What are my chances?

Hi, I wanted some feedback on my chances of being admitted to these colleges.

I decided to apply to:
CSU Long Beach
CSU San Luis Obispo
UCLA
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Cruz
University of Chicago
University of San Diego
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Carnegie Mellon University
Amherst College
USC
Whittier College
Occidental College

Here is my information:

CSU GPA: 3.864
Class Rank: Top 10% (71/724)

ACT 30

Finishing High School with 12 AP Classes
(Have Finished)
-Human Geo (3)
-Calculus AB/BC (4)
-Biology (didn’t take the exam)
-Span Lang (5)
-US History (4)
-Chemistry (2)
(For 12th Grade):
-Art History
-Economics (micro/macro)
-Government
-Span Literature
-English Literature

Subject Tests:
Taken Chemistry and US History

Extracurriculars/Clubs

MECHA (Latino): 3 years and Counting
Chess Club: 2 years
Politics Club: 2 years
Special Olympics Volunteer 25+ hours
Docent for 11th Grade LA Field Trip
Organized Campaign of Awareness for Mentally/Physically Disabled Individuals at School

Other:

Personal Information:
I am 16 year Latino male
My Parents are both immigrants and are from Peru
My parents divorced in 2015 and I only live with my father now
Household Income is below $40,000. Disposable is around 30-31k
I plan on majoring in Economics for 3 years, getting a Masters in Econ for 1 year, and then a Masters in Finance for 1 year.
I am a first generation college student

So what are my chances?

I suggest retaking the ACT, or taking the SAT. With a 30 on the ACT, the more competitive, elite schools on your list might be out of your reach. Also, your AP scores are not that good. However, being a URM with immigrant parents, low income, and a first generation college student all will help you out. Your GPA seems pretty low, but your class rank is pretty good. I’m not familiar with CSU GPA, so I can’t judge you there. And your extracurriculars seem okay, but nothing spectacular.

Definitely focus on the essays. For some of those schools, they may make or break your application.

Some of the schools on your list will definitely accept you, but others I’m not so sure about. But I do think you have good chances, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into Cornell or something like that. Good luck!

  1. Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades and their GPA calculation caps the extra honors points to 8 semesters of UC approved Honors/AP or IB courses.
    SLO also uses a MCA points system to rank applicants by major (see post #52 for the Calculation): http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score-p4.html

With around a 25% acceptance rate for Econ, you are within range but I would say High Match.

CSU Long Beach looks like a Match

For the privates your URM status will help.

Whittier College a Safety
Univ of SD and Occidental probably a High Match depending upon UW GPA.
USC would be a Reach (again depending upon UW GPA).

Regarding the UC’s: ACT score is within range but on the low side for UCLA. CSU/UC GPA is at or below the 25th percentile for all but UCR/UCSC.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 (capped weighted CSU/UC GPA) and not major specific.
UCLA: 14%-Reach
UCSB: 54%- High Match
UCD: 58%- High Match
UCI: 65%- Match to High Match
UCSC: 85%-Match
UCR: 94%-Low Match to Match

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCLA: 30-34
UCSB: 28-33
UCD: 26-32
UCI: 26-32
UCSC: 26-31
UCR: 23-30

I think the rest of your schools on the list are High Reaches. I also think you are overly ambitious with your 3 year Bachelors and 1 year Masters timeline. Much will depend upon how much AP credit you will receive from the schools to finish in 3 years of your BA.

Best of luck.

I forgot to mention that my UC GPA was 4.18 (capped), does this help my chances for the UCs as a whole?

For future posts on this thread (if any?)
my gpa is:

UC (4.18) w
Regular GPA W (3.957)