Freshman grades UC's

Applying to College
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<p>I've been lurking around this forum but haven't really found an answer to my question. For UC applications specifically, how much do freshman grades impact your admissions? I'll be honest, my freshman year was a little... bad. I didn't necessarily know what I was doing. I had 5 B's total (2 semesters of AP Human Geography, 2 semesters of Honors English, and 1 semester of Honors Geometry) which dramatically decreased my unweighted overall GPA. However, during sophomore year, I've only gotten 2 B's (1 B+ in Honors English and 1 B+ in Algebra 2) then junior year 2 B's (2 semesters of AP physics.) </p>

<p>I do realize that UC's only "use" sophomore and junior year in their UC GPA calculation but is that the GPA that they'll use for eligibility to apply to a UC or the GPA that they'll use in general for their decisions in admissions? My 9-11 unweighted is around a 3.67 (not too hot huh?) and UCGPA is 4.2 (see the difference?)</p>

<p>The reason why I'm asking is because I'm a little worried that I won't make it to certain UC's because of my freshman year grades and I heard most UC's weight GPA very heavily.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help! Here's my grades in general. I received my CSU/UC grade report from my counselor if this helps answer your question:</p>

<p>Social Sciences:
1. Human Geography AP : B- , B (9th)
2. World History AP : A- , A- (10th)
3. US History AP : A , A (11th)
4. Government : N/A (12th)
5. Economics : N/A (12th)</p>

<p>English:
1. English 9 Honors : B , B (9th)
2. English 10 Honors : A , B+ (10th)
3. English 11 Honors : A- , A- (11th)
4. AP Literature : N/A (12th)</p>

<p>Math:
1. Algebra 1 Honors : A , A- (8th)
2. Geometry Honors : B+ , A (9th)
3. Algebra 2 Honors : B+ , A (10th)
4. Pre-Calculus Honors : A- , A- (11th)
5. AP Calculus : N/A (12th)</p>

<p>Science:
1. Biology : A- , A (9th)
2. Chemistry : A , A (10th)
3. Physics AP : B , B (11th)
4. AP Psychology : N/A (12th)</p>

<p>Language:
1. Spanish 1 : A- , A (9th)
2. Spanish 2 : A , A (10th)
3. Spanish 3 : A , A (11th)
4. AP Spanish 4 : N/A (12th)</p>

<p>Visual Arts:
1. Art 1 : A , A- (10th)</p>

<p>Thanks for taking your time to read this. I know you all have busy lives but if you can take your time to help me answer my question, it would be great! (Not sure if this is in the right section so you can move if needed.) </p>

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<p>Freshman grades will only have an impact if you received a D or F in one of the a-g requirements. You still have to self-report the grades on the application and they will be checked for accuracy when you send your final transcript into the UC of your choosing. They will also help determine if you have a steady trend, downward trend or an upward trend in your GPA.</p>

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<p>@Gumbymom So it wouldn’t have made a difference in admissions if I received straight A’s freshmen year?</p>

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<p>Yes, straight A’s would still make a difference in your Freshman year since it shows you are an academically committed student. But admissions for the CSU/UC’s are usually more forgiving if you do not have a stellar grades your Freshman year versus Sophomore and especially Junior year. If you are applying to privates, OOS publics and elite schools, then all grades will have an impact. I am speaking specifically for the CSU/UC’s regarding their GPA calculation. Then there is the exception Cal State, Cal Poly SLO which uses 9th grades in their GPA calculation, plus all schools will recalculate your GPA and use unweighted and weighted… It is of course to your advantage to have top grades all four years. </p>

<p>Also an FYI: My younger son accepted his admission to SDSU and one of his required documents after his acceptance was to send in his Mid-year grades so make sure he was keeping on track with his GPA.
My older son was only required to send his final transcripts at the end of his Senior year to UCD.
Every school is different so I would not generalize.</p>

<p>My son’s guidance counselor told them that Freshman/Sophomore/Junior year grades will help you get into a college but Senior year grades will help keep you in that college. </p>

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<p>@Gumbymom Thanks for the detailed answer. My senior year grades are on track (straight A’s so far). I just hope UC’s won’t portray me as a lazy person in freshmen year. I honestly worked hard throughout my years to improve my grades. I didn’t really know what was going on freshmen year (my middle school didn’t really prepare me and it hit me hard; but I’ve been doing much better.) I hope I still have a chance at UCSD, UCD and UCI. Sorry for many questions I just need to expand my knowledge about how UC’s work with GPA.</p>

<p>Also one more question if you don’t mind. I’m a little confused about majors playing a role in admissions. People say they do and others say they don’t. What’s the real answer? Also, would going in as a non-impacted major be easier to switch majors than to actually choose the impacted major to begin with? Thanks, this should be my last question. :)</p>

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<p>It really depends upon the major. The more competitive the major, the more difficult it would be change into once you have been accepted. The rule of thumb is that for Engineering/STEM and impacted majors you should try for a direct admit. Several UC’s will look at your alternate major and will accept you into that major if you do not qualify for your original first choice major. ULCA/UCB do not look at your alternate major. UCSB/UCSD will put you in Undeclared if you do not list an alternate major.<br>
Admissions is pretty savvy when it comes students wanting to picking an easy major for acceptance and then changing once they get in, so you can try it but I wouldn’t recommend it. </p>

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<p>UC admissions readers will see all of your grades, even if the 9th grade ones are not included in GPAs that are calculated.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It really varies by campus as to whether major matters in frosh admissions.</p>

<p>In general, if a given major is more difficult to get into in frosh admissions, changing into that major later is likely to require a high GPA or competitive admission process, since the higher frosh admission selectivity is due to it being filled to capacity, which also makes it difficult to change into later.</p>

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<p>Freshman grades will also probably be used by your HS for your class rank which is considered in UC’s admission </p>

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<p>Pretty sure UCs do not use your high school class rank, since their application process has no way of verifying it. But they may consider ELC status, which is based on your UC admissions GPA compared to ranked UC admissions GPAs of recent past classes at your high school.</p>

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<p>

You need to look at each campus and your intended major(s). </p>

<p>For example at UCLA if your intended major is in the college of Letters and Science then you are just considered as a L&S applicant to UCLA, your major does not matter no matter how impacted it is. There is a catch, though; many majors in L&S actually put frosh into a pre-major and you aren’t allowed into the full major until you complete the prereqs with a specified GPA. Other majors such as those in Engineering consider applicants to UCLA by specific major, and majors such as Theatre require an audition.</p>

<p>By contrast UCSD says it does not take intended major or undergrad college into account, period.</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus For ELC, how much of an impact does it have on admissions and does being in top 9% of class consider freshmen year grades as well or do they calculate by UCGPA or whatnot? I hope high school rank is not considered. I could’ve been higher up if I didn’t mess up freshy year! Thank you for your answer!</p>

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<p>@mikemac For UCSD, the Jacobs School of Engineering is impacted. It also tells me to choose an alternative major. What option is best for this? As of now I put undeclared but I heard if you don’t pick an alternative major they will then consider you as undeclared as well (if there isn’t enough room in the major) so would it matter? My uncle mentioned that if I get in as undeclared and do well, I have a good chance at transferring to engineering because many people drop the major due to its difficulty. Can you verify this as well? Thanks.</p>

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<p>@Fysiks, I can only pass along what I’ve read on their website.

That</a> was what I referred to in my previous post, but looking at the UCSD website that seems at odds with

It’s</a> hard to understand how both can be true. I have no official capacity in any role with UC, so I don’t want to mislead you here. I suggest you contact UCSD directly for clarification, and if you do then post what you find out on this forum. </p>

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<p>ELC is determined by your GPA being in the top 9% GPA of recent past classes at your high school. These GPAs are calculated by UC, not your high school.</p>

<p><a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;
<a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;
<a href=“Graduate, Undergraduate and Equity Affairs | UCOP”>Graduate, Undergraduate and Equity Affairs | UCOP;
<a href=“Error”>Error;
<a href=“http://www.saratogahigh.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=217798&id=2”>http://www.saratogahigh.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=217798&id=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Note that the last link suggest that ELC status is determined using UC weighted GPA without the cap on the number of honors points, as opposed to the more usual UC admissions GPA that caps the number of honors points to 8 semesters’ worth.</p>