Academic Preparation for the UCs - High School Students
- UC-Approved Online Schools
- Details About Math, Foreign Language, and Visual and Performing Arts
- Course Validation
UC-Approved Honors, AP, IB, and/or Community College Courses
UC A-G Subject Requirements
The a-g subject requirements are the absolute minimum academic requirements you need to meet in order to be eligible to apply to the UCs. If you are attending a California high school, you can find the a-g list for your school at UC Doorways; simply enter your high school name to search for the list. If you are an out-of-state or international student, you will need to check your coursework against the Acceptable A-G Courses list or look into Options for Satisfying the Subject Requirement.
The number of a-g courses you will have completed by the end of your senior year in high school is one of the top factors considered in the application evaluation process. Given how selective the top UCs have become, it is almost never enough to just complete the required a-g curriculum. I would recommend taking as many a-g courses as you can handle throughout the school year and over the summer while balancing your extracurricular activities.
Keep in mind that the rigor of your senior year schedule is an extremely important factor in the application evaluation process. At the very least, you should take 5 year-long a-g courses in your senior year including the appropriate number of AP courses common for a senior at your high school.
There are a couple of different ways to increase the number of a-g courses you have even if your high school is not up to par on offering a good selection. One way is by taking community college courses. Another is by taking courses from UC-approved online schools; these courses tend to be pricey, but it's an available alternative to you:
- National University Virtual High School offers both regular and AP courses. Price range is $275 to $375 per course and there are some scholarships available.
- Laurel Springs Online offers AP courses at $950 per course.
Details About Math, Foreign Language, and Visual and Performing Arts
Here are some details about the a-g requirements that are often overlooked:
Math and Foreign Languages are the two subjects that you can satisfy prior to high school. The three years of required math starts with Algebra I; so if you took Algebra I in 7th grade and geometry in 8th grade, you would have started high school with 2 years of the math requirement already completed. If your high school recognizes the foreign language classes from your junior high as equivalent to its own, you can use the foreign language classes from 7th and 8th grades to satisfy the requirement.
The third recommended laboratory science can be in any of the three specified fields: biology, chemistry, or physics. So if you took biology and chemistry, you don't necessarily have to take physics as your third lab science course; you can take physiology (biology) or other approved lab science classes at your high school (or community college). But if you are interested in applying to engineering, it's a good idea to cover all three areas of laboratory science.
Visual and Performing Arts has to be a yearlong course (sequential) in one of these disciplines: dance, drama/theater, music or visual art. You can take a community college course to satisfy the requirement as long as the course is: UC-transferable, at least 3 semester units, and within the four disciplines. Examples of acceptable and unacceptable VPA courses are listed here (scroll down to f | Visual and Performing Arts)
Students can validate lower math and foreign language courses by completing a higher level course. This works if you received a D or lower in previous courses or if you did not take any lower level courses. For math, Algebra II validates Algebra I and Trigonometry validates Geometry. Precalculus validates Algebra I and II and Geometry. So if you received a D in Algebra I, went onto Geometry and received a C, then completed Algebra II with a B, you would have completed 3 years of math because the D in Algebra I was validated by the B in Algebra II. For foreign language, say you self-studied German and passed AP German with a C or better without taking any of the lower German courses, you still would have completed 4 years of foreign language requirement.
UC-Approved Honors, AP, IB, and/or Community College Courses
Aside from the number of a-g courses completed, the rigor of your high school course load is also extremely important in the application evaluation process. Make sure the honors courses you take are UC-approved (UC-approved Honors are denoted with an "H" under "Honors Type" at UC Doorways). The UCs view UC-approved Honors, AP, IB, and/or community college courses as having the same weight. There is no such thing as "this Honors/AP/IB/community college course will look better on my transcript than that one."
The UCs always prefer students who challenge themselves, so try enrolling in the UC-approved Honors, AP, IB, and/or community college courses even if you are unsure of your ability to perform in them. Don't overload your schedule or get too ambitious too fast; test yourself and gradually increase your work load over time. While UCs like students who challenge themselves and do well, they would still prefer those who challenge themselves with advanced courses over those who play it safe with regular courses.
I usually recommend that students take UC-transferable community college courses because 1) the courses are shorter (one semester of community college course satisfies one-year of the a-g subject requirement), 2) community college courses tend to be less intense than most AP courses, 3) grades from community college courses are weighted and calculated into your UC GPA, 4) you get college credit without having to take the AP exam, 5) many community college courses are offered online, and 6) community college courses help show UCs you are motivated to take that extra step to achieve academically. Alternatively, you may consider taking AP courses from the UC-approved online schools.
AP and IB Exams
AP and IB exams are optional, meaning it doesn't count against you if you don't take them. However, UCs prefer to see students who make an effort to take the AP/IB exams. Bad scores do not hurt your chances and good scores are brownie points. If you are skipping the AP/IB exams for financial reasons (unable to pay, no fee waiver was granted, etc.), be sure to mention that in your UC application under Additional Comments section.
UC GPA Calculation
UCs calculate your GPA using the grades that you received in a-g courses from the summer after your freshman year to the summer after your junior year. UCs do look at courses you take in freshman and senior years; the grades and rigor of your coursework are considered in context of your overall curriculum but freshman and senior year grades are NOT included in the GPA calculation. UC-approved Honors, AP, IB and community college courses are weighted. For out-of-state applicants, only AP, IB, and community college courses are considered advanced coursework, honors courses are not weighted (but be sure to mention any honors courses so they can be taken into consideration when your application is evaluated).
Competitive UCs like Berkeley and UCLA look at both unweighted and fully weighted GPA. Keep in mind that only your semester grades (or whatever grades that show up on your high school transcript) are used in the GPA calculation so don't worry too much about what's on your progress report if you expect your semester grades to be good.
C/D/F Grades and Repeated Courses
Receiving one or two Cs will not torpedo your chance of admission, just don't make it a habit and you will be fine; same with Ws (withdrawals from community college courses). Repeating courses in which you received a C or better (even C-) will not improve your grade; the UCs ignore the repeated course when calculating your GPA. If you receive a D or F, be sure to repeat the course to erase the bad grade and to meet the subject requirement. UCs have relaxed the rules on having to repeat the exact same course; now you only have to retake a course that has the same curriculum as the one in which you received the D or F. Remember that a regular course does NOT have the same curriculum as an Honors, AP, or IB course. If you receive a D or F in an AP course, you need to repeat the AP course or take a community college course to erase the bad grade.
You may hear about the 8-semester capped GPA and wonder why you should bother taking more than 4 Honors/AP courses. The capped GPA is used to determine UC eligibility only. Part of the UC eligibility dictates that the minimum GPA you must have is 3.0 capped (up to 8 semesters of Honors/AP) for California residents and 3.4 for non-residents. For application evaluation, the UC campuses look at the weighted and unweighted GPA.
Your unweighted GPA is simple to calculate: A is 4 points, B is 3 points and so on. Add up the grade points and divide by the number of semesters you have and you get your unweighted GPA.
Weighted GPA is a bit more complicated. Competitive UCs like Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD look at fully weighted GPA, meaning that you get an extra grade point for every UC-approved Honors, AP, IB, and community college course you take from the summer after freshman year to the summer after junior year. Other UCs cap the weighted GPA at 4.4 or 4.5 (the GPA is chopped off at the cap). As if that's not confusing enough, each UC campus calculates the community college grades you receive into your GPA a little differently.
Berkeley calculates community college course grades into your GPA is by pretending they are high school AP courses; so one 3-unit or above UC-transferable course is the equivalent of one 2-semester high school AP course for the purpose of calculating your GPA.
UCLA and Irvine will only count the community college course grade once; so a 3-unit or above UC-transferable course is treated as an equivalent of one semester of high school AP course for the purpose of calculating your GPA (the community college course does satisfy the one-year of subject requirement; it's just counted as one semester for GPA calculation)
The rest of the UCs will likely use one of these two methods for calculating community college course grades into the GPA. But obviously it would be almost impossible to compare your GPA (any version of your GPAs) to the stats published by the UCs and make an educated guess of your chance of acceptance.
What does this all mean? Well, you should stop stressing about your GPA! Trust in yourself and trust that the right UC will find you to be the kind of students it wants and admit you. Going to a good college is very important; but going to the right college is even more important!
School Disciplinary Actions
UCs do not require applicants to disclose school disciplinary actions or criminal records. But keep in mind that most private colleges do request such information. You have the option to reveal any disciplinary actions or criminal records in your UC personal statement but remember that it could backfire if not handled delicately. Stay out of trouble for the sake of your own sanity and stay focused on your long term goal (college). But if you happen to get detention or suspended, it's not the end of the world.
Get your parents involved with your college planning. Ask them to meet with your school counselor and show concern for your college plans. Your counselor is more likely to pay attention to your schedule if s/he knows your parents will be showing up at school if anything goes awry.
Talk to your teachers before or after class and show some interest in them and the subjects they teach. Ask them how you can improve your performance in the subject and get better grades. The better your teachers know you the more likely they are willing to help you.
Copyright © 2009 Wei-Li Sun
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