<p>CSP2497 - I love your passion and commitment. I feel like I am being mean - and that’s not my intent at all. A 3.7 UC GPA and a 2000+ SAT and a compelling story will make you a marginal candidate for Davis. You might get in - but, I’d guess 80/20 against admission. Merced is getting more selective each year. This year, you’d make it. Next year, hard to say. </p>
<p>If you do pull it off (straight As), private schools might be your best option. Santa Clara, for example, has a solid Bio program and may offer merit scholarship. Particularly if you have a compelling story about why your performance was so much better Jr year. </p>
<p>Don’t give up on your end goal but, the path probably doesn’t go through Davis. If you work hard this year, bring your UC GPA up to a 3.0+ (with a weighted 3.5 this year) and score 1800 - 1900 SAT, Chico, SJSU, Sonoma, SFSU, and many other CSUs are open to you. Many CSUs (Sac State and Monterey included) have lower threholds still. </p>
<p>Transfering from a CSU to a UC is possible but more difficult than from a CC.</p>
<p>Hi, everyone! Davis is my top choice (I’ve basically been cyber-stalking UCD since 6th grade, lol) and I’m only in my junior year but it would be great if you could give me an idea as to if I would get in.</p>
<p>Weighted GPA- 3.87 / UC GPA-(still not quite sure how to calculate)
I’m in the International Baccalaureate program.</p>
<p>Freshman Year:
Chorus: A+
Health/Personal Fitness: A+
Pre-IB American Gov: B+
Pre-IB Math 1: A-
Pre-IB Literature: A
Pre-IB Physics: A-
Pre-IB Spanish 2: A-
Visual Arts: A-</p>
<p>Sophomore Year:
AP Psychology: A (3 on test)
Intermediate Chorus: A+
Mythology: A+
Pre-IB American Lit.: A
Pre-IB Chemistry: B+
Pre-IB Math 2: A
Pre-IB Spanish 3: A+
Pre-IB World History: A+</p>
<p>ECs (what I will have by end of senior year):
International Club: 4 years
Beta Club: 4 years
Spanish Nat’l Honor Society: 3 years
Agriculture Club: 3 years
Student Goverment: 3 years
National Honor Society: 2 years
Green Club:2 years (Founder,President)</p>
<p>Awards:
Superintendent Scholar</p>
<p>My practice SAT was 1730; I hope to get 2000+ for the real one
Practice ACT was 26; I’m hoping to get 29+ on actual one</p>
<p>Suggestions on where I need to get my grades/ test scores at would be awesome, too!
Thank you sooo much!!!</p>
<p>I’m sorry NCal Rent and PhantoVirgo, but I really really want to go to UC Davis despite your suggestions for me to start looking into CSUs and other schools.</p>
<p>@CSP2497 ELC does work, but all it does is guarantee entrance to a UC campus if you don’t get into any you applied to, not necessarily to your preferred campus(es). In other words, if you apply to (as examples) Cal, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, and UCI but don’t get accepted to any of them, you’ll be offered admission to another (predetermined) UC campus if you’re eligible for ELC. In the past few years that’s been Merced, and it will likely stay that way at least for another few years.</p>
<p>I think you’re thinking of Riverside on the other UCs. Like I said, apply and see – you never know until you try. Your chances are higher at Riverside and Santa Cruz than the other UCs. Irvine specifically is about the level of Davis in terms of selectivity, give or take a few percentage points any given year.</p>
<p>As NCalRent said, if you get straight As, a 2000+ SAT score (30+ ACT if you take that), and write stellar essays, you have a chance. It’d still be a reach, but you would have a chance that isn’t a total shot in the dark. I agree with NCalRent – you’re obviously passionate about getting in. If you can show that passion in your essays and give a compelling story on top of that, that will make up somewhat for the lower GPA. It will definitely make you a good candidate for Merced, and possibly Riverside and Santa Cruz. I do wish you the best of luck with getting in, but you’ll have to work your butt off for it, which you seem to be more than willing to do.</p>
<p>That said, do look into CSUs as matches and safeties, at least. No one wants to be the one telling the story of how they didn’t get in anywhere – and that happens to students even with stellar stats if they’re not realistic about their chances of getting into the schools they’re applying to.</p>
<p>Starkyra9361 - you are on track and seem to have the right targets. </p>
<p>CSP2497 - It may not feel like it but I am tying to help and I do wish you well but, please keep your expectations in check. There is no place on the application to rate your desire to attend from 1-10. You dug yourself a bit of a hole last year and are really swinging for the fences to get out. The UC System targets the top 9% of CA high school seniors. That means 91% of them don’t qualify. (Davis is probably closer to 3-5%) Though somewhat contrary to what you hear, not everyone can be in the top 5%. There’s no shame in not meeting that threshold. The VAST majority of high school seniors don’t. </p>
<p>If your straight A plan doesn’t work out, don’t dispair. There are paths to med-school that don’t go through the UC system. I know a senior biology major at SDSU who is in the process of applying to med school. </p>
<p>I encourage you to work hard and show your mettle and apply to your dream school. Truth be told, all the UCs have a bit of a black box admission standard so, you may get in. As PhantomVirgo suggests though, apply broadly. Include some mid range CSUs or you could find yourself stuck at your local CC. I know kids this has happened to - it is a difficult pill to swallow.</p>
<p>One more thought, consider Univ of Oregon. Yeah, out of state tuition but, lower admission threshold than the UCs.</p>
<p>CSP2497 I agree that it is unlikely that you will be admitted to UC Davis as a Freshman but wanted you to hear a different perspective on your ultimate goal to go into Medicine. I was an average high school student, not dissimilar grades to yours with one AP class and never even took the SATs; wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and had few resources other than my own sweat to pay for college. I went the community college route (cypress), then transferred to CSU Long Beach. I buckled down in college and got top grades. I took classes from dept heads; aced those classes at the top of the class so I could get letters of recommendation from the dept heads. I nailed the MCATs, applied to Med Schools with a 3.9 gpa and got accepted into several med schools including top 10 schools Columbia and NYU. I chose UC Davis. Felt very comfortable there with my Stanford roommate. Lots of routes to reach your goal but at some point you have to get straight A’s may as well start now. You may need to do a route more like mine. I have absolutely no regrets. Got into med school virtually debt free (took me 5 years in undergrad cuz of working my way thru school).</p>
<p>My only concern is that it will take me around 5 years to complete undergrad and then I’ll be stuck behind, I suppose my plan would be to apply to all UCs and perhaps through the ELC program, I could get admission to UC Merced. Maybe then I could transfer to UC Davis, and finish my undergrad there. Also, when colleges find out that you’re a cc transfer, then they often look down on you like a minority, and that could jeopardize any chance I have at admission into a good med school.</p>
<p>CSP. I applied to 4 top 10 schools, 8-9 more in the top 40 including most of the UC’s and a few “safety” schools. Probably applied to more than I needed to but wasn’t sure of my chances so I over-applied. Got into NYU which I loved but didn’t want my choice of specialty determined by my debt, so chose UCD. It was a great choice and I finally got to experience college town life. I’m now an interventional radiologist living the dream and love what I do.</p>
<p>I didn’t see a “plan”. I read about your hopes and some unrealistic expectations unless you make some serious changes. My suggestion is you start working hard, apply broadly and make the best of where you are accepted. If you don’t get into UCD and still want to go there then by all means, go the transfer route after you’ve knocked out a few 4.0 semesters. Med schools, like the UC schools, all want the best students they can get. It’s time for you to work hard and be one of those students, or not. You will only make it there on merit. Apply to the UC’s but also apply to the CSU’s. If you don’t get into a UC, work hard and you will still succeed if you can get the grades and do well on the MCAT. I think you are unrealistic to expect to get accepted to UCD as a freshman but if you buckle down it is still possible. I wish you the best fortune that hard work and your intelligence will earn for you.</p>
<p>From what I’ve been reading, some people on here have been saying you need to have perfect grades, extracurriculars, etc in order to have a chance at getting accepted to Davis. Imo, although those may be the averages of previously admitted freshmen, it does not mean you will be rejected if you aren’t up to par. If you look around, most people are still unsure why they got accepted/rejected from a college, including me. I had decent SAT (1780), 4.0 gpa with 0 AP’s, and decent extracurriculars and after seeing other people’s 2200 sat scores, I felt like I had no chance at all of getting accepted. However, I did get accepted, and it just goes to show that there is more to the admission process then just grades and sat scores. Don’t worry if you don’t have that 4.0 gpa or 2200 sat score because in the end, colleges look at everything you have to offer, not just how smart you are. Good luck with admissions and remember people have been accepted with lower scores than the average.</p>
<p>Davis (and all UCs) consider many factors other than SAT/GPA. It’s fair to assume about half of freshman admits are ‘below average’. The tables on pages 8 and 9 of this report show a more detailed breakdown of the profile for 2012 freshmen. (The 2013 stats are a little higher) The facts remain, just 4% of admissions had less than a 3.5 GPA. You can bet those students stood out in other ways, perhaps athletics. </p>
<p>I think the UC System has a huge emphasis on numbers and rightly so because there is just an overwhelming amount of applicants each year. I know that many of the admissions officers simply can’t take the time to carefully read your essays and have very limited amounts of time to get through all the essays. So even if you have a compelling story and a brilliantly written essay, don’t bank that it will get you through. UCs have to screen by numbers and then by essay and other factors. </p>
<p>CSP2497, getting into Davis may be a long shot for you, but nothing is ever hopeless. Many universities have great pre-med and provide a similar undergraduate experience. Remember, it’s not where you go; it’s what you do there. If you really want to get into med school, work super hard: get good grades, study hard for the MCATs, participate on campus (hopefully with leadership), and show initiative and interest in the medical field.</p>
<p>I don’t believe any one on this thread has suggested any applicant has no chance or that you have to have impressive SATs and a 4.0. Having been on admissions committee’s and knowing the averages however, to tell someone they are unlikely to be accepted is simply playing statistics and helps an applicant to be realistic and encourages secondary and viable and even more likely options. If you put all your hopes and dreams in one option but don’t have the numbers to support a likely acceptance, that is a certain set up for disappointment.</p>