This question is about the maximum of 8 “Honors Points” that are applied to the UC GPA calculation.
My D26 transferred from private to public after Freshman year, and as a result had to take some freshman required classes. This prevented her from taking any Honors or AP classes Sophomore year. Now, in Junior year, she has 3 APs, giving her 6 “Honors Points.” She’s got nearly all A’s; if I calculated her UC GPA right, she has a 4.21 now.
I understand UC will count classes from Junior year summer. If she were to get 1 more honors A, that would be a 4.24 GPA; 2 Honors A’s would be 4.27.
My questions:
Can she make up 1 or 2 “honors points” with community college courses over the summer?
If so, how can she be certain a given course would qualify?
And if she can do it, should she?
Since test scores aren’t used any more, it seems GPA is awfully important, and I know she would love to get into Cal or UCLA. Will an extra .03 or .06 on her GPA make the difference?
Hi. Yes both UC and Cal State allow classes taken in the summer before 12th grade to count in the “UC/Cal State” GPA. One option is that she can take honors HS classes over the summer as long as they qualify for a-g and are UC “honors.” You would need to check the online summer program (APEX, Opportunities For Youth, etc - even UC Scout) to make sure these are, in fact, “UC honors” courses. Go to the UC articulation guide (Google “UC articulation guide”) and enter in the high school she might take the course(s) and double check they are noted “UC honors” and she will get an extra point for each semester. For CC classes, it can get trickier. For UC purposes, the course would need to be at least 3 or 4 credits, and I would check under the ASSIST website (Google ASSIST.org) to see if the course is what is called “UC transferable” - you can put in the name of the CC and check the box for UC transferable, and then it will show if that course counts as UC transferable. Note: you will need to go under the area of the course - example: Business. That is needed. Then, you must determine if the course falls under an “a-g.” I would recommend going back to the UC articulation guide (Google “UC articulation guide”) and putting the name of the CC (on the home page - go under Institution type and check community college, enter the name). Unfortunately, the UC articulation guide does not have a current list of a-g courses for any community college—so go back to 2013-2014 and see if the course existed and what it says it is —“a-g.” If you don’t see the course listed, I suggest going back to the home page for the UC articulation guide and checking the box COURSES, entering the name of the course and see what California high schools might have that course or similar and see how the course is categorized (again a-g). If that fails or you are uncertain, email AskUC@ucop.edu and ask them to confirm if the course is “a-g.” ---- so there are a few steps. Most important is ensuring the CC class is 3 to 4 credits, UC transferable, and then what a-g.
As far as should she? That is hard to say. Each student is different, and a high GPA does not guarantee admission to a UC or Cal State. There are too many bright and qualified students and not enough space. If a student is genuinely interested in something, do it.