Hello!
I hope I’m posting this in the right place, I’m new to this forum.
I will be applying as an international student, and am trying to make sense of the vast amount of information available.
On the UCLA page I’ve found a list of subject requirements (http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/index.html).
My first question is do these apply to international students?
If they do, I might have a slight problem. I went through a natural sciences focused high school program, which means we had a bigger focus on chemistry, biology, physics and math than the social science and economics program. What worries me is the requirement for having completed 2 years of history. Due to the nature of my program, I only had one year of history, and as far as I know I would have been unable to take any additional history courses because they are reserved for those in the social science program. I’ll be applying to the Letters & Science college. Does this mean I will have to take an SAT subject exam in history? In general what would be my options here?
Any help is much appreciated.
@Gumbymom any thoughts on this? I’ve never seen an applicant with only one year of history.
According to the UC website, 2 years of history is required by all International applicants.
Below are the options to fulfill this requirement:
SAT Subject Examination:
U.S. History: Score of 550 satisfies one year.
World History: Score of 540 satisfies one year.
AP or IB Examination:
U.S. History: score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP U.S. History exam;
score of 5, 6 or 7 on the IB History of the Americas HL exam
U.S. Government: Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP Exam satisfies a half year.
World History/Cultures/Geography: score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP exam in European History, World History or Human Geography; score of 5, 6 or 7 on the IB History HL or Geography HL exam
@Danielstrut: The UC’s are aware that not all required courses are available to all International applicants, so I would email admissions and ask what they would consider acceptable based on your curriculum. A 550/540 score for the SAT subject tests are not very difficult to achieve if you just do a little preparation. Please update if you find out additional information regarding this requirement.
Thanks for the info. I’ve sent an e-mail and will be sure to let you know what they say.
@Gumbymom @10s4life I’ve received a reply from UCLA admissions. They have stated the following:
"Our application readers have expertise in different curricula and educational systems from around the world. To be considered for admission to UCLA, international students must have completed secondary school with a superior average in academic subjects and have earned a certificate of completion which enables the student to be admitted to a competitive university in their home country. Below are some of the most common educational systems and average admission requirements for each.
(list)
The UC system has Freshman Subject Requirements which are included below. We encourage international freshman applicants to fulfill as many of these as possible in their education system. International applicants will not be denied admission solely for not completing all of the subject requirements.
History/social science (“a”) – 2 years required
Two years, including one year of world history, cultures and historical geography and one year of U.S. history, or one-half year of U.S. history and one-half year of American government or civics.
Mathematics (“c”) –3 years required, 4 years recommended
…etc.
"
What’s interesting to me is that in their email the requirement is listed as “history/social science - 2 years required”, but on their website it’s “history - 2 years required”. Would this imply that 1 year of history + 1 year of social science is enough? It could also mean 2 years each of history and social science, or two years of either subject. Because while I haven’t had two years of history or social science, I have had one year of each. I’ll be sure to ask.
So it seems that while UCLA won’t dismiss and application based only on if all subject are completed, they probably will favor an application (at least in terms of subjects) where all of the requirements have been fulfilled compared to one where they have not.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
I’ve also seen a page on their website where the requirement is the same as in the email. If I can find it again I’ll post it here.
I have seen a similar reply in regards to a question for the Visual Performing Arts requirement.
Below is the requirement directly from the UC Website.
**Two units (equivalent to two years or four semesters) of history / social science required, including:
One year of world history, cultures and historical geography, and
One year of U.S. history, or one-half year of U.S history and one-half year of civics or American government.**
UCLA is the most applied UC school and according to this year’s acceptance rate, also the most competitive. What is stated above is the minimum and the majority of applicants will not only meet the minimum but exceed it for all of the a-g course requirements.
You want to present the best possible application, so it is to your benefit to try and fulfill at least the minimum by either taking a SAT subject test or taking the AP exam/IB exam.
Both of my son’s attended HS school in California and they took the following which exceeded the minimum as part of their curriculum:
1 year AP World History
1 year AP US History
1 year AP Psychology
1/2 semester of AP Government
1/2 Economics
As UCLA stated, they will not automatically deny you for not fulfilling the requirements, but it may put you at a disadvantage especially when other International applicants do meet the requirement.
@Gumbymom For some reason I can’t see my own reply, it’s like it vanished.
Is in excess of some requirements more relevant to your application than other depending on what you apply to?
(Letters and science in my case).
For example, I took one extra course of math and English, as well as a course in biotechnology (none of which are part of the default natural sciences program). So would this be more favorable in my application than say an excess in history or similar subjects?
Due to the nature of my program and the options my school (possibly the entire country, although I’m not 100% sure) has for additional courses I would have been unable to take extra history or psychology (I will double check this).
To further exemplify, the additional course that I took in mathematics was closed to the social science and economics students. So even if they wanted to, they couldn’t have signed up for it. Same goes for the biotech one, which also had a limited amount of students that could enroll in it.
Is there any way for me to explain that to admission when I apply? And would they even bother to consider it?
You could put an explanation in the additional comments section, but the UC’s are aware of different International programs and their limitations.
Like I stated above, since the UCLA is such a competitive school to get admission, you want to try to be as “competitive” of an applicant as possible and there a different ways in which to meet their minimum requirements. If it is not possible to supposedly meet this one requirement, then all you can do to is apply as is and see what happens.
Below is a summary of last year’s admitted students profile and the # of semesters of a-g courses the applicants had taken when applying. The minimum of 15 year long (30 semesters) of a-g courses is far exceeded:
A-G” Courses Completed by semester:
50+= 20.0% (9,665/48,269)
40-49= 12.0% (4,731/39,439)
30-39= 6.2% (235/3,796) 8.9% (44/494)
Below 30= 8.9% (44/494)
I took the following social sciences that are A-G. You’ll want to take subject tests in lieu of the courses. I took 6 courses.
Honors World Geography
AP World History
AP US History
AP US Gov
AP Micro Econ
AP Macro Econ
So if I understand you correctly 20% of all admitted students have 50+ semesters of courses? Assuming one semester is half a year.
Yes, 1 semester= 1/2 year course
2 semesters= 1 year course
So for the UC’s there is a minimum 15 year long or 30 semester courses just need to be considered and completed by end of Senior year. As I stated above, only a small percentage of applicants will have just the minimum and since UCLA is one of the top UC’s, they will expect to see a-g courses above and beyond the stated minimum. At this point, you do not meet the minimum for the history requirement, so as @10s4life posted, you need to take an SAT subject test either US History or World History to help strengthen your application.
Ok.
Thank you very much for the help.
Hi.
I’ve received another reply from admissions regarding this topic:
“The requirement means that applicants must complete two years of history OR social science. This could mean two years of history, two years of social science, or one year of each.”
So technically because I have 1 year or history and 1 year of social science I wouldn’t have to take a test to fulfill the minimum requirement.
I hope this will be useful to know for someone else in the future too.
Thank you for the update and will file this information. Again, applicants applying to UCLA will have beyond the minimum so to be competitive, I believe it is in your best interests to exceed the minimum but that is my advice only.
As far as I know, the “US history” requirement for Americans switches to “native history” (ie, Swedish history if you’re swedish, Japanese history if you’re Japanese…) for internationals+ 1 more year of history, Sociology, Psychology, economics, focus, government (again, within your educational context - so, if you’re Scottish, Modern Studies counts.) Having more would be expected but if it’s impossible due to tracking it would need to be specified by the Erin acting as guidance counselor.
I believe I’ve seen something similar mentioned on their requirements. I might be misinterpreting your comment a bit but what exactly are you referring to in the last sentence?
*by the person acting as guidance counselor (if you do that have a guidance counselor,. That’d be the headteacher for instance.)
I see. But what do you mean by “impossible due to tracking”?
A track is like a stem specialization, or commerce…
Ah I get what you mean now. I’m not sure how that could be specific though.