Alright, so it is college application time and it is time to narrow down on some colleges. I am not proud of my stats, i know i could do better, but by the time i learned how competitive college really was and that i cannot simply slide into Stanford with a 3.0 it was too late. I mean, i did not study for a test until like mid junior year because i did not think i had to. Now, my uc gpa is a 3.45 and my first sat score without preparation was a 1190 (i plan to retake the sat in November and give a go at the act in the same month and actually study for them. I play no instruments play no sports and the only ec’s i have is involvement in this senator leadership program and anywhere from 50- 100 service hours from a diversity of clubs. I have taken (including this year) a total of 6 ap classes getting Bs in at least one semester of each. Now previous people of these forums have told me that i have a good shot at the bottom three ucs (merced, riverside and santa cruz) so those are the ucs i plan on applying to. I was also informed that i can pretty much get into any cal state i wish. So which cal states should i apply to for like a plan B if i do not get into any ucs? (btw i live in LA i am willing to move for ucs but probably not states but it is not a for sure no, depends). Now i want to study pre-med so probably major somewhere along the lines as bio-chem, bio or like bio-med. so best schools for that. So which schools should i apply to, the ucs, some states and one of two long shot ucs. I am also open to a few out of state, but those odds are pretty slim simply because my family is stressing out on affording local collages alone. thank you
I would think you are too low for UCSC, SDSU, and Cal Poly SLO, CSULB, maybe even UCR and UCM. Does your school have naviance? See how you compare on the scatter gram for your school. Maybe look at Cal Poly Pomona, CSUN, CSULA. I wouldn’t discount going out of state and looking at some WUE schools: http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all
There’s a collaborative of western states where you can get in state tuition, or close, as an out of state student. The CSU’s in your range are mostly commuter schools, out of state you may find schools you love that have better opportunities with your stats.
Your best chances at a UC would be UC Riverside and Merced. UCSC is probably a High Match school but worth applying. UC’s are very GPA focused and your UC GPA is below the averages for all the UC’s even UCM/UCR but still within range.
SLO is a Reach since their average GPA is 4.09 and SAT score of 1356 for the College of Science and Mathematics.
The Cal States (other than SLO) use an eligibility index to rank applicants by major. Your EI is 3950.
(CSU GPA X 800) + (SAT Math + CR).
Other than SLO, SDSU and possibly CSULB, the rest of the Cal states would be within you range and I would focus on these schools for the best chances. Also look at the WUE schools that @socalmom007 mentioned in the above post.
Good Luck and there is a good school out there for you.
I will say, my older son was around your stats. The campuses with his major and sport were CSUN, CSULB, and Sacramento State. We visited and all of the campuses had that more commuter school feel which he didn’t like, that may not bother you. Once we started touring some of the WUE schools he found better facilities, better college life, better quality programs available at his stats. It ended up being an easy call for him. Some amazing schools on WUE in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, etc…
UCM is pretty likely to take you. UCR, may or may not. From there, your chances get slimmer with UCSC (could happen but, less than 50/50 odds) CSULB, Fullerton, Chico, Northridge, Sac and Sonoma are all within range and worth a look.