As best as I understand it, when calculating GPA UC’s only consider the 10th and 11th grade years. However, I keep reading about a capped GPA, where only 8 honors semesters count. First of all, is that 8 classes or 8 semesters/grade points? For me that makes a big difference, if its 8 semesters I would have a 3.97 and if its 8 classes its a 4.16. Also how does the rule where only 4 can come from the sophomore year work? And finally, which GPA is reported in the “student profiles” that UC publishes?
UC’s consider 3 GPA’s: Unweighted, Capped weighted and Fully weighted.
Only grades from the a-g courses taken the summer prior to 10th grade through the summer prior to 12th grade are included in the UC GPA calculation.
Capped weighted means a maximum number of 8 honors points (8 semesters or 4 year long classes) are weighted. If you are a California HS student then UC approved Honors, AP, IB or DE courses are weighted with a maximum of 4 points in 10th grade and a total of 8 points for both 10th - 11th grades.
The capped weighted UC GPA is the most common GPA quoted on the UC Freshman profiles but several UC’s such as UCB and UCLA will also quote the admitted Fully weighted UC GPA.
Fully weighted UC GPA gives an unlimited # of honors points for these courses taken 10-11th grades.
The following is from the UC Freshman profile listed on the UC application website:
**2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range: **
UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)
UCSD: 4.18(4.04-4.28)
UCSB: 4.17 (4.03-4.27)
UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)
UCD: 4.11 (3.97-4.25)
UCSC: 3.94 (3.71-4.16)
UCR: 3.88 (3.65-4.11)
UCM: 3.68 (3.40-3.96)
You do not choose which courses are weighted in the capped weighted. If you have more than 8 semesters of weighted classes for 10 and/or 11th, then the calculator caps it at 8 honors points period.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
You can check UCB’s and UCLA’s website for their Fully weighted UC GPA data.
Maximum Capped Weighted UC GPA is 4.4. Maximum Fully weighted UC GPA is 5.0
UC GPA Requirement calculation: https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/gpa-requirement.html
UC GPA Calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Hope that helps! Good luck with admissions!
Also, the UC GPA calculator SHOULD be current but you might want to double check the formula on the site with what’s listed on the UC Admissions website.