<p>What’s the admission criteria to these schools and is it true that they don’t count freshman and senior grades? </p>
<p>Admission criteria for the whole UC system uses your 10-11th a-g course grades to determine your UC GPA, see link: <a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
Admissions will look at your Freshman grades but not include them in the calculation and they will look how rigorous of a Senior Schedule you to plan to take. Not including Senior grades however, does not allow you to slack off since your admission is provisional and you must maintain a 3.0 weighted with no D’s or F’s.<br>
See link for more application information: <a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/index.html”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/index.html</a></p>
<p>Go onto the website(s) for the UC in general, or any of the campuses, and read the criteria. They will spell out the A-G requirements. They have their own weighting system based on academic grades from sophomore and junior year. You fill all the information in on their application, which is open only in the month of November (there are some special exceptions for CA students). Your UC-weighted GPA must be at least 3.4 to be eligible for admission to any college in the system from out of state. There is a single application, but you have to pay for each campus you send it to. You do not send transcripts or recommendations. If you are admitted, and choose to attend, they will require a transcript. They can rescind their acceptance if there are any discrepancies, even honest errors. The typical UC-weighted GPA at Berkeley and UCLA is over 4.1. The Engineering schools are especially competitive, and should be treated as Ivy-type prospects. </p>
<p>Thanks so much! So I’m understanding that my freshman grades won’t matter at all in admissions? I didn’t take as rigorous classes as I would have liked to especially with electives. </p>
<p>Your freshman classes will “matter” inasmuch as they would fulfill basic requirements in academic subjects, but the grades won’t be included on your application. That is, if they say they need three years of Science, your freshman Biology class would count toward that, and it would matter if you flunked and had to repeat it; if you got a B instead of an A, don’t worry. That’s how I interpreted it when my son applied to some UCs last year.</p>
<p>Oh ok! I did take freshman biology this year, but I’m taking AP Bio this next year, AP Chem and Physics B junior year and I’d like to take Physics C senior year if my school begins to offer it. Will these classes be counted instead of freshman bio or will they all be equally weighted? I really would like to study science and I don’t feel like my grade in freshman biology represents me as a student/my interest in science. My counselor gave me permission to retake it for an A online, so I’m doing that now. Will that affect me at all? </p>
<p>Ask your counselor; I can’t answer that for you. I also know that some of the UCs have on-line admissions chats where you can ask there admissions officers these questions. They’d be much more helpful than I am.</p>
<p>AP classes will count toward your UC GPA (weighted) for Sophomore and Junior Year. The maximum number of Honors points you can get toward the UC GPA is 8 (8 semesters or 4 year long courses). Senior year AP courses are not counted into the UC GPA but will be looked at for rigor in your Senior year and also for college credit if you pass the exams. These classes will be counted in addition to any Science/Math/English/History classes you took your Freshman year (refer to the a-g courses). Also keep in mind, the UC’s have a Fine Arts requirement for 1 year which needs to be fulfilled during your 4 years in High School and UC’s recommend 3 years of a language. All this is spelled out on the UC Application link I posted in my previous post.</p>
<p>If you want the details about the Berkeley admission process, see <a href=“http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/aepe/hout_report_0.pdf”>http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/aepe/hout_report_0.pdf</a> .</p>
<p>Freshman grades don’t count towards your UC GPA, and thus don’t count to determine whether you are UC eligible. However, the UCs that use holistic admissions do consider your freshman grades as part of your whole application package, so they will matter to UCLA and UCB. </p>