I’m a senior this year and wanted to know my chances for getting into the UC’s (excluding UCLA and UCB) My grades aren’t the best but I do have pretty good test scores and ECs
GPA: Unweighted: 3.38 Weighted: 3.75
Sat score: 1350 (Math: 680) (R/W:670)
ECs:
12 years of gymnastics
3 years of high school swimming
3 years of art/painting
Jobs: worked for a restaurant and also was a coach
Vice President of the Save the Trees club at my school
100+ community service hours.
Which UC’a do you guys think I have a good chance of getting into? I appreciate your time to read this. Thanks!
Your SAT score is within range for many of the UC’s but your GPA will be an issue for several the top UC’s.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
UCB: 2%- Reach
UCLA: 3%- Reach
UCSD: 6%- Reach
UCD: 15%- Reach (could be Low Reach depending upon major)
UCSB: 14%- Reach ( could be a Low Reach depending upon major
UCI: 13%- Reach (could be a Low Reach depending upon major)
UCSC: 59%- High Match-Match
UCR: 78%-Match
UCM: 92%- Safety
I would also look at some of the Cal States depending on intended major: SLO, CSU Fullerton, San Jose State, San Diego State, Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona.
Thanks for the reply @Gumbymom Do u think if I were to get my sat score up to 1400 it would improve my chances of getting into the reach schools. Also what majors do u think would be a low reach for this 3 UC’a you mentioned
The UC’s tend to be more GPA focused so getting your test scores up can help, but not sure how much. How is your HS course rigor? Focus on your essays and apply widely.
For the UC’s and Low Match chances, it would probably be non-STEM related and less popular majors such as Classics, Women’s studies,Languages, Anthropology to name a few.
It can also depend upon how the university admits Freshman. Some admit directly into the major (Engineering/Biology), some admit into a specific College like College of Letters and Sciences where you major is not considered in the application process and some just admit into the University where you have to up to end of Sophomore year to declare a major (UCSC).
@Gumbymom I was also wondering where you found the freshman admit rates?
You are a strong candidate for UCR and UCM. SC could go either way. The others are unlikely but, worth an ap. Hundreds of unlikely candidates are admitted into all the UCs every year so, apply to all the campuses that interest you. Be sure to also apply to a few CSUs. Note many CSUs now have honors programs which offer a different GE path, smaller class sizes and priority reg (among other things) Most programs at most of the campuses are open to you. Apply to SDSU. for sure, others, depending on what you are looking for. Student population, beach proximity, college town, D1 football - what’s is on your list?
your SAT is already pretty strong, I don’t think another 50 points would open many incremental doors.
Good luck
@Gumbymom
Can I ask where you are getting those statistics? How do you put in your GPA range and test scores and find out the percentages? Thanks
@CalGal17 So that she doesn’t have to repeat herself too often, @gumbymom summarized the data found on this link for Freshman admit rate by GPA:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary
The data only considers UC capped weighted UC GPA. Test scores are not included in the summary. I suggest you look at the UC Freshman profiles for test scores ranges. Aim for the 50th percentile or higher.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/santa-cruz/freshman-profile/index.html