Context: I am a CA HS Jr, and I currently have a 4.00 UW, 4.6 Weighted, Uncapped, and 4.32 Capped.
I’m thinking about taking additional APs though I already have maximum rigor to raise that to a 4.00 UW, 4.72 Weighted, Uncapped, and 4.24 Capped. The reason I brought this up is that would decrease my capped gpa by 0.08, which I read online as the primary evaluating GPA for the UCs. However, when researching this, I found conflicting sources.
Could someone clarify which GPA (Capped, Weighted vs Uncapped, Weighted) is used more decisively in an application process and whether I should take these additional APs to increase my Weighted, Uncapped GPA but decreasing my Uncapped, Weighed GPA?
Goal: UCLA College of Arts & Science, Applying for Applied Math.
Do you mean adding additional classes to your junior year (the school year that is currently in progress)? Senior year classes and self studied AP exams will not affect your GPA.
UCLA will look at all three GPAs, but you can get a sense of what they value most by looking at the freshman profile on UCLA’s web site, where they list a range for “weighted” GPA (you can tell this is uncapped because of the numbers listed). First-Year Profile — Fall 2025 | UCLA Undergraduate Admission
However, with the strong GPA you already have, it may be more impactful in admissions to put energy into your extracurriculars instead of adding more classes to the current school year.
What classes are you already taking, and what were you thinking of adding?
You found conflicting sources because UC admissions are holistic. That means, while GPA is very important, they look at much more than GPA when evaluating applications.
Rigor - Shows that you continued to push yourself in a variety of subjects and that you are prepared for college level courses. Don’t slack off on rigor because you are worried about your GPA. Continue on the path you have been on during your first three years.
Personal Insight Questions are used to tell the story of who you are, what interests you, what you’ve done, and what you plan to do in the future.
Activities & Awards (20 of them) show what you’ve done but also what motivated you to do those things, what you learned, and how that activity might have sparked an interest in something you would like to do in college or beyond.
UCSB Admissions has some great You Tube videos about UC admissions. They apply to all campuses, not just UCSB.
The applicant’s full record of achievement in college preparatory work in high school, including the number and rigor of courses taken and grades earned in those courses. Consideration will be given to completion of courses beyond the University’s a-g minimums; strength of the senior year course load; and performance in honors, college level, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate Higher Level (IBHL) courses to the extent that such courses are available to the applicant. In assessing achievement levels, consideration will be given to individual grades earned, to the pattern of achievement over time, and to an applicant’s achievement relative to that of others in his or her high school, including whether he or she is among those identified as Eligible in the Local Context.
Since they look at all three, It is ok to make this tradeoff assuming the AP you plan to take will further bolster your case for admission. You can also look at the admission stats for your particular HS to see what GPA was needed for UCLA in previous years.
My understanding is that UCLA and Berkeley mostly consider the uncapped, weighted GPA, and all the other UC’s mostly consider the capped, weighted GPA. I don’t have a specific source for that, though.
Your senior year grades will not be considered in the decision process. I believe you would need to get a C or below to have to worry about a possible rescission of an admission decision.
My advice is that if you have fulfilled the A-G course requirements (and recommendations) and you are also applying to safety schools, just take the classes that are interesting to you. All of your GPAs are high. The college thing will work itself out.
I am currently taking AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics C: E&M, AP Calculus BC, APUSH, AP Lang, and thinking about adding AP Chemistry, APES, AP Gov the in the summer before senior year which UC weights GPA for. Do you think this is a good idea?
If you are talking about using your summer on AP classes to slightly raise your weighted GPA, I think that other summer activities (such as summer job, volunteering, research, personal project, etc.) could potentially be more impactful and might give you some good experiences to write about in your PIQs. You already have a strong GPA, and activities and PIQs are important, too, as Gumbymom and lkg4answers have mentioned above.
Summer classes might make sense if you feel you need to fill a hole in your academic record. For example, if you have not taken a high school chemistry class yet, or if you feel you haven’t taken enough science classes in general.
But in general, I think you can probably come up with more interesting things to do in your summer, instead of taking more AP classes
I do not think you need to load up on all these AP’s over the summer to be competitive for the UC’s. My daughter never took any summer classes and was admitted to all of the UC’s. If you really want to take an AP over the summer then just take one that you are really interested in and find some other ways to spend your summer. Or don’t take any classes. Holding a full time job or doing an internship or exploring a passion are probably much better ways to spend your summer and stand out to the UC’s. Good luck to you!
