What can I do to better my chances of getting accepted?

Applying to College
1

Hey everyone!

College is often a topic that get me very worried. I really want to get into a good university but I’m not sure if I will due to my grades.

Some school I really want to get accepted to are: USC, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona and UC Riverside. These are my main priorities. I need to get into one of these schools. Stanford was always my dream but now it feels like too much of a dream and never a reality.

My major would be business.

I am currently a junior. My GPA is 3.83 for 10-11. My 9-12 GPA is 3.6. This is without my second semester of junior year, in which I obtained a 4.0 GPA.
However, I have always taken honors and AP courses and challenged myself.

The first time I took the SAT I got a 1240… I retook this June. I am waiting for my score. I also took the ACT which I’m waiting to be scored.Other than my grades, I am very very involved in school and my community.

I recently got appointed at the Associated Student Body Activites Commissioner. I love being involved in my school and being able to make events happen for students! I also have a very good relationship with the school principal and have worked on many topics with him.

I am also in Future Business Leaders in America. I love FBLA so much that I couldn’t only be a member. I decided to run for California Central Section Secretary and I got it!

A year ago, I cofounded a youth organization that gives youth a space to exercise their voice through activism and community healing. We have preregistered over 3o00 people in our community, marched alongside 30k people for environmental justice, bee the first group to stand up to our school board, challenge the system, and much much more! I also served as President of the School chapter for my junior year.

I have also phone banked for a city council client and continuously worked with him one city issues. We are currently planning for a LGBTQ march in our community.

I guess my overall spike is in leadership. I love standing up for a change and making a difference. I love to not only be a leader but to create other leaders. I take charge when needed and I pick others up when needed.

Along with all my extracurricular, I’m currently working under a company and running a sales business. I really love business and doing my now thing as an entrepreneur!

I’m not sure if I have such strong academics but I really picked myself up from freshman year’s 3.0 to junior year where I have a 4.0.
Having a broken home was a big factor in my grades as well. I’m not sure if I should talk about this in my application.

What can I do to better my chances of getting accepted into one of the universities I listed? Also, if any of you are willing to, may we give me advice on writing essays for these schools?

Thank you so so much! I appreciate all your input and support!

2

The UC’s and CSU’s have their own GPA calculation which includes how they weight your GPA based on UC approved Honors, AP, IB or DE courses taken 10-11th grade. The exception is Cal Poly SLO which uses 9-11th grades with the same weighting. The UC’s have 3 calculated GPA’s which are the UW UC GPA, Capped Weighted UC GPA = CSU Capped weighted GPA and the Fully weighted GPA.

First you need to determine which of your HS courses taken 10-11th grades are UC approved for the extra honors points. You can look up these courses using this website and typing in the name of your HS. You get 1 honors point for each semester course. Capped weighted is capped at 8 semesters while Fully weighted is unlimited. https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist

Once you have this information you can plug your grades into these calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Please post your results. For SLO, use the same calculator but include 9th-11th grades instead with same 8 semester Honors cap.

Your Leadership and EC’s are great and will contribute to your chances at the UC’s and USC but your GPA and Test scores will be the most important along with your essays.

2019 Data is not available but below is some 2018 data for the UC’s and SLO to help you determine if these schools are possible and the admit rates are not major specific. The more competitive the major, the lower the admit rate.

2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 70%
UCR: 84%
UCM: 95%

2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71

2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:

UCB: 1360-1540

UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26
UCD does not have a “Business major” but they offer Managerial Econ or Economics. You might want to look over the curriculum to determine if either major will meet your interests.

SLO Freshman profile 2018 for College of Business (averages) for admitted students:
SLO GPA: 4.12 ACT: 30 SAT: 1410

SLO admits by major and MCA points so here is the MCA calculator: http://mca.netlify.com/

The rest of the CSU’s admit by Eligbility index and major:
(CSU capped weighted GPA x 800) + (SAT Math + CR) or (CSU capped weighted GPA x 200) + (ACT composite x10).

UCR and CPP are your current target schools based on what you have posted. UCI, UCD would be slight Reach schools and SLO, UCB and USC would be Reach schools. I would add San Diego State and San Jose State as additional target schools to your list.

Regarding the essays, you have 8 options for the UC’s so pick the 4 that you think would best showcase your interests. You want the Adcom’s to learn about you as a person beyond what your application shows academically.
Best of luck and update when you have your new test scores.