Hello!
I’m hoping that someone out there may be able to give some insight into my chances of acceptance at these schools.
1. UCLA
2. USC (Southern California)
3. UCI
4. UCR
5. UCM
6. CSU Long Beach
(These are in order of preference)
I’m currently a junior who will be applying to a university right after graduation. I’m a Northern California resident (but would like to move southward for personal reasons) and was also born here. My high school is recognized by many universities as quite rigorous and excellent for a public school.
I’m hoping to major in Biology (which I will be taking as an AP next year) and perhaps go into Dentistry or some branch of it.
GPA: 3.5 Unweighted(currently) will probably be around 3.6/3.7 after some grades are adjusted after the year is over (AP affecting final grade, etc.). Around 3.9 Weighted (will also be higher once adjusted)
SAT: 2040 (will be retaking)
SAT II: 4 different subjects (will be taking soon)
ACT: undecided on whether to take it or not
Number of Honors Courses: 4
Number of AP Courses: 3 (Will be taking 4 more next year)
I went from taking almost zero honors classes in the beginning of high school to an increasing amount of honors and AP’s in sophomore and (this) junior year. Therefore, my GPA suffered a little because of these classes. I’m no brilliant genius by nature so tackling some of these courses has proven to be more difficult than what I was used to.
Extras:
-Sport before entering High School
-300+ hours of community service
-Member of service group for 3 years
-Volunteer at the same place for 3 Years
-President of a school club
-Played the piano for well over 10 years
-6 years of outside-of-school (in addition to the same amount in-school) foreign language instruction (In what most consider to be the most difficult East Asian language)
-2 years of instruction in another difficult East Asian language
-1 College course in East Asian History
-Participation in a brief, government-affiliated program to study abroad in Asia
Additional:
-California resident
-Underrepresented minority (no doubt)
-can receive amazing recommendation letters outside from teachers
-many experiences and notable things to write about in my college application essays
-Again, my high school is considered to be quite rigirous in its course work and the teachers are challenging
-I’m hoping to be the first in my family to go to an outstanding school and really pursue a career that will ultimately be financially successful and personally fulfilling.
Unfortunately, my grades are not as magnificent as those of other students who will be applying to these universities; however, I am interested in knowing what kind of chances I have to my top schools. I’ve checked many scatter grams, statistics, etc. and also realize that there is no sure-fire way to predict where exactly I will be accepted, but I hope that someone will be able to give me some indication (mostly to ease my stress). I am also hoping that my extra-curriculars (although not extensive) will give me some sort of boost, especially my volunteering and trip abroad (which opened my eyes to many new things I was previously unaware of). I am very impressed with my achievements in the area of foreign language and am very passionate about my experiences with it. It is really what allowed me to have as many opportunities as I’ve had, and I feel extremely blessed.
As for my interests, I would say I have interests leaning more towards the artsy/creative side, things I’m naturally good at. However, dentistry has always fascinated me (as Biology also has) and I can say that I have no issues looking and probing around anyone’s mouth.
I tried to add as many details as possible; however, it’s impossible to give you my entire personality over the internet. But, I hope that someone will be able to tell me what realistic chances I have at these schools.
Thank you so much!
Categorized | Featured Articles
What Are My Chances Of Acceptance? (details Inside)?
Posted on April 7, 2011.
Well, your credentials are quite impressive and could get you into many schools. If you want the ones you have listed above then your first priority is to to bring your unweighted GPA up at least to a 3.75 (preferably higher), colleges look at the unweighted GPAs and really don’t care to much about weighted. As with the SAT you need a 2200+ to have a good chance. As for taking the ACT, take it the test are completely different and you could submit them both give them a better view of how you perform on different types of standardized test and gives you to shots at getting approval by test score as opposed to one. As for the SAT II, I am not familiar with the point system that they use,so my advice is to take the highest possible score and take 15% or 100 points off and aim for that, but ultimately go for the highest possible score. You will need incredible recommendation letters, as well as a killer essay. As for your Extra’s the only thing that’s holding you back is your lack of high school sports…if you could get in any sport this or next year it’s going to greatly increase your chances…your other credentials look good because your not applying to Ivy Leagues. If you were I was going to suggest a couple other things that Ivy’s like. As for your experiences…use them in your essay, I have seen some killer essays, and for you wanting UCLA, I would suggest that you write at least 5-7 page essay, most UCLA students I have talked to say their paper was about that length. Be very descriptive in your writing this is really a huge thing to the admissions council.
Have you tried asking on CollegeConfidential? They’re pretty good at chancing people.