Hello everyone. I am new to this forum website so any welcomes will be appreciated
The June SAT scores came out today and I have mixed feelings over my scores. Individually my scores ranges from: Critical Reading (460), Math (440), and Writing (490). The total score is 1390. I’ve also taken the SAT Subject Test in May and this is where I stand out: U.S History (610), Spanish (590), English Lit (410). My current (and probably the one that college admissions will see) GPA is 3.2 .
I plan to major in English Lit and may want to minor in Marketing but I always change my mind at the last minute. I choose English because I enjoy writing in general and I love to read and analyze literary works (and I like history too). I just finished taking 2 AP courses in the 11th grade (English Lang. & APUSH) and plan to take 2 more in my senior year (English Lit. & Macroeconomics). What is wrong with my transcript is that I got a D on my first semester in AP English Lang. (but got an A in second semester) and a FAIL in Trig/Pre-Calc class in 2nd semester (got a C in 1st semester).
I also have a college transcript from a local community college. Currently it only has Psychology in which I got a B. I am about to take Health in a few weeks and I had just sign up to take an English 28 class during the fall semester (just need this class before I take English 101).
Academics stuff aside, I have joined in my school’s marathon club (4:47:09 LA MARATHON) and in a program dedicated to social justice and ethnic studies (we did some marches too). I am currently employed at a PAID internship and I volunteer at an animal shelter (50+ hours service).
Sorry if this seems long but like the title says, I am worried that my current standings may not give me any chances to enter to a UC School. I would really want to attend to UCSD and UCI but that is just a dream from another world. My high school counselor, however, mentions that I don’t have to worry nothing about attending to a Cal State school.
This may be a little shocking but I really have no explanation why I want to go to UCSD or UCI other than it’s far away from my home in LA. Do you think I can still able to make it? What do I need to do to increase my chances (other than RETAKE THE SAT AGAIN)? What school would be a safe bet for me to go to in my situation (within California)?
If you made it this far, I say thanks for taking the time to read all of this
Well… a 3.2 and 1390 will make UC admission out of high school pretty unlikely. Honestly, a significantly better SAT won’t change your prospects much.
Use this tool to figure out your UC GPA. Among other things, they exclude some classes, and only look at grades 10-11 and may assign AP bonus points to your CC classes. It may be significantly different.
I’d encourage you to re-think the CSUs. You seem to have dismissed all 23 campuses without any consideration. They provide a solid education at a pretty compelling cost. You are probably well qualified for most of them. Based on your stats above, Sonoma, Sacramento and maybe Fullerton are worth a look. Here, a stronger SAT will open the door to several more.
I agree with essentially everything said by the previous poster. If you could bring up your SAT score significantly, then you might have a shot at UCR, UCSC, and UCM, but otherwise I would definitely look into the CSU campuses.
As always @NCalRent gave you great advice and you do not need to attend a UC to succeed. The Cal states are great options. Use the summer and prep for the SAT or try the ACT. A higher score will give you many more options and many Cal states are on par with some of the UC’s academically. You might want to consider University of Redlands, University of La Verne and Whittier college for privates if affordable. Good luck and study hard.
CSU system isn’t terrible. Give the ACT a try if you have the time, but I’d plan on going the CSU transfer route if it’s within your means. Good luck, and make sure you have a high GPA to transfer!
Thank you @NCalRent I appreciate your response. Honestly I’m probably considering in applying to Cal State Long Beach or San Diego State (Cal State) [for example] and private colleges like Whittier. Even if I don’t get accepted to any UC schools, I would be just as happy to attend my preferred Cal States or privates. The community college part, well I plan to go on that path as the last resort, meaning that I will only do so if I end up getting accepted to universities (public or private) that people would consider as “safe schools”. Thanks for your honesty.
I do not really have much to add that you are not hearing (above).
I do not understand the purpose of this post. Why do people make up hypothetical fictional stories? Where is the amusement? 410 in English Lit and you would like to major in it? D, then A in AP English? 490 in writing, yet all writing errors in your posts seem painfully planned? Concurrent registration at community college? I really don’t get the attraction.
For a real student in this sort of situation, I would recommend a psych evaluation to understand the underlying cause of the high variation in performance which would be indicative of a learning disability, and some serious study skills tutoring to try to even out performance in academics. Getting at the root of the learning disability would be the key to a happy and successful life experience.
I would also recommend looking for a great fit in a small private college rather than the vagaries and greater anonymity of a larger public school.
@ItsJustSchool i don’t know how you got entertain but nothing is fictional but I like honesty. Also please elaborate more on the “learning disability”.
@“aunt bea” honestly I was making up those scenarios in my mind for the past few months of not having a high chance in getting admitted to the school of my choice but it looks like I’m not handing that well right now.
Your parent needs to go to the school this summer and request a psych eval based on the disparity between fall and spring English grades, and an AP grade of “A” versus standardized scores in the 400’s for English tests (reading, writing, and English Lit).
Why did you get a D first semester? Why did you get an A second semester? What is blocking you from consistent performance semester to semester and classroom to standardized test? These are the types of questions that can cause a student real anguish and REALLY need to be sorted.
This dissonance is far more important to address for personal happiness than academics.
@ItsJustSchool Well the reason behind the D letter grade in the first semester is because I hardly bother to complete my assign books to its entirety. In the first 10 weeks of second semester, I had a D letter grade again but I started doing my homework and classroom assignments in which consisted of writing essays to prepare for the AP Exam which boost my grade to a B and a Research Paper in which my AP English teacher decided to give my a perfect score only because he like the way I convey my sentences and how it’s much clearer to understand my ideas than my other classmates. This is how I ended up getting an A.
@ItsJustSchool My parents are currently in the process of getting a psych evaluation on their own. I’m currently have a school therapist in which I sometimes talk to her. (She did decide that I need therapy after the first meeting) Last but not least I did had a few breakdowns only because I struggled a lot on Trig/Pre-Calc homework in which you haven’t consider it in your post.
You can’t get into UCs with Ds or Fs on your transcript. To have any shot at getting in, you need to retake the classes you got those grades in and get yours up to at least a C in those subjects. I don’t even know if you can still do that this summer-looking into it, and do it ASAP. You can take the courses online. CSUs also have problems with Ds in core classes–basically your only option will be community college or less selective privates.
So you need to get on fixing those two bad grades ASAP–before applications for UCs and CSUs are due in October/November.
I choose English because I enjoy writing in general and I love to read and analyze literary works (and I like history too). I just finished taking 2 AP courses in the 11th grade (English Lang. & APUSH) and plan to take 2 more in my senior year (English Lit. & Macroeconomics). What is wrong with my transcript is that I got a D on my first semester in AP English Lang. (but got an A in second semester) and a FAIL in Trig/Pre-Calc class in 2nd semester (got a C in 1st semester).
My high school counselor, however, mentions that I don’t have to worry nothing about attending to a Cal State school.