Major: Actuarial Sciences at UCSB&UCLA, various math majors at the rest
Extracurriculars: main-stage high school shows grades 9-11, and various smaller clubs included an improv club which I started with 2 friends
Community service: Catholic youth leader 15 hours, worked with developmentally disabled 10 hours
Rigor: AP Calc AB, physics honors, precalculus honors, college classes (on college campus) in calc 1&2, political science, anthropology, english, and US history
Extra info: A traumatic event took place junior year that caused my grades to drop (I was about 3.9 heading into Junior year), and then led me to leave school abruptly in the middle of the year. I had to take the late winter and spring going through intensive therapy, so I finished junior year through community colleges over the summer and then went to a new school senior year which limited my extracurriculars and scheduling options
UCR aand UCM are your best shots. UCSC is a coin toss. The rest are pretty unlikely.
SDSU, CSULB and CPP are all good schools that would love to have you as a student.
Does anyone think that my high SAT can outweigh my low GPA considering I had extenuating circumstances that plummeted my GPA? I talked about the circumstance in my personal insight. I would love to go to UCSB.
You are around the average of UCSB, and definitely UCSC. UC Merced is a good safety. Unless you have time to drive to Davis or Santa Cruz, you might want to wait to visit until you get in. If you talked about it in the personal insight section they will definitely take that into consideration. Good luck!
I hope you get UCSB. With all the college classes you took to get caught up your junior year, you seem like you bounced back well. They say SB weights essays 50%. If ever there was a test of the holistic admissions process, I think this is it! Let us know how it turns out.
Admitted student stats don’t tell the whole story, especially at UCSB where their yield is in the upper teens. Look at this (http://bap.ucsb.edu/institutional.research/new.student.profiles/new.freshman.profile.2015.2017.pdf), which gives numbers for students who actually attend. The avg GPA is a little lower for that group, and over 25% of the students had HS GPA’s in 3.7-3.9 range. With how UCSB weights the elements of the application, I think OP at least has a chance there. I think it would depend on what is in the application that gives the readers ammo to justify an admit.
As to the original question, UCSB, UCSC, and UCD would be a good start, and not too far. Save UCR and UCM for later if need be.
Is the 3.79 GPA weighted or unweighted? Are the college classes included in that calculation? Assuming the 3.79 to be unweighted, and assuming you’ve gotten at least a mix of As and Bs in the college classes, I’m going to guess you have a very good shot at UCR, Merced, and Santa Cruz. Good shot at UCSB, because I’m going to guess that you have compelling essays. Decent shot at UCI, UC Davis.
If you’re in the bay area, Santa Cruz is a day trip, and a pleasant one. Davis and Berkeley are easy, also, obviously.