What can I do to look better to colleges?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hey guys, this is my first time posting on CC and I’m a current junior in high school. I wish I had found out about this site earlier because it would’ve helped me out a lot with applying for classes and such. </p>

<p>Anyways, lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future as a student and to be honest, I’m slightly worried about my whole college career. I’m thinking about staying in my home state of California, and applying to a couple of the UCs, mainly aiming for UCSD or UCLA. However, I’m afraid that I might not be able to get in due to my rather low GPA and lack of ECs. </p>

<p>Grades
I’ve read that UCs calculate grades by only looking at the courses that you take during your sophomore to senior year (hence 10-12 GPA). That’s a bummer because I screwed up a lot during my sophomore year and had personal issues going on in the background. I finished my sophomore year with 2 C’s and a solid 3.0 GPA (3.73 W). I’ve calculated that with the classes I’m taking this year (junior), if I get straight A’s (which is what I’m aiming for), I’ll get a 4.0 GPA (4.57 W) and raise my 10-12 GPA to a 3.5 GPA (4.15 W).
That’s where the problem comes in. I’ve been reading around on the forums a lot and I’ve noticed that most people who get accepted by UC’s have at least a 3.8 UW GPA. IF I do head up with a 3.5 UW GPA by the end of this year, I don’t think it would cut it for my acceptance to a UC, especially UCLA.
So how can I raise my GPA so that it would look better to colleges. I’m aiming to have at least a 3.8 UW GPA by the time I apply for colleges. Is that too unreasonable? How can I do that? Should I take extra courses at my community college this upcoming summer?</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Another detail that would make me look less good to colleges would be my lack of extracurriculars. I don’t play any sports and hardly active in any of my school clubs.
So far, the most community service I’ve done is about 200 or so hours at a local art camp. I help teachers prepare for art classes and take care of kids, but I only do it during the summer when the camp runs. It’s not a school year job that I get weekly hours for.
I’ve also done some volunteering at my local library for about 4 hours a week.
I’m not sure if this counts as an extracurricular, but I’m also part of a program in my school district where for three periods a day, I’m at a different school learning film and design (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.).<br>
Anyways, I’m wondering how and what I can do to be more involved and look better to colleges. I’m also not sure what counts as extracurriculars, so if someone could clear that out, I would be most grateful. </p>

<p>All in all, anything helps and thank you in advance if you decide to help me!</p>

2

<p>Well, to be honest, you PROBABLY won’t end up having a 4.0 for this year. You might, but I’m being more realistic.</p>

<p>What I think you could do is go to a CC for two years and then automatically transfer to UCLA if you can’t get in the first time.</p>

<p>Knowing your SAT/ACT would help as well.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, it’s a bit unrealistic to say that I’ll be able to get a 4.0 this year, but I can try (thinking positively here)! :D</p>

<p>I was thinking about going the community college path too, but that’s more of a plan B thing if I can’t get into any of the colleges that I want. Right now, I’m just trying to raise my stats and look a little better so that I won’t have to consider plan B (my parents are narrow minded Asians who look down on going to community colleges :/). </p>

<p>About my SAT/ACT, I’m taking my first SAT on Oct. 5, so I’m prepping hard for that and hopefully I get around 2000+!</p>

4

<p>I heard California admissions were really number based, so you might benefit more talking to your GC at the end of junior year.</p>

5

<p>UCs tend to be number based; however, UC Berkeley is more holistic.
UCs love volunteer hours - at least as far as I know they give you their equivalent of admissions brownie points if you have some. </p>

<p>As for other stuff, aim for 2000+ on SAT - I was told that if you’re far above the average, it may help balance out that GPA. (I also had a situation where my grades dropped, so being the worry wart that I am I asked an admissions officer). It also never hurts to have an upward trend for GPA. </p>

<p>I totally understand about the narrow minded Asian viewpoint - my mom insists on it. She says she doesn’t really want me to go to “lower” UCs than SD. (Which means out of the UCs, Berkeley and LA.). Are your parents like that?</p>

6

<p>Yep, my parents are exactly like that! However, they’ll be happy if I’ll be able to get into ANY UC because UC’s for them are generally good colleges. They mostly just look down on all colleges that are outside of Stanford, Ivies, and UC’s, which is why they won’t consider a lesser-known college or community college :/</p>

7

<p>I’m on the other side of the country and was never interested in UCs, but hopefully I can help.</p>

<p>I had a bad start to high school (2.85 freshman year) because I was lazy and made poor choices, but improved that to a 3.5 by the time I applied to colleges. Upward trend is your friend. Address the improvement in your essays and let colleges know that you’ve matured and started taking your education more seriously. Remember that colleges will see the first quarter or half of your senior year grades when you apply, so make sure you don’t slack off. And if you had legitimate personal issues and feel comfortable doing so, let the colleges know about them (not an excuse, per se, but it puts your grades in perspective).</p>

<p>Test scores definitely help. Take the SAT twice (scores increase from first to second, but not usually after that), look into an SATII or two in subjects you excel at and are interested in, and take APs if you think you can handle them.</p>

<p>As for ECs, do what you enjoy doing. If you don’t want to play sports, don’t do it just to put on your applications. If you enjoy working at the library and think you need stronger ECs, try adding a couple hours per week or asking your superior for more responsibilities. Don’t do something you don’t enjoy; it’s not worth it.</p>

<p>My stats: 3.5, 2340, very good APs, mediocre ECs. Got into Carnegie Melon, Johns Hopkins, and Honors at UMD. I’m now at UMD with a scholarship, double majoring in math and comp sci. Working hard to make up for my rough start was stressful, but worth it!</p>

<p>P.S. Remember that people who go on this site are not an accurate representation of the population. Acceptance threads are misleading. People here tend to have very high GPAs (super hard worker, Type A, constantly worrying about whether their stats are good enough leads them straight to this site), and you get a lot of high GPA/low SAT success stories but few of the reverse. That doesn’t mean that those people don’t exist, though. Keep working hard; you can do it!</p>