Several admissions calculators showed my son has a pretty good chance of being admitted to UCI biology major, but other on-line calc programs that only look at gpa and test scores showed he has below average chance because of is low SAT score.
Unweighted gpa is 4.0
Overall weighted gpa is 4.7 (9-11)
UC cap gpa is 4.33
SAT is 1160
IB student with over 15 AP/IB classes taken
all AP tests have been 4s and 5s
Fairly good EC and community services volunteer work
Eagle Scout and club leadership
class rank #8 out of 750 plus
Good academic rigor, but not so good SAT Score.
I would appreciate any feedback on his chance of being accepted to UCI.
Thank you.
Intended major? Alternate major?
UC’s tend to be GPA focused so his UC capped weighted GPA (4.33?) is definitely competitive above the 75th percentile along with his HS course rigor. His SAT score is on the low side (below the 25th percentile of 1230) so along with his GPA there is a slight mismatch.
His intended major can make a difference on his acceptance so posters need know major, SAT subject tests results and are any of this EC’s major related?
His intended major is Biological Sciences and he did not pick an alternate major. I am not familiar with how the alternate major works for UCs because he said he didn’t have an option to pick an alternate major.
Did the UCI SAT 25th percentile jumped up to 1230 from 1170?
He did not take any SAT subject tests.
One of his EC is volunteer work supporting Susan Komen Breast Cancer fundraiser activities throughout the year, which we are very involve with in our community. He lost both of his grandparents to cancer, which he wrote about in his essays.
I think his application essays are very compelling. He has a good application package.
Also, the following notes from UCI admissions are posted on the College Board Website:
Very Important:
Academic GPA
Application Essay
Extracurricular Activities
Level of Applicant’s Interest
Rigor of secondary school record
Standardized Test Scores
Talent/Ability
Volunteer Work
Work Experience
Important:
Character/Personal Qualities
Class Rank
Considered:
First generation college student
Geographical Residence
State Residency
I am hoping that his Class Rank will help.
Also, hoping UCSC or UCD may give him a chance. I know UCR is a safety school for him.
Thank you for your input.
I have linked the Freshman profile for UCI 2018 which shows the 25th-75th percentile for each SAT component for admitted students. The CDS and CB probably are listing the scores for enrolled students which will be lower.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/irvine/freshman-profile/index.html
UCI admits into the University first and then into the major. They do consider an alternate major, if an applicant does not qualify for their 1st choice or an applicant can still be accepted as Undeclared. If accepted Undeclared, then there are pre-req and GPA requirements to change into their 1st choice major.
For UCI Biological Sciences 2018, the average UC capped weighted GPA was 4.10 and average SAT score was 1278.
UC’s do not consider class except in the context of ELC eligibility which basically guarantees admission (if room is available) to UC Merced.
I think UCSC would be more realistic since they do not admit by major. Biology at UCD is impacted and highly competitive and they admit into the Biological Sciences College directly.
So UCI could admit him as an undeclared major, even though he selected biology instead of undeclared?
In other words, does he select Undeclared, or does UCI make that selection as a condition for admissions.
Hoping he gets lucky, but he did applied to some safety schools (Point Loma, UCR, Merced and SDSU)
Thank you.
If no alternate major was selected and sometimes even if an alternate major is selected but the applicant does not meet the standards, UCI will admit an applicant as Undeclared. Then if he wants to pursue Biology, he would have to do a change of major.
https://changeofmajor.uci.edu/school-of-biological-sciences/#biosci
Very informative. Thank you.
I have one more question, please. My son took the sat without essay because his mom Registered him without it because I guess you can say she didn’t know what she was doing. My son wrote a letter to all the UCs he applied to to explain his extenuating circumstances, having to do with him having heart surgery and the mixup with the SAT registration. With that said, will the UCs automatically disqualified him because he didn’t take the sat with essay, which is required?
Thank you so much.
I cannot say for sure but I know they specifically state the essay is required so if he only took it one time without the essay, he has no score to report since the UC’s will only accept the SAT with that essay score. I would not write a letter, but call UCI admissions and any other UC he applied to get the information directly from the source.
And why is this coming up now since the UC’s will take up till the December sitting for the SAT or ACT which could have given him ample amount of time to retake if necessary.
Extremely poor planning on his part and our’s as parents. You figure that with an older son who graduated from UCSB in 2018 that we would know what to do. Apparently not! we took it for granted he would do the same . Also, the Sat format changed in 2016 from when his brother took it. Any hoot, he took the 1st Sat in August, on week before his surgery, and 2nd and 3r test in October and November. They actualy called him out during the Oct and Nov tests and he wrote the essay during these tests, but it was graded, or it was graded but wasn’t reported. We contacted the CB toward the end of Nov to investigate and see if the essays were graded. We would pay the correct fee to get his scores reported, but we never heard back from the CB. By the time we figured out that he could have taken it again in December and even January for UCSC reporting, it was too late. UCR admissions said to write an appeal letter, which he did to all the Cus, explaining his extenuating circumstances, especially the stress and challenge that he went through with surgery. We are blessed and extremely thankful that he will be okay health wise. We are hoping for the best with the UCs that he applied to. His EI at SDSU is 4616 (perhaps weber honors college also?). we were hoping for UCI UCR or UCSC.
Thank you for providing awesome insight to many of the students on CC.
So sorry to hear of his struggles and hopefully everything is fine with his health. Do you have documentation from CB indicating that he did do the essay portion of the tests? If so, then I would contact UC admissions and try to get that info included in his file. I would hold onto any documentation in case you want to appeal any decisions and best of luck to him.
The CB is investigating still and we have a Case Number issued by the Board, which we provided to the UCs in the letter. We hope that they can find something to show that we wrote the essays. They told us also that if he did the essays, they normally would send an email to parents asking for payment if they want the score to be reported. We did not receive such and email. We will followup with them in the next couple of days to see if the found anything. He must have signed something that showed took for the essay you would think.
UCI admissions also mentioned that they will still evaluate him based on his M+EBRW score. Hoping UCSC and UCR do the same.
Good to hear and I hope everything works out. Just remember to be a “squeaky wheel” and keep pushing until you are satisfied with the results.