Can my GPA cut it for a mid-tier UC school?

Question

Currently, here are my grades. I am a Junior in N. California.

Fresh. Year:

Beg. Ceramics B+
Algebra 2 C+
Honors English A
H History B
PE A
Spanish 2 B

SEM 2
Beg. Ceramics A
Algebra 2 B-
H English A
H History B
PE A+
Spanish 2 B

Sophomore Year:

Basketball (PE) A
Spanish 3 B-
PreCalculus D-
H English 2 B
H Biology B
Student Government A

SEM 2
Weight Training (PE) A
Spanish 3 B
Algebra 2 B+
H English 2 B
H Biology B-
Student Government A

AS OF NOW JR. Grades:
Precaculus: B-
Chemistry: B
Student Government: B
Spanish 4: C+
AP History: B+
H English 3 A

I understand my grades are... crappy. But I hope to be able to raise them.

I have not yet taken the SATs yet, but I plan to take them sometime Febuary-April because I plan to take prep classes.


Do I have any chances of making a mid tier UC school? The only Extra C. I do is Student Government and I am officers of 3 or so clubs.

Sorry for the long read and I appreciate anything

When you say most, which schools are you including?

My three that I extremely want would include San Diego, Davis, and Irvine.

Thanks a lot.

Do UCs not look at the weighted grade?

Because I believe my unweighted grade you calculated quite close, but my weighted would be somewhere around a 3.6ish

Answer 1

Don't count yourself out - in retrospect my SATs were crap - 1250 - but I got into UC Berkeley in nuclear engineering. I think my GPA was around 3.8 unadjusted, over 4.0 including the AP, etc. Point being that your SAT, your essays, any letter of recommendation or whatever will all help.

But raise your grades. You don't have good study habits with grades like that. You better learn them, otherwise your concern won't be getting in - it'll be how to compete against the other kids once you've made it. Good universities are killer, and they won't cut you any quarter. If you don't learn good study habits in high school, you'll die in college.

So cut the sh*t out and buckle down now.

Answer 2

Alright, I calculated about a 3.276, I may be wrong but I am at least close. Out of it on a friday night, this is as good as my calculations are going to get. With that kind of a gpa you will need great SAT scores, I'm guessing 2200+, to go with a good essay and your extracirriculars.

I came from a north bay high school with a 3.45 gpa and 1350 sat (approx 2020 on new sat), and the only UC I got into was UCR, bottom rung until Merced. Keep in mind that 2004 was the worst year to apply to california public schools because millions of dollars were lost in spring which caused schools to turn down many qualified applicants, such isn't the case now.

But you will need to get those grades up, work on good sat scores and make sure you retake all D's and F's on your record.

I'm assuming that by mid-tier you mean UCSB and UCD.

Here's the ranking as I believe they are currently:
Berkeley
LA
SD
Irvine
Santa Barbara
Davis
Santa Cruz
Riverside
Merced

Just to give you the up-side of my story. I worked hard at UCR, held a 3.45 in engineering and transferred to UCSD, so don't lose hope just because you don't get into your first choice school.

Answer 3

Yeah you have a better than average change of getting in. Do well on the SAT and you shouldnt have a problem since they operate on the whole person concept when they are looking at admissions. One thing you might want to consider is taking a college level night class (from a JC or Metro community college) each semesterof HS. It will help to show that your able to handle the college work level before you are even accepted. I know this is something that Private schools look for. My mom sits on the admissions board for an upper level private university out here on the east coast and i have listened in while she was talking to coworkers about what sets HS grads apart. Hopefully it will help.

Answer 4

UCSC is a great school. Those people who are so concerned with this "name brand" or "prestigous" schools are so misinformed. People go to college to get an education that will eventauly land them a decent job. But it is the person and the degree that lands the job, not what college they got the degree from. An idiot from Harvard with poor social skills will not compare to a person from UCSC with great social sckills and knows how to deal with other people. People always think that between two equally qualified applicants they will pick the one from a so called better school but this is so wrong. Its almost rare and never that you get two equally qualified applicants. So don't worry what other people say. UCSC is a great school and you will not lose anything then if you attended some other UC.

Answer 5

Hello,
It looks, like it may cut it for some UC schools, however you need to prepare for the SAT and take the right SATII tests.
I am an independent college counselor and work with students in the Southern California area.
E-mail me at [e-mail]
If you have specific questions.

Answer 6

I got into UC Davis with a 3.2 GPA (weighted) and 1230 SATs. It is a great school and if I had to go back and do it again, I would chose UC Davis again in a heartbeat.

Answer 7

You should have no problem getting into one of the mid-tier schools with those grades, but you probably won't get into all of them. Your best bet is to apply to as many as you can. Although this can be a bit expensive in the short term, it will pay off in the long term.

Answer 8

You can probably get into Riverside and Merced.