I am from Florida. Was planning to apply to UCB and UCSD, but came across the freshman admissions requirements (15 year-long courses) just today. Section F is an Arts course, which I have not taken and not enrolled in my senior year either. Does this mean I can’t apply to any UC?
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/
The VPA requirement is a that a “requirement”. When you have over 100,000 applicants applying to these schools whom are competitive and have taken the requirement you are at a definite disadvantage This is what UCLA stated on an inquiry made by another poster whom questioned the VPA requirement.
While the University of California have a set pattern of academic courses that are required for admission, we understand that these subject requirements may be difficult for some applicants to meet due to differences in school curriculum.
All applications for admission are reviewed within the context of courses available to them; if a particular required subject is not available, we will consider the application without it. We would not deny an applicant due to any one single criteria, therefore if the applicant is otherwise a strong competitive applicant but they are missing the VPA course (1 semester or the entire year) we can still admit that student.
There is no single academic path that we expect all students to follow, but the strongest applicants take the most rigorous high school curriculum available to them.
There are alternate ways to meet this requirement:
AP or IB examination
Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP History of Art, Studio Art or Music Theory Exam;
score of 5, 6 or 7 on any one IB HL exam in Dance, Film, Music, Theatre Arts or Visual Arts
College courses
Grade of C or better in any transferable course of 3 semester (4 quarter) units that clearly falls within one of four visual/performing arts disciplines: dance, drama/theater, music or visual art
I would try to meet the requirement if possible by an alternate method.
Thank you @gumbymom - I have no interest in taking an arts course. I guess my option is to apply and see if they will accept - or just not apply, correct?
Yes apply and see what happens.
Anyone else in a similar situation?
Agree with “apply and see what happens.”
For section F, my D had only a 1-semester “Music Appreciation” from Stanford EPGY. She was admitted to EECS.
(But her SAT scores were very high. I’m not sure if UCB applied “admission by exam” in her case).
All - just to give this a closure - the admissions office replied to my email. Essentially stating that if I don’t fulfill the requirement, I will be disadvantaged, but I could apply with a note on why I could not complete it.