Would this GPA and SAT score be sufficient enough to give me a good chance at UCLA or UC Berkeley?

Question

I got a 1900 on the SAT. 620 in Critical Reading, 640 in Math, and 640 in Writing with a 68 on the multiple choice of the writing and a 7 on the essay. My GPA through 9th grade, 10th grade, and the first semester of junior year is about a 4.1.
In 9th grade I took Honors Ancient Civilization, Honors Algebra 2, Honors Biology, Honors English, Spanish 2, an Honors course in the Humanities, and Baseball. I got all A's both semesters.
In 10th grade I took Honors Math Analysis (Combo of Pre-Calc and Trig), Regular Chemistry, Honors World History, Honors English, Spanish 3, and Baseball. I got all A's both semesters.
In 11th grade, I'm taking Digital Computers, AP Art History, Honors US History, AP Calculus, Marine Biology, and AP English (I believe it's Language and Comp. Not sure, there's a small chance it might be Literature). In the first semester I got all A's and I'm currently in my second semester.
For extracurricular, I was on the baseball team for two years at my high school (quit due to anxiety issues) and I earned the Scholar Athlete Award while on the team, I have 10 plus hours (not sure how many exactly) of community service, I'm part of my high school debate club and am a member of JSA (Junior Statesmen Foundation, I've been a counselor in training at Pali Adventures Overnight Summer Camp and Cheviot Hills Sports Day Camp, I write my own blog (it's on sports and I'm looking to eventually get into the field of sports media), and I was just recently invited to the Global Leadership Conference at UCLA because I was one of the top juniors in my magnet (Humanities Magnet). I've gotten one proficient score in 10th grade history on the CST and the rest advanced in every subject in every year. Oh, and I'm also traveling to Spain with my school (specifically my AP Art History teacher and some of the students) in March. We're going to study firsthand various works of art and architecture in Madrid, Barcelona, and a few small towns near there.
I'm just wondering if I'm heading in the correct direction and if I continue to succeed at this level, would UC Berkeley or UCLA be serious options for me. The thing that I'm not certain about is, along with my GPA, classes I've taken, and extracurricular, what a good score on the SAT is in order to have a good chance at those schools. I'm also interested in UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis.
I've also checked out out of state schools such as NYU (I know there's no campus really, so I would have to think seriously about that), University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Oklahoma City University, University of Texas Austin, Ithaca University, Ohio State, Baylor University, University of Oregon, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and Georgetown. (I have various reasons for considering those and would most likely not apply to all because I would narrow them down as I approach application time).

Any advice of comments would be extremely helpful! Thanks!

Answer 1

While your SAT scores are not the best part of your profile, the rest of your resume looks great. If you can, hire a couple of tutors and take the exam again. Also the College Entrance Examination site has a list of all of the colleges and universities with their admission requirements and you can compare schools. That is one place to get get a quick profile of any school that you are interested in and it's free.



I would also recommend seeking the advice of your guidance counselor or a private college adviser, there are some affordable ones around.



Another item of importance is your geographic area and the HS you are graduating from. The reasoning is this, most schools receive numerous applicants from states in the Northeast, but if you are from a less densely populated state, say Montana or North Dakota, and are applying to the schools you mentioned your odds go up. Also if you are graduating from a highly ranked, competitive HS, where most of your classmates have similar resumes, your chances go down.



Finally, even though schools do NOT acknowledge it, they still have an informal quota system and if you fall into a minority category that they are trying to attract, all the better.



Incidentally, and this is a sad state of affairs, but since the economy has tanked, schools are more inclined to accept students who can demonstrate their ability to pay their own way through the four years of college over those who are seeking financial aid.

Answer 2

Your SAT is a little low, but the word on the street is that all of the UC schools are placing less of an emphasis on SAT or ACT scores and looking more towards your GPA and extracurricular activities. That, and a good personal statement should make you a good applicant for schools like UCLA and UCB, but know that these are some of the best public schools not only in the US but also worldwide. You will undeniably face a lot of competition but making your application well-rounded and passionate will definitely make you a strong contender. Just know that those with the highest test scores and GPA aren't always the ones who get admitted.

Answer 3

Colleges don't look just at the ACT or SAT. Those are indications of how well you MIGHT do in college, but don't tell the whole story. Colleges look at the whole person including how you act and relate to them at the interview. Go to the public library and read through the college guides in the 370s (ask for help if you can't find them). Barron's is one; Peterson's is another. Each one has a page or two about each U.S. college or university, telling you all sorts of info you never thought to ask about or have never even considered.

Answer 4

you are better off finishing the basic classes at a community college and transferring to a better school for the last 2 years of specialized classes as they cost so much now. I heard yale is sueing students for loan debts they accepted because the students were so smart but from poor areas and they wanted to do a "community outreach" or "diversity" kind of thing. how rediculous?

Answer 5

Here's the average scores for Berkeley - you can find them on the same site for most schools.

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/Berkeley_Profil.htm



Looking at that, your SAT scores put you at about the 25th percentile for admitted students. This means that you're going to need to work hard to make the other parts of your application stellar to make up for your below-average SAT scores. You may want to consider taking the test again to try to bring it up to at least a 2050 or so.

Answer 6

It is unclear how a 4.0 Gpa each semester of high school equates to an uncapped weighted Gpa of 4.1 even if none of the honors classes are on UC's certified list. All AP classes are awarded an extra grade point. 17 academic classes, all A grades = 68 grade points + 3 extra grade points for AP classes = 71 total grade points. 71/17 = 4.18 GPA

If any of the honors classes are UC certified, an extra grade point is added for each class.

Can determine which courses are UC certified Honors courses here:

https://doorways.ucop.edu/list/app/home;jsessionid=3C5702FDA0F9F5EED5CB93F75E779057?execution=e1s1

In terms of extracurricular activities, they like to see involvement each year of high school in the same activity with signs of leadership such as the scholar athlete award. Seriously should consider joining the team for this season. It won't matter if there is no participation senior year as admission decisions will already have been made. It could not be too late since it is not even possible to be involved in baseball or any sport in California on a school sanctioned team outside of the season of sport under CIF rules. The season of sport for baseball starts Feb 23.

http://www.cifss.org/news_detail.php?id=1216&from_page=sports&type=3

Suggest joining NHS as it membership is considered a sign of leadership. Should be able to attain the Sat scores at least 100 points higher in each section with test prep. At certain competitive(API 9 or 10) high schools, the Sat(Math + Cr) average for Berkeley enrollees is in the mid 1400 range. Get an Sat Prep book and go through it. Sat Math tests Alg 1, Alg 2 and Geometry. Act Math also tests Trig. Take an Act that offers TIR. For Universities that require/consider them, including UC's for certain majors, synchronize Sat Subject Exams to the AP or Final exam in the course.

UC admissions are essentially based on GPA and Test scores with a sliding scale depending on the API of the high school. The rest of the application- personal statement, extracurriculars etc- gives the two readers information of the proper context to consider the Gpa and test scores of applicants from non homogeneous high schools when scoring the application 1-5, or really 1-4 since 5 means the applicant did not meet minimum stated UC admission standards. 1 is the best score. As long as the two readers scores do not differ by more than +1, the scores are averaged. If there is more than a +1 difference, a senior reader who is a full time employee scores the application. There are no set standards for scoring an application 1-4. It is totally subjective. Relatively uncompetitive low API High Schools, with API ranks of 1-4, require a lower Gpa and much lower Sat/Act scores for the application to receive a 1 or 2, which usually means admission, than applications from students at more competitive, higher API Schools. After the applications are scored, admission is by tiers and the tiers are either college wide regardless of major as for L&S or by major for other colleges like Engineering. In other words, if L&S has 10,000 slots and 1,000 applicants are scored a 1, all 1's are admitted, regardless of major. So are all 2,000 1.5's and 3,000 2's. There are not enough slots for the 6,000 2.5's so there is further scoring of the 2.5's and the L&S class is filled. All 3's, 3.5's and 4's are rejected. For Engineering and other colleges, the same takes place for each major.

At "School Reports" tab, find California high school to view academic profile of students enrolled at UCLA and other UC's.

http://statfinder.ucop.edu/

[Above website was taken off line in Mid November. To find the information for a particular high school, must now call UCOP and ask.]

Start to draft personal statements. Try to weave classes, activities, planned major and life goals into a compelling story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zo6NI4wHf4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXI6ELP-aXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jQ3MJgdkJY

Might also want to consider the service academies; they seek scholar-athlete-leaders, are essentially free of cost and cadets/mids are paid around one thousand dollars per month. Usafa is accepting pre candidate questionnaires from high school juniors for its summer seminar till the end of the month. West Point SLS is open till April 1. Usna Summer Seminar till April 1.

The Air Force Academy website offers outstanding advice to students prepping for a service academy, rotc scholarship or any highly selective university. Open all links to the left of the dialog box. Be sure to open the "Leadership Preparation" link and read it carefully."

http://www.academyadmissions.com/#Page/Preparation

Information on earning an appointment:

https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20120125193024AA11LUr

Good Luck!

Answer 7

I want to know more about this as well