How does UC admissions give credit to summer UC Berkeley courses? This are UC transferable courses, so it seems it is included in the UC GPA calculation. Does a 3 credit course get the same weight as a 4 credit course? Does UC give just one semester credit or two semester credits for these UC transferable course? Also, how does UC account for the difficulty of the course?
Assuming you are asking as a HS student? Any UC transferable course taken the summer after 9th grade to the summer prior to 12th grade will be included in the UC GPA calculation for Freshman applicants.
UC course credit received is dependent upon each UC campus. In general since it is transferable, it should get similar credit across the UC system.
Does a 3 credit course get the same weight as a 4 credit course?
If the course is UC transferable, it must be a 3 or 4 unit course to be recognized to fulfill an a-g course requirement and they are treated the same.
Does UC give just one semester credit or two semester credits for these UC transferable course?
One UC transferable course will equal 1 semester of credit.
Also, how does UC account for the difficulty of the course?
As a UC transferable course taken while in HS, it will get an extra Honors point in the UC application (rigor) if it falls within the UC GPA calculation guidelines and unit minimums.
Just remember that any UC transferable course(s) taken while in HS regardless if included in the UC GPA calculation, will be on your permanent college record and will have to be disclosed when applying to graduate and professional schools.
Thanks! Very helpful.
If a high schooler takes CS 70 (offered by EECS) over the summer before 12th grade, then does it count towards UC GPA calculation for their admission? I understand CS 70 is a challenging course, so if it counts for one semester of high school course or one year of high school? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
GPA requirement | UC Admissions says that courses from the summer after 9th grade to the summer after 11th grade are included in GPA recalculation for UC.
It also says that a college course is one course, grade, and honors point for UC (this differs from CSU).
thanks! this is helpful. I am assuming UC Berkeley EECS admissions committee will look at uncapped and fully weighted GPA. If doing well in CS70 ( such as getting A or A+) is indeed challenging, then I am assuming they will find other ways to account for it in the holistic review.
Welcome to CC!
It’s important to get your question answered, but in this case, it isn’t really germane to the thread you posted on. It’s best to start a new thread.
Good luck.
yes, agreed.
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this seems to suggest that about 80% of the applicants with GPA 4.6+ are not admitted in CoE. are extracurriculars and PIQs making all the difference here or something else is going on?
I imagine that other factors on the 13 points of comprehensive review would come into play, too. https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html
For example an applicant might have a great GPA in 10-11, but isn’t taking challenging courses in 12th grade (point #5). Or they didn’t take any courses beyond the minimum number required (point #2). Or even though they took honors/AP courses that brought up their weighted GPA, the specific ones they took were not among the more challenging ones that the high school offered (point #6).
I agree with @tamagotchi that there are so many factors involved in the UC application review that GPA alone cannot define an applicant’s chances although a significant factor. All any applicant can do is to submit their best possible application and be happy and proud of their efforts.
FYI: UCB’s admit rate for the College of Engineering was around 7%. If applying for EECS, it was 4.5%
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all good points and i am sure it happens in some cases, but I think it would be unusual for a student to get a 4.6+ GPA in 10-11 and all of a sudden take an easy course load in grade 12, or take only minimum level of a-g courses. it still points to strong influence of non-academic factors in the selection since 80% of 4.6+ are being declined in CoE.
You are saying this as though a student with a 4.6+ GPA is a “stronger” student, but it’s not necessarily an indication of academic strength to have a GPA at that level. In our high school for example, you can’t get an extremely high weighted GPA unless you take a reduced course load, because there are only so many AP/honors courses available. Students with a normal challenging course load at our school top out at around 4.5ish.
My guess is that this kind of effect might explain some of the plateau or dropoff in admission rate that we see in the table after 4.6 weighted GPA. The students with highest weighted GPA aren’t necessarily the strongest students, as they may have achieved that GPA number either through taking a large number of the less challenging AP classes, or reducing course load.
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Also, if you take Zero classes (7 classes instead of regular 6), it will reduce GPA. I agree with @tamagotchi that 4.6+ GPA is impossible to get in my Kids HS (Bay Area)
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Yes, my kids both take zero period classes, and my daughter (9th grader) is taking both zero and 7th period classes (she has a long day!). Optional classes outside the regular school day may be challenging classes related to their interests, but for the most part they aren’t weighted, so they lower the weighted GPA.
I am pretty sure that the UCs understand these nuances, though. The average weighted capped GPA for kids accepted to UC Berkeley from our school is “only” 4.13, which suggests that accepted kids are taking heavy course loads (since a heavy course load dilutes the capped GPA and tends to drag it down).
are students allowed to take less than 6 courses per year? the high schools i am aware of don’t allow less than 6 courses unless you are a senior where you can take 5 courses. i would say that with 6 courses, a 4.6+ GPA still seems very impressive to me, assuming most of the honors classes are AP or IB. Of course, if the GPA is not substantiated by AP or IB exam scores then that could be a problem.
You could take a P/NP athletics class during the school day and then you would have only 5 graded core classes, which would raise your weighted GPA… but it wouldn’t make you a stronger student.
yes, agreed.
Can somebody give an example of “Outstanding work in one or more special projects in any academic field of study” ? It is one of 13 factors in comprehensive review. How applications are reviewed | UC Admissions
7. OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN ONE OR MORE SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREAS.
Here’s where your 350-word responses can help. Are you the top student in your AP Calc AB class–so much so that your teacher made you a teaching assistant in the class. Do you tutor other students?”
Or did you take your study of science to the next level by taking an online course in Genetics with a Duke professor and then applying for and completing an internship over the summer at a local university? All these would be considered “outstanding performance” in a subject area.
8. OUTSTANDING WORK IN ONE OR MORE SPECIAL PROJECTS IN ANY ACADEMIC FIELD OF STUDY.
The terms “special project” is somewhat flexible here and a few examples:
- Reaching out to a professor from a local university and getting to take part in a summer internship where you learned the basics of data science
- Doing independent research and maybe even getting published
- As one of your school’s top math students, you started a tutoring club to help underclassmen, and were even recognized by your school for your efforts