I have a question to the admission pros here. I see some posts showing a UC capped GPA of 4.4. Because UC capped GPA can only include a max of 8 semester classes at 5.0, every other class you take will end up lowering this GPA even when getting an A. With a rigorous class schedule, the best UC capped GPA possible would have been about 4.33.
Some strategize to aim for a high UC capped gpa but most suggest taking a more rigorous class schedule even if it means ending up with a lower UC capped GPA. But you can’t really have it both ways right? What’s your opinion on this? Thanks!
BTW, I’m not asking about UCLA admission specifically, just in general. I only posted on this thread because I saw a few posts here with a UC Capped GPA of 4.4 so I was wondering if taking a low number of classes to reach a high UC Capped GPA is a good strategy for UC in general.
I calculated the UC Capped GPA same as you, if we took only 6 classes in each year of 10th and 11th grade, it would reach 4.33. But we took one more chemistry class during 10th grade summer, the final capped GPA dropped to 4.31. Kind of feel the more classes you take, the lower UC GPA because of the cap.
I asked the same question last year because S24 started college classes right after 8th grade. In fact 8 of his college classes were taken before the 10th grade. With UC Capped GPA, due to his 10 honors grade and 7 more DE grades, his capped GPA was only 4.2 (numerator/denominator problem) which is much lower than the theoretical max of 4.5 capped.
But he has managed to get into 4 UCs so far, even the ones supposedly do not fully weight grades like D/SD/I. My conclusion from all this is that it’s not just about straight up GPA. If you are gaming this mathematically, you will be one of the posters in the near future with “perfect GPA” but denied.
Just to give you more information about why trying to maximize the Capped weighted UC GPA is not a good idea.
The UC’s consider 13 areas of criteria in their application review and which includes:
Number of, content of and performance in all A-G subject areas beyond the minimum requirements.
Number of and performance in UC-approved honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate Higher Level and transferable college courses.
So here is the admit data for the UC’s systemwide and for UCLA as an example in regards so the number of yearlong a-g courses taken 9-12th grade and also the number of Honors courses (UC approved Honors, AP, IB, DE) taken 10-11th grades.
Of course a HS student is evaluated within the context of the their HS
2023 Number of yearlong a-g courses taken 9-12th:
Campus
UC Wide
UCLA
A-G courses taken 25 or more
55%
71%
A-G courses taken 20-24.9
41%
27%
A-G courses taken 20 or less
4%
2%
2023 Number of Honors courses taken 10-12th: Table Edited
@nwsreader The top schools like cal and ucla and others look at fully weighted gpa as well as UC GPA and course rigor.
I would suggest take classes they like and max rigor and more than minimum number of classes if you are aiming for th e top half of the UCs. Maybe the CsUs may fair better taking fewer classes so the capped gpa is higher.
Fwiw my daughter applied to 13 schools. She has gotten into 11 ( waiting on SB and cal). She got regents at ucsc and honors at Irvine and I to Tulane and Caltech. She took 70 DE credits and 25-26 AP/De courses with 34 years of a-G classes
Her overall GPA4.65 now and UC gpa 4.28. And CSU gpa 4.19.
So yes the rigor decreased her UC/csu gpa but I think her rigor helped her get in.
I’m no expert but. I think someone with 6 classes per yr x4 years will be at a disadvantage to someone with 9 classes per year x4 years ( if the rest of the application is similar).
Sorry, there was some incorrect data listed on the original table. It should be 38% for 10+, 38% for 5-9.9 and 24% for 5 or less. I will edit. There is some issue if you click on the Admissions summary graph vs. the table.
The point I was trying to make was the idea of maximizing the Capped weighted UC GPA by taking less a-g courses would penalize a student more vs. taking more a-g courses and having a lower Capped weighted UC GPA (dilution effect).
The data posted illustrates that the number of a-g courses and the number of available Honors courses are very important vs trying to game the GPA calculation.
Yes, this data is very good to have. I wouldn’t try to game the GPA calculation, but it seems it worked out for at least a couple who posted the 4.4 as the UC Capped GPA (they must have taken only 10 classes in 10th/11th). Thank you for the info.
The fully weighted GPA could be capped and uncapped. I am not sure we are all on the same page.
I always think the capped GPA is there for “even the playground” for students whose go to a high school that does not provide a lot of AP classes or some schools (like the one my son attended) that limited the student to take up to 3 AP classes per semester; otherwise a “very very good reason” is needed to allow students to take more than 3 APs per semester.
The capped GPA we use in website is not correct in my opinion.
Because the UC adds points to honor chemistry but honor biology. Also honor Algebra and English. When we filled up GPA on uc application, it stats what honor classes are counted as + points
I thought the same of the unweighted GPA - an equalizer. Our HS offers zero honors or AP for sophomores, so if you want to get to the UC capped of 8 semesters you must take 4 AP junior year. Hard to do that too, since there are few offered even then, and many of the science AP you need a prerequisite for - which you can’t take until junior year, so the AP version would be senior year and too late for applications. My daughter took 3 AP junior year so did not meet the UC gpa cap, but has 4 this year to try and show “rigor”. She was denied UCI and UCLA and waitlisted at UCSB and UCSD
Maybe his all has zero to do with that - just adding info
Each HS will submit their list of HS courses that they want to be UC approved for the Honors designation. If your HS’s Honors Biology, English or Algebra are not UC approved, they will not receive the Honors designation and the extra Honor points. Any HS can call their courses Honors, but if they do not get UC approval they are not weighted.
My kids went to a California HS and those same courses were not UC approved for Honors.
If you are seeking UC honors designation for your course, you will need to include additional information, such as a final exam or project, to meet the general UC honors requirements below and subject area specific UC honors criteria. You can find the subject area specific UC honors course criteria on each individual subject area requirements page.
Beginning with the 2016-17 submission period, the following course criteria are effective for honors-level courses seeking A-G approval:
Honors courses designed by an institution to demonstrate distinctive features that set it apart from regular high school courses in the same A-G subject area are eligible for the UC honors designation. These courses should be comparable in terms of workload and rigor to Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or introductory college-level courses in the subject.
There is no limit to the number of UC-designated honors-level high school courses that may be approved for an institution’s A-G course list.
General UC honors course criteria
Honors-level courses are specialized, advanced courses designed for 10th-, 11th- or 12th-graders who have already completed foundation work in the subject area. High school courses offered at the grade 9 level that schools might locally designate as “honors” are not eligible for the UC honors designation.
Courses must have established prerequisites, as appropriate to the discipline.
Honors-level courses must have a comprehensive final examination or a substantive, culminating project. The purpose of the final exam/project is for students to exhibit depth of knowledge and sustained mastery of subject material.
In general, it is highly recommended [but not required] high school courses being considered for the UC honors designation will have a non-honors equivalent course offered at the same frequency (e.g., annually, every other year, etc.), in the same subject area, and at the same grade level.
Our school has zero AP offered. None. We took CC classes instead.
School has a cap on when and how many classes you can take. Yes, but they are open to petitions. We didn’t take “No” for an answer.
Eventually schools got tired of these petition paperwork and actually changed their policies: 11 units per semester and down to 9th grade. I’m sure if D27 really wants to do more than 11, they will let her. The old cap was 6 units which S24 routinely exceeded.
If your schools doesn’t “allow” this, I see it as opportunity for someone to take on as community project to convince the school to change its policy. YMMV
A-G classes are also UC approved but for certain courses to get the UC approval for Honors requires a higher level of criteria. Honors courses are A-G courses but get the extra weighting in the UC GPA calculation if taken the summer after 9th to the summer prior to 12th.
The Honors courses for each CA HS are listed on the link I gave you with an Orange/Yellow star next to the course.