<p>Bay, I used to know how to get to the obscure section of the UCOP website where it defined this… here is another website which references the 8 semester (4 year long courses) cap on the AP extra point. It also disallows the AP point for classes taken freshman year.</p>
<p>[CaliforniaColleges.edu</a> - Calculating Your GPA](<a href=“http://www.californiacolleges.edu/admissions/california-state-university-csu/gpa_calculator.asp]CaliforniaColleges.edu”>http://www.californiacolleges.edu/admissions/california-state-university-csu/gpa_calculator.asp)</p>
<p>Now, to reinforce what I said in prior posts, this ONLY AFFECTS UC GPA. So even though a person may take 7 AP year long courses, only four may bump the gpa.</p>
<p>So the question is… if a person takes AP class #5, and #6, and gets Bs, it does drag down gpa, since they only count for 3 points, not the normal 3+1 for being AP. However, I believe an adcom would rather see AP courses #5 and #6 with Bs, than two similar classes in the regular curriculum in which the student receives As. It speaks to the person’s willingness to challenge themself. This is assuming of course that the B grades does not cause a person’s gpa to fall below the UC minimum standard for application to the UC system. In that case, where a person is barely qualifying for UC, I would think twice about taking AP classes that might drag me below the minimum threshold for UC.</p>
<p>Again, another reason why “UC GPA” is not the most important metric in an application. The adcom will review each and every class, and the limitations of what counts toward “UC GPA” is irrelevant to a complete evaluation of an applicant’s file.</p>
<p>The other thing to remember is that I am speaking ONLY of UCLA and Berkeley in this thread. The “Formula UC’s” like UCSD and I think Davis might require a strategy where UC GPA is more important than the actual rigor of coursework taken during high school. And I suppose freshman year grades are also irrelevant to the “formula UCs”, but haven’t looked at that carefully enough to say.</p>