My son is applying for college this year, below is his status, please help to give him some advise for college app. Thank you!
Demographics
CA
Type of high school: Public High School
Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Man Asia
Intended Major(s): Biology, BioMed or pre-dental
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.97
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.76
Class Rank: 3 out of 371
SAT Scores: 1430 - 1st time (10th Grade), don’t know if need to take again
UC Cap GPA 4.32
Coursework:
9 APs
AP World 4
AP computer science 4
AP computer principle 5
AP Bio 4
AP Chemitry 3
AP USA History 4
AP Eng Lit 5
AP Chinese 3
AP Calculus AB 5
Senior year
AP Gov
IB Philo
AP Cal BC
Bio Med
Awards: USABO year 2020 - semifinalist (9th grade)
Extracurriculars
Mork Trail - Captain
Red Cross
PIH Volunteer
Community Service
Boy Scout
HOSA
Cost Constraints / Budget
Less than 40k/year, am applying for need-based financial aid.
Schools
UCLA UCB UCSD UCR UC Irvine
Brown University -ED
University of the Pacific - EA
USA - EA
Washington university in St. Louis
Tufts
Case Western Reserve
Amherst
Pomona Colley
Claremont Colley
Thank you for reading! Please kindly advise my son’s chance.
I can’t chance your S, but note that some of his schools, including Brown and Amherst, require two LoRs from academic teachers, so the tennis coach will not suffice. He needs to get another LoR ASAP for Brown ED.
Have you run each schools Net Price Calculator to see if they will be affordable? Here’s Brown’s: Net Price Calculator
If the result isn’t around $40K, do not apply ED.
The UCs are test blind, at the rest of his selective schools he should probably apply test optional (what’s the score split?). So send to U of Pacific, maybe CWRU (I’m on the fence…ask his HS GC), and everywhere else test optional (pending score split info).
The only highly likely admit I see is U of Pacific, not sure if it will be affordable though.
There is a CA public university that will be affordable for your son. @Gumbymom can you give the GPAs the schools will be looking at (e,g. Most don’t consider freshmen grades).
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
So it’s 1450, not 1430, and he only took the SAT once, back when he was a sophomore? (And did he ever take the PSAT?)
1450 is a good score generally, but not for all the schools on his list that are still accepting scores. Why didn’t he take it again more recently? Is he planning to apply without submitting test scores to the more competitive test-optional schools?
He took it when he was sophomore year, since all the schools are test-optional, so he didn’t take it recently but he is planning to take again if need.
He should give the SAT another shot. He can still register for the Dec 3 test. EBRW scores can improve materially from 10th grade to 12th grade even without tutoring/practice. The 1450 combined and 690 EBRW would put him below the 25th percentile for Brown.chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://oir.brown.edu/sites/default/files/2020-04/CDS_2021_2022.pdf The composite would be right at the 25th percentile for Amherst and the 690 would be below as well. If retaking the SAT is not an option, then apply Test Optional. The existing score is good enough to submit to USC. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://oir.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/CDS_2021-2022_FINAL.pdf
Also Google the other schools “CDS” (common data set) to get an idea of the SAT score ranges for each. Wash U, Tufts, Pomona and Claremont will be high and barring a retake, your son might be better off applying Test Optional if offered by those schools.
UCLA’s admit rate for BioEngineering was 9.8% in 2021. The College of L&S overall admit rate was 13% (Not major specific for Biology).
UCB’s overall admit rate for the College of L&S was 16% with the majority of admits in the Fully weighted UC GPA range of 4.200 - 4.599. The College of L&S does not admit by major although if the major is High Demand, recommendations include listing as 1st choice major.
UCSD’s Biology and BioEngineering majors are capped majors so UCSD recommends to list an uncapped major as an alternate.
17% of the Freshman undergrads declared Biology as their major. Overall UC capped weighted GPA for Freshman admits 2021 was 4.13. UCSD admits into the University first and then into the major.
For UCSB’s College of Letters and Sciences, 19% of the admitted Freshman declared Biology as the major. Average UC GPA for admitted Freshman was 4.36 (Fully Weighted) in 2021. UCSB admits into a “Pre-major for Biology” where a student needs to take specific courses and maintain a minimum threshold GPA to declare the major.
UCI’s Biology admit rate for 2021 was 34.9% with an average Capped weighted UC GPA of 3.99. Biomedical Engineering had a 40.4% admit rate with an average GPA of 4.06. UCI also admits into the University first and then into the major so alternate majors are considered.
UCR’s Biology admit rate for 2021 was 58% while BioEngineering was 78%.
He has to double check all the schools on his list for their requirements, I only mentioned Brown and Amherst because I know they require two academic LoRs, but some of his other schools might too.
I think that’s advisable. Two (or three) attempts are pretty common. He can decide whether to submit after the second sitting, but it’s good to have the option of submitting a score that confirms the rest of his academic record.
He can call his ED and EA schools and ask if they will accept a December SAT (or ACT) score.
Definitely he should download some old exams and try a timed test for both the SAT and ACT to see which he likes better. Make sure they are OFFICIAL tests (available online) and make sure he takes each section timed. He can do this multiple times (with different tests) and review the questions he got wrong to help improve his scores, if he is motivated to do so.
