What UC is the easiest to get into?

What UC's and Cal State's can I get into?

• I'm currently a junior in high school (2nd semester) and I don't feel my grades are good enough to get into decent universities or cal states. I also haven't joined any clubs, but I have done community service outside of school (totaling around 100 hours). My PSAT score was 1650 and I will be taking the SAT this June. If it is similar to the PSAT, I don't think I'll have trouble getting around 1600-1700 on it. Anyway, here are my grades. 9th Grade 1st Sem: Biology CP = C English I H = B Geometry H = B+ PE I = B Spanish I = B W Hist/Geog H = B- 9th Grade 2nd Sem: Biology CP = B- English I H = B Geometry H = A- PE I = A- Spanish I = A- W Hist/Geog H = B 10th Grade 1st Sem: Alg II/Trig H = A Chemistry H = C+ English II H = A Health = A PE II = A Spanish II = B- 10th Grade 2nd Sem: Alg II/Trig H = A Chemistry H = C+ English II H = B Health/Driver's Ed = A PE II = B Spanish II = B- [Athletics = A+] 11th Grade 1st Sem: AP Psychology = D+ English III CP = A Physics CP = B+ Pre-Calculus H = B Spanish III = D US Hist/Geog CP = C+ 11th Grade 2nd Sem: (Not finished yet but I expect to get these grades) AP Psychology = D+ English III CP = A Physics CP = A Pre-Calculus H = B+ Spanish III = B US Hist/Geog CP = B+ I really had (and still having) trouble with AP Psychology. I was struggling in Spanish 3 first semester, but now I am at a solid B, 86%, and I'm sure I won't be getting an A or a C in it. I have a C- in Psychology and I'm sure I will be getting a D because it's so hard! Anyway, these are the colleges I'm hoping I get accepted to, but I feel that my grades aren't good enough for any of these. They are ranked from the ones I want to get into most to the ones I want to get into if I have no choice. 1. Cal State Long Beach 2. Cal State Fullerton 3. UC Irvine 4. UC Riverside 5. UC Berkley 6. UC San Diego 7. UC Santa Barbara 8. UC San Francisco

• Answer:

  UC Berkeley and UC San Diego you can pretty much cut out; you would need at least straight B's to have a fighting chance and an SAT score closer to 1800 for UCSD and 2000 for UCB. UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara are going to be reaches for you, so you'll probably want to try retaking your SAT for a higher score. UC San Francisco is only a graduate school, so check that off the list. Ultimately, you're probably going to wind up applying to more CSU's and probably less UC's than you intended to. You would need to show consistent improvement immediately to counterbalance your grade variation, and your SAT score (projected) is still pretty low considering that the UC and the CSU systems are some of the better public school systems in the country. To be quite frank, the remainder of the schools that you have listed are not reaches, but are also not going to be sure-fire acceptances for you. It's always a problem when P.E. and Health are your highest grades, and the apparent lack of extracurricular activities is hugely problematic as the college process only gets more competitive and colleges continue to get more selective.