<p>So I heard that UC only looks at your sophmore and junior grades and calulate using those two unweighted GPA... does this mean that my cumulative GPA doesn't matter? </p>
<p>@coh2272: Yes the UC/CSU GPA is calculated using only your Sophomore and Junior year grades and only the a-g course requirements. They will look at your Freshman grades for reference and upward or downward trends and the GPA is capped at 8 Semesters or 4 year long Honors/AP classes. You need to check which of your classes qualify for Honors at this website <a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/doorways/”>www.ucop.edu/doorways/</a> </p>
<p>Hmm…Sooo if you have 3 honors and 4 APs between those years, would they only calculate the APs or would they use a combination of honors/AP? I mean, will they give you the highest GPA they can?</p>
<p>You have to look up your school on UC doorways site linked above. They will list the classes CSU and UC accept for an extra grade point. As I understand it, all AP courses are there but few Honors but, your school could be different. For calcuating your UC/CSU GPA, they do cap you at 8 semesters, as explained here:</p>
<p><a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
<p>They also see your full transcript so, they know you took a challenging courseload, how you performed freshman year, etc. The more selective the school, the more they look at this stuff. </p>
<p>It kind of doesn’t matter whether they use the honors or AP courses for the bump. The upshot is, they will bump one point for each AP class and for each honors class that qualifies. (Note that not all honors classes qualify - e.g., honors Geometry doesn’t qualify and I don’t think Algebra 2 does either). There is a maximum of 8 extra points awarded, so if you reach 8, it really doesn’t matter how you got there. </p>
<p>You seem to live in California, but I have heard that OOS points may be calculated somewhat differently.</p>
<p>If you live in Ca SOME honors may give you an extra bump, out of state they don’t. This is because only those certified by the UC system (specific classes at specific schools, not just, say ‘honors French’ at every school) give that bump. You can look for the courses getting a bump at California high schools here: <a href=“A-G Policy Resource Guide”>A-G Policy Resource Guide; The UC is saying it sees those specific courses at those specific schools similarly to APs. APs get a bump. </p>
<p>As to the cap, I know they use it to be UC eligible, but at least a bunch of the UCs DON’T use it for admissions otherwise, they eyeball capped and uncapped and everything else but use the uncapped in their profile reporting of who they accepted. Berkeley folks told us in our tour that they give an extra point to every AP, period, no cap. UCLA tells you flat out how many they accepted, weighted and unweighted (no cap). You have to guess on the others, but I am betting if UCLA and Berkeley are using uncapped, the others are.</p>
<p>So basically, UCB will look at only my 3.57 UW GPA sophmore year and my maybe 3.57 UW GPA this year? Will I have a chance then?</p>
<p>Looking at the common data set for 2011-12, 78% of the admitted students had a GPA of 3.75 or higher. To make up for the grades, you will need a very high SAT to even have a chance. Here is the link for the common data set:</p>
<p><a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/cds/2011-2012.pdf”>http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/cds/2011-2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>It looks like the 25th percentile of SAT scores would be no lower than 1900. You will need to aim for much higher than this. They also look at essays, so if you have a compelling life circumstance or an amazing essay, your application will be given a boost.</p>
<p>There are many good schools, so be sure to find some safeties.</p>
<p>UCB adds a point for each AP grade in calculating the gpa, per the admissions people at the info session when I was there this summer with my kids. So if you have APs your gpa may be higher in their eyes, and I don’t know what it is. 3.57 is low for them, but some are accepted with that each year. However, it would be a reach. If that unweighted gpa equates to a 4.1 or something when you calculate all APs in or whatever, that improves your chances.</p>
<p>@Calla1 Ohh okay, I just thought that APs were 1 point but honors were only half. Thanks.</p>
<p>So they don’t look at your freshman grades at all? What if I did very good freshman year, kinda bad sophmore year, and improving again junior year? Will this be ok?</p>
<p>@coh2272 they eyeball your freshman year, but don’t use it in computing your gpa. You need to calculate your UC gpa to make predictions for yourself with the UCs. <a href=“University of California Counselors”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/#5</a></p>
<p>here are the a-g courses: <a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;