DS wants to boost his UC GPA for future freshman application. How closely does admission officer look at type of classes he takes relative to what majors he will apply to? Which campuses won’t look that closely?
Classes he maybe interested in: astronomy/ecology/history/geography/ business/accounting/ information system/ programming class
Major he may apply: engineering related / computer related / business related
Check assist.org to make sure the course(s) are UC Transferable.
Colleges do not expect students to specialize so he should take courses of interest but also that may fulfill UC GE requirements.
By taking courses of interest, it will help in getting a good grade in the class(s). College courses/grades will become part of his permanent college record and they need to be disclosed if applying to Graduate and Professional schools so it is best to aim for an A grade.
Thanks Gumbymom!
Also wondering if AP courses are consider more rigorous than community college courses.
Is the weight of rigor like this? AP courses>community college classes>honor high school courses.
For the UC GPA calculation, AP/UC approved Honors courses and CC courses are all weighted equally.
It may depend on the specific courses. Which would you think is considered more impressive to a college admission reader?
I meant, given the same subject, so say High school AP calculus AB (whole year) vs community college calculus (1st semester)?
Assuming community college courses for math, physics, and engineering majors (not one for business majors), they will cover material at a faster pace than high school AP calculus AB, so they can be considered more rigorous. A year of college calculus courses at many colleges will cover material similar to AP calculus BC (may cover more at some colleges).
Our child unfortunately got B’s in his pre-calculus class and was therefore disqualified to take AP calc BC in his junior year. He is considering taking AP calc AB at school, concurrently take AP calc BC online (and take the AP calc BC test in May), and then he can take multi-var in his senior year (also outside, because his high school does not accept his calc BC credit from an outside online class). Would it look bad to UC admissions that he does not take calc BC at his own high school? He is a die-hard engineering major.
Calculus in 11th grade is already two grade levels ahead of normal math progression, although taking the slower calculus AB then BC route will end “only” one grade level ahead by high school graduation. It does not seem like a particularly high value idea to do a bunch of scheduling gymnastics to try to accelerate more. Completing multivariable calculus at a local college in 12th grade will advance him by only one more semester in math (and if the multivariable calculus course is only a high school course, it will not be given credit, so it will not advanced him at all).
Perhaps of more importance is for him to ensure that he is fully ready for whatever calculus he takes. rurci3 is a quiz that can help him check what he may need to review before taking calculus.