Hello, I am a senior in high school with 42 A-G courses-- much lower than the UCSD average of 53 courses. I have taken three courses (ROPs and Health) which did not count as A-Gs, but even if I had replaced them, I would still have 48 courses. I have taken a SAT subject test to fulfill the language requirements, but would I count them as a course? Why do I have so little compared to everyone else? Thanks!
According to the UC Website, 40.1% of applicants had 50+ a-g courses which included courses taken 7-12th grade. Have you included any a-g courses taken in Middle school? What about the courses you are taking Senior year, are they included in the 42 total? Do you meet and even exceed the UC minimums? Are you on a semester system at your HS?
What is more important is if you done well (grade wise) in your a-g courses and you meet and/or exceed the minimum a-g course requirements along with having a rigorous schedule.
My high school is semester-based. Yes, I will be completing 42 courses this year, including middle school classes. I will be exceeding the A-G requirement of 30 courses, but the averages I found were very surprising! Because some universities list the average number of courses, would my average put me at any disadvantage?
BTW, thanks for the fast response ;
I do not believe being below the average in the # of a-g courses is a disadvantage as long as you meet the requirements. Averages are just that, so you will have applicants above the average and below the average.
Since UC’s are very GPA focused, your grades in the a-g courses will be more important along with HS course rigor. It will also depend upon your intended major. The UC’s may list up to Algebra 2 as the minimum, but many STEM majors will exceed these requirements by taking up to Cal BC like my son’s or even dual enrollment courses above what their HS’s offer.
Nothing can be changed at this point, but if you have a competitive UC GPA, test scores, some well written essays and solid EC’s, then I would not worry about the # of classes.
Best of luck.
Thanks, Gumbymom! This was very helpful.