissions officer and cannot accurately predict your chances.

UCI/UCD will be a Reach but definitely worth applying.
I would add UCSC and UCR to your list. Very good schools and a better chance than UCD or UCI

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/uc-freshman-application-data.pdf

For a safety school, look at your local Cal State. You get priority and will be more affordable than many of the schools on your list. A safety school should be a school where you have a high chance of admission, you are willing to attend and is affordable. Not knowing your FASFA EFC and how much can be contributed to your college education, other an a community college or your local CSU, it is difficult to give you safety school ideas.

I think Univ of La Verne, Whittier College, Univ of Redlands would be solid Match schools. Chapman would be a High Match due to your test scores.

You can google common dataset’s for each school of interest to see the 25th and 75th percentile of admitted students test scores and GPA to get an idea of where you stand. For a Match, you want to be at or above the 50th percentile and for a safety above the 75th percentile.

For Chapman University:
ACT Requirements

Admission data indicates that Chapman University regularly accepts students with ACTs of 25 and above. We estimate the school accepting minimum ACT composite scores around 22 in some instances. Prospective students submitting an ACT composite of 28 or higher should be in the upper half of applicants - and students with a 30 and above have very competitive chances. 54 percent of applicants submit ACT scores to Chapman University.

SAT Requirements (New SAT)

Reporting indicates the school consistently takes SAT composite scores down to 1200 on a 1600 scale, below which admission should be considered a reach. We estimate some students could be accepted with SAT’s as low as 1110. The estimated average SAT composite for admitted freshman is 1290 out of 1600. A competitive SAT score is critical as 68 percent of applicants submit SAT scores to the school. Note: SAT scores presented on this page have been adjusted upwards per the College Board’s concordance tables for test takers after March 2016.