Hello,
I am a high school freshmen and I ended my GPA with a 2.8, less than what the UC site says is required to be able to apply to UC Berkeley or UCLA. I know I have made many mistakes this year which were easily preventable. I believe I could get above a 4.0 in the next few years, but am scared I won’t be able to apply to the colleges i want to get into to. can someone please clarify if they only use 10-11 grades or if my freshmen year grades will prevent me from applying.
-Thanks,
dhruv
UCs don’t look at your 9th grade grades except to make sure you didn’t fail any of them.
As long as you pass your a-g courses Freshman year with a C or above, you are fine. UC’s will use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation and gives extra honors points for any UC approved Honors, AP/IB or DE courses taken the summer prior to 10th grade through the summer prior to 12th grade.
Here is a link to UC GPA calculator and at the end of Junior year, you can calculate your UW UC GPA, Capped Weighted UC GPA and Fully weighted UC GPA.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Aspiring to attend schools like UCLA/UCB is fine but right now focus on doing well for the next 3 years and you will have a chance at many good schools.
9th grade courses are included in a-g subject requirements but not used to calculate GPAs used by UC (or CSU other than CPSLO) admissions (though readers can see the courses and grades in the application).
Few colleges will rule you out based solely on your freshman GPA. In fact, a transcript that shows improvement is appealing to more competitive schools. So, do your best, choose classes that you can handle and see where your GPA lies in a couple of years.
I’d add that UCs aren’t the only good colleges in the state. There are about ~250k UC students vs ~500k at CSUs, more than 2m at CCCs and countless more attend schools in neighboring states like UNR - not to mention privates.
For most people, a UC isn’t a good fit - (either can’t get in, can’t afford or prefer a different environment) yet somehow, they still get degrees and jobs and go on to lead productive lives.
I encourage you to broaden your perspective about the next steps in your education. Visit a few campuses while school is in session to see what they are all about. Even with a 3ish GPA, there will be lots of options open to you.