Hi all! So I am a high school student, but I attend a program at a local california community college where I get both HS and college credit for my classes.
I will most likely major in something environmental, but from a humanities perspective instead of only STEM (ex: society and environment, EEP, Environmental studies BA.) I know that if I stay another year or two after high school at my CCC and apply as a transfer student to a UC, I will have to complete some general ed requirements and major preperation courses before transferring. (huge shoutout to assist . org)
My question is: If I complete (and get good grades in) my major preperation courses and apply as a college freshman (not a transfer student) during the fall of my senior year of HS, would that be an advantage over other high school senior applicants?
My dream school would be UC Berkeley, either in the college of letters and science or college of natural resources. Other great alternatives would be UC santa barbara and UC santa cruz.
Thank you!
The benefit of completing your college GE’s is that you would start college with Sophomore or higher standing, allowing to you to complete your degree in a shorter amount of time or allow you to pursue a double major/minor or other areas of interest beyond your degree.
Will it be an advantage as a Freshman applicant? That really depends upon on how your HS course rigor compares to your fellow HS classmates and to the other applicants applying to the UC’s. Academic Rigor is only one area of criteria considered by the UC’s, but it is highly valued.
There is no disadvantage in taking college courses other than they will be on your permanent college record and thus have to be disclosed when applying to Professional or Graduate schools so getting good grades is very important.
4 Likes
Any college / AP / etc. credit that can be transferred to cover subject requirements in college for your major or general education requirements will effectively allow you to take more free electives while in college. Such free electives can include additional advanced courses in your major and/or additional courses in other subjects outside your major that you may be interested in.
Thank you! All the courses I’m taking that fall under the major prep requirements for my major are UC-transferable, so in my understanding that means the UCs approve the rigor of my classes? I am definitely not overloading so I can get good grades, one of the downsides of doing this program (and honestly this is the only one I can think of) is that I don’t get an AP bumb for my GPA. Thanks for your response!
Thank you! I am quite excited to have that opportunity, and to only have to pay for 2 or 3 years of undergrad instead of 4 haha. Would you say completing major prep requirements or the IGETC (and getting good grades) would give me an edge for getting into the Berkeley? Especially if I apply to CNR? Berkeley is already such a reach for me and I know CNR’s acceptance rate is basically half of the general rate so trying to do all I can while I still have time.
Transferable college courses count as honors courses (like AP courses do) for UC and CSU GPA calculation for frosh applicants. Note that UC counts each college course and grade once, but CSU counts each college course and grade as two courses and two grades.
1 Like
To estimate your chances at UCs…
Recalculate your HS GPA with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub . Use the weighted capped version for the table below.
Fall 2020 admission rates by campus and HS GPA range from Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California :
| Campus |
4.20+ |
3.80-4.19 |
3.40-3.79 |
3.00-3.39 |
| Berkeley |
37% |
14% |
2% |
1% |
| Davis |
86% |
55% |
16% |
7% |
| Irvine |
60% |
38% |
9% |
1% |
| Los Angeles |
38% |
8% |
1% |
1% |
| Merced |
98% |
97% |
95% |
88% |
| Riverside |
97% |
90% |
65% |
30% |
| San Diego |
78% |
39% |
8% |
1% |
| Santa Barbara |
81% |
40% |
9% |
2% |
| Santa Cruz |
92% |
82% |
59% |
26% |
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
1 Like
UCB should always be considered a Reach school regardless of your qualifications but having good HS/CC course rigor will definitely help but it is not evaluated in a vacuum.
UC’s consider 13 areas of criteria when reviewing Freshman applicants so take the courses that you are interested in pursuing but just not for the sake of getting into any specific college.
UC Freshman application review criteria: How applications are reviewed | UC Admissions