Why are the average GPA’s at UC’s so high, even for some of the lower schools?
<p>they are weighted and they look only at 10th-11th grade. when you grow up in california, you find out fast that your 10th and 11th grades in high school are the most important. so most people who want to go to a good college get serious and take honors/ap classes.</p>
<p>so in reality, those grades are not that high...if you take all honors classes from 10th grade to 11th grade and only manage to get a B- in all of them, you still have a 4.0.</p>
<p>Because of extreme grade inflation in California's weak school system.</p>
<p>Everyone is in the Top 10%, happy days--but bad math.</p>
<p>...Because they weight their admissions based on GPA. 4.0 GPA + 1200 SAT is about equal to a 3.7 GPA and 1400 SAT's in UC's eyes. And there's more students with the first combo than the second. Low grades + high SATs go elsewhere. And Dru - that's probably why they only weight 4 classes, max. Zagat - there's a lot of students in California and only 9 UC's (including Merced.) Given the bang for the buck at UC, it's not surprising that the kids who get top grades choose UC. I don't think your shot is justified. I do know that at my son's school, the 96th percentile for grades is around a 3.9. I'm not sure if that signifies grade inflation or not.</p>
<p>"4 classes, max."</p>
<p>really? I thought it was only 2 extra points in sophomore year, and then as many as you took junior year.</p>
<p>I think it's fact that CA has some of the worst funded, crowded schools in the Country. No shot intended other than I would love to see this change. Teachers are dealing with huge classes and it becomes pretty common to give students the benefit of the doubt and a lot of As for very little work. At our local high school, you need a 4.2 to be in the top 10%.</p>
<p>I do agree with this point. For ELC, you have to be in the top 4% of your class, and I was very surprised (not to be offensive) to learn that some people at my school with 3.8 W GPAs were in that profile. It's pretty sad really...and about 30 people get accepted to Cal/LA each year, which is apprx. the top 6% of the class (not taking into consideration sports or whatever). It does depend on the school district and the rigor of the school; the school district is known for the rigorous curriculum. (Though not specifically MY school...its more University High, which is about ranked 3rd in the state. more like top 15% is accepeted there.)</p>
<p>oh, and blame it on the Governator.</p>
<p>zagat:</p>
<p>not much grade inflation at our public HS -- honors/ap courses typically have no more than 20-25% A's at the top end. Some classes have 10-15% A's.</p>