UCLA and the most rigorous courseload issue

bferamics30
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:04:33 +0000

I know for a university like UCLA, it’s strongly recommended to take the most rigorous course load available at your high school. My question is just how important is that? Is it a deal breaker? Let’s say a student only took a “demanding” course load but not the most rigorous (some IB and honors classes, but not the maximum available), would it automatically rule them out even if they had a top GPA and SAT scores?
Or would it just be one disadvantage (albeit significant)?

For a specific scenario, let’s say the student only took regular classes their freshman year. During sophomore year they enrolled in 2 honors classes (english and history). By junior year half of their classes (3) were IB, and by senior year all classes were IB. On top of that they were not a full IB diploma candidate (of course) but only IB certificate.

It isn’t the most rigorous but it’s not the easiest route…would they have no chance at UCLA?