Can someone (forum moderator) please provide further insights regarding the UC-weighted (capped) GPA? Mathematically, the only way to have it approximate the fully weighted GPA is to take FEWER A-G courses, as long as there are at least 8 UC-approved honors courses. There truly is a penalty (from a UC-GPA perspective) to taking more classes, and particularly more rigorous (AP/honors etc) classes that risk B’s. I know, I know…holistic review and all. But the statistical facts show that the middle 25th-75th percentile for admitted students track the UC-capped weighted GPA (which in turn inversely correlates with number of rigorous courses, at some peak GPA). To be very literal with an example, my S25 (WL) had 26 UC A-G A’s and 4 UC A-G B’s with 20 honors/AP/DE semesters. His UC-capped GPA is 4.13. If I play with the numbers and give him 18 UC A-G As instead, but still 4 UC A-G Bs and the capped honors/AP his UC GPA would be 4.18. So, by getting 8 more A’s and taking 12 more honor/AP courses, he’s rewarded with a lower UC-GPA. I would love some insights on this and why future students shouldn’t be guided to take the minimum number of UC-approved courses and the minimum number of UC-approved honors/AP courses (to optimize As)? The facts show that is what creates the highest UC-GPA.
UC admissions calculates 3 UC GPA’s: Unweighted, Capped Weighted and Weighted Uncapped. The UCOP data tracks the Capped weighted UC GPA but all campuses will see all 3 UC GPA’s for admission purposes so HS course rigor will be determined based on the available Honors/AP/IB or DE classes taken by the student which is reflected in the Weighted Uncapped along with comparing these courses within the context of the student’s HS.
Yes, the less A-G courses taken with the maximum 8 semesters of Honors points, the higher the Capped weighted GPA but the # of a-g courses taken above the stated minimum’s are also considered.
An applicants overall academic record is considered not just the calculated UC GPA’s and especially not just the Capped weighted UC GPA.
Here are some of the academic criteria used to evaluate all applicants:
- Academic grade point average in all completed A-G courses, including additional points for completed UC-certified honors courses.
- 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.
- Identification by UC as being ranked in the top 9 percent of your high school class at the end of your junior year (Eligible in the Local Context, or ELC).
- Quality of your senior-year program as measured by the type and number of academic courses in any A-G subject area in progress or planned.
- Quality of your academic performance relative to the educational opportunities available in your high school.
The UC’s also track the # of UC approved Honors classes and # of A-G courses for all applicants and admits on their Freshman summaries. Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California
There is recent discussion on this subject: UC capped GPA?
Also if your student attends a California HS, you can see the average admitted Capped weighted UC GPA for their particular HS by campus on this link although the data is from 2023. 2024 data should be available in the next few months. Admissions by source school | University of California
Wow, the only UC with an average admit below 4.0 from my kids high school is Merced. Brutal.
thank you for taking the time to respond - I appreciate your insights. I hope that what they say is accounted for, is actually accounted for. Thus far, this hasn’t been the trend I’ve observed within family (2 kids 0 for 7 with UCs with 4.13W-UC / 4.5-ishW/ 3.85-3.89 UW), within local circle of kids’ friends at same bay area high school (the 2 of S25 friend circle that got into Davis were the ones with fewer classes, fewer honors, but higher UC-GPA), and even within this forum (but I acknowledge the sampling of those that are posting is but a tiny fraction of overall and may not be representative). Within this experience set, acceptance seems to trend more with UC-weighted (capped) and UW. I’m not really accounting for ECs or essays because most kids seem to have a reasonable number and are writing reasonable essays (I put my 2 in this category, anyway)
There was a post somewhere in the CC forums about the relative importance of the 3 GPAs. The person posting mentioned that his wife has served as a reader, most probably for UCLA, where the WC GPA, was considered to be less important or used mostly to see if applicants met the cut off.
I remember reading a blog post from “ Ask Ms. Sun,” where, she mentioned that only two of the UCs probably pay more attention to the weighted capped GPA. Rest of the UCs it’s the UW and fully weighted GPAs.
UCLA website for admission statistics, post the UW and Weighted GPAs as well. They do talk about comprehensive review etc.
This article might give a better insight into the UC application review which includes AO’s from UC Davis and Irvine. How the University of California evaluates student applications | University of California
thank you!
did this process really start in 2002, though? When I applied to UC’s in 1992, I had supplemental Q/A (“essays”), I was aware that they were looking at ECs like employment, volunteering, and school leadership/sports/etc, and I was aware that it was going to help me that I was a first generation college student. My grades were good, but my SAT score was so-so, which appeared not to matter - I had a few acceptances and went to UCSD.
I moved these comments out of the UC Davis Class of 2029 thread so that others can be part of the conversation.
From the UC-Davis 2029 general page, I am still seeing a very consistent pattern whereby admitted UC Davis students have fewer AP/DE courses and higher UC-W GPA as a result. WL students tend to have more AP/DE courses, higher overall weighted, but lower UC-W (capped) as a result of the increase in classes. This trend seems very real, but I don’t think will get much attention on this page as opposed to that page. No one seems to be part of the conversation here-
The sample size on this forum is way too small to glean trends. D25 “hurt” her weighted capped GPA by being max load AP/college courses etc but got in to the four UCs so far. But essays, ECs, etc all play a factor. It sounds like you’ve had terrible luck so far at 0-7. Those are great stats.
Just out of curiosity, what campuses did your student apply and what were the intended majors?
Have you checked how your school tends to fare with UC in general? You can look at past acceptances by campus. Our school tends to do really well with UC Davis, and Berkeley, but UCSB didn’t accept a single person last year. I think, in general, they judge you against the other applicants in your school. If your school has a lot of APs and DE than the other applicants will look the same.
yes, I do agree with you - hardly representative of all the data, and just my sampling bias 
Hopefully, 0 for 7 becomes 2 for 12 or something similar, when UCI, UCSD, UCSB, UCB, and UCLA announce decisions, and if that happens I won’t be talking about it. S23 had his heart set on a particular school OOS, so it worked out anyway. S25 is open to OOS but more inclined to stay in CA than brother was. Even with other good options, can’t help but to feel frustrated if they don’t gain any acceptances to UCs. Fingers crossed-
It’s a large and high quality public high school in the bay area, so there are ton of UC applicants and a fair number of UC acceptances, including all schools. So many that it makes it difficult to discriminate the scatter-plot data on Naviance. It certainly doesn’t help that they are ‘competing’ against this profile in their own school, but both were ELC (top 9% in class)
S23- all except UCR, UC-Merced and UCSC. Biosciences
S25- same campuses. Business-related majors
This probably also contributes to the challenge- both are relatively competitive majors. S23 didn’t get into Cal Poly either, which was very frustrating (as a SLO high graduate who NEVER would have predicted). S25 waiting for CP still-
Because admission readers also look for rigor (among other things), so that a student who takes only the minimum number of a-g courses in 10th-11th grade with at least 8 semesters of honors courses may not compare favorably in rigor to other applicants who took a substantially greater number of a-g courses.
Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California indicates that the admit rate to UCs was lower for applicants who took fewer than 20 year-long a-g courses (the minimum is 15).
yes, I understand this in principle. it just hasn’t played out that way for our family, yet. This is why I have wondered whether there is a ‘sweet spot’ of A-G courses somewhere in the low to mid-20’s, which (with good performance) elevates the UC-capped GPA. My kids took ~30 A-G courses and at least half of all semesters were UC approved AP/honors. It lowered the UC weighted GPA (4.12 or so).
For UC Davis in particular, if he applied to the New Business major, at the UC Counselor conference it was stated their inaugural Freshman class would be limited to 175 spots. Not knowing the actually applicant numbers for the new major, I would predict that many applicants that would normally apply to the Economics and Managerial Economics major applied this year to the Business major. Not knowing what kind of yield Davis would have for the major, they may be more cautious about the number of admits and waitlist more students than usual.
Not making any judgements but this has been pointed out many times, applicants that are not getting into the UC’s are also not applying widely meaning adding Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz to the mix. I understand that if the student is not willing to attend these campuses then they should not be on the list, but also applicants cannot complain they did not get into any of the UC’s if they do not apply to all especially since the UC’s have become so competitive.