UC calculates GPA for 10th and 11th grades only. A maximum of 2 AP/Honors classes are used as weighted for each grade. In other words, if a student takes typical 6 periods at high school and earns the best possible grades, the maximum possible GPA will be 4.3. If a student takes only 5 periods and the best possible grades, his maximum GPA is 4.4. With 4 possible periods, the maximum GPA is 4.5. Average weighted GPA for Berkeley is 4.42.
http://admissions.berkeley.edu/studentprofile
Student Profile
Freshmen
- Based on Office of Undergraduate Admissions data; enrollment estimate as of 08/2016.
GPA 3.90 (unweighted) 4.42 (weighted)
In other words, dear students who take 6 periods per year - you are not likely to be admitted to Berkeley, no matter what grades you have and what APs you take. Lucky students, who managed to convince their high schools to let them take only 4 periods - how did you manage to do it? I mean, I am open to any suggestions. What are the magic words?
@californiaaa,
UCB and UCLA use “fully weighted UC GPA,” in which all AP/IB/College/Honors classes during the period are weighted. In other words, a student took only AP/Honors classes could theoretically get 5.0 GPA for UCB and UCLA.
Note that Honors courses must be designated by UC, and is much rarer than courses merely named “honors” but are not recognized by UC as such.
But they also look at capped weighted GPA and unweighted GPA holistically. So if your child has low fully weighted GPA, all is not lost. Many kids get in with low fully weighted GPA, as long as it meets certain threshold.
@californiaaa
In addition, UC website stated that, “Quality of their academic performance relative to the educational opportunities available in their high school.” Therefore, if a school doesn’t offer any honor or AP classes, the maximum possible GPA that a student would get is 4.0. And it doesn’t mean that the UCs will not consider this applicant because of the low weighted GPA comparing to the kids from other schools.
I liked UC system because I though that it is transparent. Apparently, it is non-transparent. Apparently, the rules posted on the UC application website do not apply to Berkeley and UCLA (and it is not mentioned!).
Once again, the better is the school, the more “holistic” and muddy is the application process. UC has a special site, that describes how GPA is calculated. Yet, when you start to plug-in numbers, you realized that it is not true. Wow.
@californiaaa
- UCB and UCLA don't only use fully weighted gpa, so you won't find that clearly. But, you will notice, as you did, that they announce their stats using fully weighted all over their websites. Also, it was told so by every UC specialists both within this site and other independent consultants.
I only heard about the fully weighted gpa being used by UCB and UCLA recently, on this board. It mattered to me, so I did a lot of research until I was satisfied that it is indeed true.
- Summer after Freshman and Summer after Junior, and everything inbetween
- My understanding is that all UC Transferable college courses are weighted. So it depends, but most of UCLA classes are UC transferable and therefore will count as weighted.
“the better is the school, the more “holistic” and muddy is the application process”
The holistic review is also what makes the schools better.
“I though that it is transparent. Apparently, it is non-transparent.”
Welcome to the NFL.
@californiaaa
If you refer to the Step #5 of the following link, you will understand how Berkeley evaluates GPA.
“The UC system uses the Weighted and Capped GPA in order to determine if a California student is UC eligible. However, each UC campus can determine in their selection policy, whether to use a Fully Weighted, Unweighted and/or Weighted/Capped GPA. UC Berkeley, for example, uses both the Unweighted and Fully Weighted GPA when looking at applicants.”
http://collegetools.berkeley.edu/documents/cat_113-128/Calculating_GPA.pdf
@ StevenToCollege
Thank you very much! Apparently, the GPA calculation is not a rocket science, it is far more intriguing.
@ StevenToCollege
http://collegetools.berkeley.edu/documents/cat_113-128/Calculating_GPA.pdf
is very helpful, but it is from 2010. Do you think it is still applicable?
@californiaaa: Use the Roger Hub UC GPA calculator. It now allows to enter in semester/quarter or trimester grades. Also calculates your unweighted, capped weighted and fully weighted UC GPA.
I am not sure why this is such an issue and I agree with other posters that the UC’s are pretty transparent when it comes to admission. You still have the unknowns such as EC’s and essays, but if you are within range of the GPA/Test scores, you can make a decent prediction on the outcomes and always assume competitive majors need to be above the 50th - 75th percentile in stats for the best chances.
You can also use the following links to determine the acceptance rate of applicants based on UC GPA and also by HS.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary
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I also though that it is transparent, but then I plugged in the numbers and realized that they don’t make sense.
Because the maximum possible under the calculation is LOWER than the average. Apparently, transparency is not very transparent.
Still do not know why this is an issue. Having a high GPA is important to UCB, so all applicants can do is strive to do their best and present a competitive application. I use the listed stats as guidelines and that is all you really can do.
Top schools in this country evaluate holistically. So do top companies and companies with top positions. So do top PhD programs, med schools, etc.
I second @SculptorDad’s greeting.
As with almost every thread you start. There is no magic formula. There is no magical combination of things that will “for sure” get your kid in.
There isn’t a conspiracy that you need to uncover in order to “game” the system.
I agree with californiaaa on this one. How can the average weighted GPA of entering freshmen at Berkeley apparently be higher than the maximum possible weighted (UC computed) GPA for students who take either 5 or 6 classes at a time? That really does not make sense.
Here are two possibilities. The first one is the definitive one, which has been identified above by StevenToCollege, post #7:
-
UC Berkeley uses the fully weighted (uncapped) GPA for its average weighted GPA statistic, rather than the UC capped weighted GPA. Thus it could be higher than 4.42 for students with 5 or 6 classes at a time.
-
Another possibility is that the senior year GPA is being included in the numbers that Berkeley publicizes as the “average” weighted GPA and more AP courses are permitted to count in the senior year.
If it is really bothering you, you or preferably your student could send a polite email to UC Berkeley Admissions asking for clarification of the data. However, I think you should look at the site quoted in post #7. That is actually pretty clear.
@QuantMech , please read above answer at reply #1. No need for wild guessing this time.
Dunno why this is so hard for a senior member who has been on cc for awhile.
The UC admission website is clear:
The capped GPA (aka UC GPA) is used solely to determine admissions eligibility, i.e, does this applicant meet/exceed the minimum to guarantee admission to Merced.
But the UC computer in the cloud (Oakland, most likely), also automatically calculates the Unweighted GPA and the Weighted Uncapped GPA.
All three GPA’s are available to the application reader under holistic review. (This has been true for years, and has been discussed on cc before and can be found thru an easy search.)
Just for a little more info, the UC computer also ‘ranks’ the applicants from each high school. Note, this is not a HS ranking per se, but just a ranking of the applicants to UC that year. The app reader also has that info. And this is where someone slacking off on a schedule will really be noticed – the Uncapped GPA just won’t result in a very high ‘ranking’.
For example, look at p2, Item 4. It does not say, ‘UC Honor courses, capped’, but UC honors courses taken. Period. Not sure how they could be any clearer.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/comprehensive_review_facts.pdf
What they do with all these stats is somewhat of a black box, but is rather easy to figure out what they look for (1st Gen, low income, overcome adversity, etc…)
@QuantMech
Thank you. What is really bothering me, are the lies. Colleges publish a formula for GPA calculations, but apparently (yes, secretly) they are using a totally different formula. Wow. It looks like I am the only one, who is bothered by this fact. What else are they hiding?
Why I don’t like “holistic” lies? Why should I trust they colleges are really trying to get the best students? If yes, why can’t they provide an honest, open information?