<p>I live in FL, and go to a gifted HS nationally ranked top 10.</p>
<p>All my courses are Honors and AP, and I will have taken 5 APs by the time I graduate.</p>
<p>My GPA was a 2.9 freshman year, 3.33 sophomore year, and 3.5 junior year.
Weighted my cummulative GPA is around 3.7 for all of HS, so my UC GPA is probably like 3.8-3.9. </p>
<p>I got a 2070 on my SAT, and plan to retake (580CR 740M 750W), play varsity lax and have good ECs and recs.</p>
<p>I'm looking for a school where I can have a great time while still learning alot and culturing myself. I'm thinking about doing something creative involving either film or jwriting.</p>
<p>ps- the UCs aren't the only schools I'm interested in, let me know if you have any recs for me!</p>
<p>UCSD should be a match for u, though sometimes gaining admission there is pretty weird. Definitely apply to a lot of them, cuz they use only 1 app…</p>
<p>You probably have a shot at UC Merced. But I would encourage you to apply to as many UC as you can. The UCs need more OOS like you since you’ll be paying OOS tuition.</p>
<p>oh, you’re not a ca resident…um, check the UC’s registration website website, they have a numeric calculation, and I’m sure someone on the forums has found the cutoff line, i’ll be back later</p>
<p>Wow, lots of misinformation here. I think you have a good shot at all but the top 2.</p>
<p>A 3.7 and a 2070 puts you in range for most. Yes you don’t have the hyper-inflated GPA you get in CA public schools, but your SAT score is above average for every UC, and way above average for most.</p>
<p>Couple that with you’re having to pay OOS tuition and most UCs will welcome you with open arms–they need the money badly and have stepped up taking the OOS. There are not too many people lined up to pay $47K for schools in budget crisis. Their OOS yield is very low compared to their in state.</p>
<p>It is a MYTH that it’s much harder for the OOS to get in. Also look at matriculated data for the UCs–the SAT scores are shockingly low. Your 2070 will go a long way.</p>
<p>Well I guess I’ll be the first to recommend a non-UC. Apparently you are okay with spending a lot of money. Loyola Marymount is a smaller private school in Los Angeles where you are sure to be cultured without having to be in a 3rd world country (most UCs). The religiousness is not forced and most students couldn’t care less about it. They have good programs in your desired areas. Their students are not ugly. I’m not extremely educated on their aid yet. But I never count out private schools just because they appear pricey on the surface. Hope you look into it and good luck!</p>
<p>OP, you’ll want to recalculate your GPA for the UC’s so-called A-G courses. You’ll also want to make sure that you are on track to complete all of UC’s course requirements. UC requires a year’s coursework in performing or visual arts, and some OOS students who want to go to UCLA or Cal find during their senior year that they’re unfortunately ineligible.</p>
<p>The good news on the UC GPA is that your freshman year grades don’t count. The bad news is that UC will only weight AP courses if you are applying OOS. Honors courses will not be weighted. So, unless your GPA is the type where you’ll do better when not counting things like PE and Life Skills, it’s unlikely that your UC GPA is in 3.7 territory, let alone 3.8 or 3.9. You should of course check that yourself. </p>
<p>I am a big UC fan, but I’d have a hard time justifying paying nearly $50k a year for many of the UCs as an undergrad. You might want to start a new thread asking just for recommendations about good schools for you in film and writing and journalism. If you and your parents can afford to pay for UC from out of state, there should be many many options for you.</p>