Academic index question for UC

Applying to College
1

Hi, newbie here. I have question about UC admission criteria, specifically the academic index. I recall reading one of the thread that mentions about you mentioned community college course as one of the factors for academic index. I was wondering if the forum leaders can recommend courses for me to take in community college given the following factor:

I go to a school that uses PLTW curriculum for my school engineering program, which offer courses like Principle of Engineering, Digital Electronics, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, etc. For STEM classes this year I have taken Pre-Calculus and AP Computer Science, Chemistry, and Principle of Engineering. Next year I will take AP Calclus AB , AP Physic 1, Digital Electronics, and C++ in data structure. These are offered through my high school.

To bump up the academic index for my STEM major (planning to apply to engineering or CE in the future):

  1. Would non-STEM community college course have equal weight in the academic index as a STEM college course?

  2. If I need to take STEM community college course, what a math courses or computer programming course help increase the academic index, assuming I get a good grade in it? I plan to take AP Calc BC after AP Calc AB (both offer by my high school)

Thanks for your input and help!

2

Are you referring to the University of California system? If so, the only Academic Index I am aware of for the UC’s is ELC. ELC guarantees Freshman applicants a spot in a UC if the student is in the top 9% of their HS class or statewide. The default campus is UC Merced.

All UC transferable courses will be used in your UC GPA calculation (if taken summer after 10th grade through the summer prior to 12th) and no difference in weighting for Non-STEM vs. STEM.

Information on how the ELC is determined for local: Local guarantee (ELC) | UC Admissions

For Statewide: Statewide guarantee | UC Admissions

On the application review, each UC campus will weight the 13 areas of criteria differently but having a competitive GPA, good HS course rigor and solid Personal insight essays are the most important. None of the UC’s will disclose how they determine their admission scores.

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html

Take the CC courses where you know you will excel since these grades will be on your permanent college transcript. Also if the HS offers AP classes of interest, take those over CC classes unless their is a schedule conflict. You are evaluated within the context of your HS so utilize your HS curriculum first then select CC courses of interest vs taking classes for the sake of college admissions.