Jstuff

Hello all, I have a big problem. So last year I applied to some UC schools and got in, but then I was selected to do an exchange program with rotary. The UC schools wouldn't delay admission, and said I have to reapply next year which is what I am currently doing right now. But I have a problem UC changed there admissions requirements this year. Now in the performing arts section you have to have one year long course in art. So if you take two art classes for a semester they have to build on each other for example sculpture then sculpture 2. Well I took art 1 and sculpture 1 in my school which was all i needed to graduate, but now I can't apply to UC. I called them and they were no help at all and idk what to do. I took the classes in the same semester so no matter what i do it says the classes are incomplete. Idk what to do can someone please help me. It's my dream to go to a UC school. Is me not slacking my senior year and taking AP classes instead of art classes like everyone else really going to keep me out of UC?????? Thanks for reading this and your help

happymomof1

You need to send them an email, and let them know that you graduated high school in 2012, before this policy had been initiated. Ask them what to do. You want their answer in WRITING, not just on the phone.

They should have a system for this. No one in their right mind would expect people who graduated HS in previous years to return to HS just for a one-semester course.

bluebayou

sorry, J but UC does not change its policy over one year. They typically announce a policy change 3-4 years out. And in the case of VAPA, the one-year course requirement (not two semesters of a different course) was implemented 10+ years ago.

Yup, that was announced back in the dark ages, i.e., in the previous millennium (late '90's).

I'm guessing that you are OOS? The good news is that UC is still begging OOS'ers to pay full freight, so they sometimes overlook the VAPA requirement for OOS students with high test scores. (see Admission by Exam)

http://admission.universityofcalifor...ion/index.html

Jstuff

Blue if they implemented this "new" requirement years ago in the "dark ages" then why did I not run into it when I applied last year? The classes part of my application is the exact same.

camomof3

This was the policy back when D applied two years ago (and her high school informed parents and students in her freshman year of the UC/CSU requirements)

No idea why you didn't run into the problem last year. Maybe they overlooked it? Seems odd.

bluebayou

Or misread the app. An applicant may take Ceramics 1 and Ceramics 2 simultaneously for VAPA:

But the one-year VAPA requirement has been around for at least 10 years.

ucbalumnus

Or the OP qualified for "admission by exam" as linked to above?

Jstuff

No guys you're not understanding what they have changed. I completed a whole year of visual arts, but this year they have implemented a new requirement that the year has to be one introductory level class and one advanced, so that they build on each other. That is new i promise all of you i called them and they told me that it's new this year. My problem is that my year of art classes don't technically build on each other. since one is art and the other is sculpture. Can someone please give me some advice on what i can do cause right now I'm pretty desperate, but all I have received any.

yoamogatos

Here are 2 choices from the UC website:

Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP History of Art, Studio Art or Music Theory Exam;
score of 5, 6 or 7 on any one IB HL exam in Dance, Film, Music, Theatre Arts or Visual Arts

College courses:

Grade of C or better in any transferable course of 3 semester (4 quarter) units that clearly falls within one of four visual/performing arts disciplines: dance, drama/theater, music or visual art

The AP Art History test could in theory be self-studied. It does not involve creating art, just the academic study of it.

My son took an online jazz history class through the local CC for 1 semester and fulfilled his "F" requirement that way.

aunt bea

You need to speak to the universities directly because no one here can answer your specific question. If they changed the policy after they originally accepted you, you may able to show your acceptance from last year. Maybe you should go that route.

bluebayou

No j, YOU are not understanding. UC did not just change its policy. (Think about it critically -- how could a public University, which attracts applicants from thousands of high schools, "just change its policy", literally overnight? The answers is that it could not, even if it wanted to. There are just too many stakeholders to stop it.)

The one-year VAPA course requirement was instituted in the 90's, and was announced 3+ years prior to implementation. It affects both UC admissions as well as Cal State Admissions, both of which total over 100,000 students. I distinctly remember our high school counselor mentioning during Frosh orientation for my first kid, and that was back in 2001. (As a result of this one-year requirement, both of my kids took AP Art History. OTOH, one-year of Ceramics is the popular, less rigorous choice of UC/Cal State wannabes.)

mikemac

No, they have not. You can look at the slides the UC system presented at a counselor conference back in 2000. On slide 12 it says that in 2003 there would be a requirement for 2 semesters of VPA, and in 2006 "1 year-long course, second half of course continuation of the first half". See UC Counselor Conference

And you can see this if you look at old archived catalogs from the UC schools. For example, Irvine said back in 2005