Which is better? Most rigorous or higher GPA?

theloniusmonk
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 03:08:27 +0000

“While I appreciate the elucidation of UC factors 2 thru 14 for holistic evaluation,”

“It’s not impossible to evaluate a large number of applications holistically. As such, UCs do use a holistic review of the applications,”

Actually I think only 11-14 are holistic, the first ten are all academic so on the balance, UCs do not use holistic admissions. They cannot consider race or legacy, no recommendations (though, I know that UCB has started asking), no interview, no “crafting the class” comments from adcoms. First-gen, low SES comes in in point 13, and wanting a geographic distribution in CA is point 14. They don’t have a why us essay because there’s one app for all of them. And you’re guaranteed admission to a UC if you’re top 9% in your class, i.e. class rank.

I’m not saying they’re auto admit or rack and stack, there is some holistic element to their process since they have to weed out the kids that make it past gpa/scores/course rigor review. And they have to figure out which campuses the ELC kids get admitted into.

“just how important those other factors are”

They’re important in that these colleges get a ton of academically qualified applicants, however as mentioned above, they cannot use race, legacy, athlete, personal rating as reflected in the interview, recommendations to figure out who gets in. They do use ECs, the essays to bring out leadership, services but by and large fit for the UCs means academic fit.

"There probably is no hard and fast rule that says they will always favor the higher GPA and less challenging classes than lower GPA and more difficult classes. "

It would depend on what you define lower gpa, the 25-75 for uw GPA for Berkeley is 3.89-4.00 and the weighted gpa is 4.00-4.29. So a 3.75 with a ton of APs and honors is not going to get you in, you have a much better chance with a 3.9 (4.1 weighted with some APs and honors. You are solidly in the middle for Berkeley, doesn’t mean you get in, but the 3.75 will not get past the first review, unless something in points 11-14 come into play.