<p>Im a HS junior looking at UC Davis. I notice lots of people talking about a UC gpa…i know how to calculate it and all, but what role does it play in admissions? I know UCD looks at both weighted/unweighted gpas from all 4 HS years…so…is UC gpa even used in admissions? Thanks!</p>
<p>The UC GPA caps the number of honors/AP points. It only considers sophmore and junior year grades. Classes are pre-approved for the “extra” point.</p>
<p>Since you already know how to calculate it and you know what factors are considered, I’ll just limit my answer to the role it plays in admissions. It allows the UCs one more glimpse at you from another perspective and allows them to compare what is important to them (ie, they don’t care about freshman grades, and they want to know you have challenged yourself in 10th and 11th grades). The UC gpa is probably the most important factor in UC admissions (although, like you said, they also look at unweighted UC gpa and weighted/uw hs gpa). But what do they care about the most? The UC gpa. After all, they even gave it a special name.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great info! :-)</p>
<p>The purpose of the UC GPA is to determine a California residents eligibility for admission. You use it with test scores to see if you qualify as being in the top 9% of resident applicants. If you do qualify you will be admitted to “a” UC but not necessarily one of your choice (as long as you actually make sure you apply to those lower level UCs that usually take all 9% applicants).</p>
<p>As to determining your actual admisison to any particular UC, such as Davis, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, the college does a full file review, which can include considering that UC GPA, but also includes considering all freshman through junior year grades, possible additonal weight for all AP, IB and honors courses, and can also include considering an earlier bad grade for a course retaken. In oither words, the college can consider anything in your file. However, that will not include senior year grades because you do not submit those for determining admisison (although some applicants, after the review process has started and all applications are in, may actually receive a specific request to provide first semester senior year grades, but you do not submit them otherwise).</p>
<p>“as long as you actually make sure you apply to those lower level UCs that usually take all 9% applicants”</p>
<p>I’ve heard of several students that did not apply to the lower UCs and still got admitted. I don’t recommend that anyone rely on that happening to them, but if you are in the top 9% I <em>think</em> that you can still get admitted to UC even if you don’t apply. The kids that I know of were accepted to several UCs, and also got admitted to some lower UCs they didn’t apply to.</p>
<p>^Yes, you can still be admitted to a UC under the 9% rule even though you did not apply to it. However, in last couple of years, issues have arisen for some students who failed to apply to a UC that usually automatically takes a 9% applicant and were not able to get into such a UC because there were already just too many accepted applicants. Some of those I believe were admitted in May but I remember some reporting that they were given the option to go to CC first. That should not happen but safest way to avoid the issue is to make sure you apply to places like Riverside and Merced and not just limit your app to higher ranked UCs. It is simple to do because you file only one app for all the UCs and you just have to identify on the app to which UCs you are applying.</p>