UC app problems – Academic History

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hi, I'm an international student applying to UC Berkeley and I can't get through the Academic History section of the app. Some questions seem inapplicable to my high school education, and even though the "Questions?" column and FAQs are sometimes helpful, the general directions ("Complete the Academic History as best you can") are not. I tried searching through the forums, but that didn't help much, either.</p>

<p>I realize the best option might be to write an email to the Berkeley International Office and I certainly plan to do so; then again, there must be some international UC students here who faced the same problems when they were completing their application, right?</p>

<p>If anyone can give me any advice on one or more of the following questions, I'd really appreciate it.</p>

<p>1) Should I report my middle-school courses even though my high school (obviously) doesn't have a UC-certified course list?</p>

<p>2) In my middle school, algebra, geometry, and more advanced math were all covered in the regular math course instead of a separate advanced course. Does that mean I can report the regular course as an advanced course?</p>

<p>3) According to the UC</a> Questions & Answers: International records, international students' language arts coursework in their native language counts toward the English requirement, whereas their English coursework counts toward the Language other than English requirement. Does this mean I should report my English course as a language other than English in the application? Typing "English" into a field labeled "Language other than English" feels weird...</p>

<p>(The same question applies to U.S. History: a course in the home country history fulfills the requirement, but should I really label it as "U.S. History" in the app?)</p>

<p>4) Should I enter the course names in my native language (as they appear on my transcripts), translated into English, or both?</p>

<p>5) My high school curriculum includes several courses that are equivalent to Honors. Can I report them as such, even though the UC</a> site states that Honors "must be certified as honors courses by the University"? If so, is there something I can use to decide whether to report them as Honors, APs, or college courses? (At least two of them cover some college-level material.)</p>

<p>6) The UC</a> site also says that grades should be recorded "exactly as reported by the international school — whether as numbers, letters, percentages or words". My country's education system uses a 1-to-5 scale that maps neatly on to the American grading system, but my transcripts list corresponding words (1 – Excellent, 2 – Very Good, and so on) instead of the actual grades. The trouble is, I can't enter the words into the application; the system won't let me. Is it okay to use the numbers in such a case? I'm worried about a potential mismatch between what I stated in the app and what's on my transcripts.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot in advance.</p>

2

<p>Bump? Bump!</p>

3

<p>1) no
2) yes
3) do exactly as the school tells you, regardless of your feeling
4) I would put it in your native language and in brackets put in the English translation. Ask your counselor though.
5) no idea
6) put them as in numbers. Then, in the additional information section, put in what each number means. </p>

<p>By the way, what country are you applying from, and how are your stats? (SAT, Subject tests, APs, ECs, GPA…etc.) I have a friend who is an international applicant to Berkeley as well.</p>

4

<p>Thanks a lot for your advice!</p>

<p>1) & 2) Aren’t those a bit contradictory? If I’m not supposed to report my middle school courses at all, then it probably doesn’t matter if my regular math course satisfies the requirements or not.</p>

<p>4) Great, this was my preliminary solution as well. Just to be sure, though (I’m a bit culture-shocked here), do you mean a high school counselor? If so, I don’t think I have one…</p>

<p>6) Yep, you’re right – the app actually requires me to explain the grading system anyway, so I might just as well do what you describe.</p>

<p>I’m from the Czech Republic (Eastern Europe). As for the stats, my unweighted GPA seems to be rather low (3.81, and if Berkeley really disregards 9th-grade grades as many CC members claim it does, it’s even worse). My SAT scores are going to be available in 4 days; all I can share for now is my results from the blue book practice tests (usually between 2100 and 2250; I tried to be conservative when self-assessing the essays). I’m applying to the College of Letters and Science, which doesn’t require Subject tests, so I don’t plan to take them – I hope that doesn’t backfire. I haven’t taken any APs.</p>

<p>My ECs include participation in paleontological excavations and several statewide math competitions where I was a winning team member (mostly in junior high school, though). I was an uncredited advisor on the Czech translation of a book vaguely related to my interests and won a highly selective scholarship competition back home. (… Is that actually an EC?) In the app, I might also mention a textbookish work on vertebrate paleontology I’m writing with two of my friends, but I need their permission first and we’ve barely gotten started, so I’m not sure it’s a good idea in the first place. There’s probably little I do that would count as volunteering or community service – I helped to organize a series of math and physics lectures for elementary school kids at my high school, but that’s about it.</p>

<p>I’m aware this may well not be stellar enough for Berkeley, so I plan to apply to UCLA, U of Maryland, and U of Kansas as well.</p>

5

<p>If you don’t have a school counselor, then call UC Admissions and ask them. I’m not a UC AdCom, so don’t bank on my answers. The best thing to do is ask the school itself.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, UC’s do not count freshman year as a part of their recalculated “UC GPA.” Although, because you come from a different education system, how UC’s view your GPA will be drastically different from how they view others. They will put you in context of others applying from the Czech Republic, so don’t compare yourself to chance threads for domestic students. Also, your lack of SAT IIs and APs WILL NOT BACKFIRE. Although, it would be nice if you took Math Level 2 and a science or humanities, as SAT IIs are highly recommended.</p>

<p>[Student</a> Profile | UC Berkeley Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.berkeley.edu/studentprofile]Student”>Student Profile - Office of Undergraduate Admissions)</p>

<p>^Use that. Gives average GPA and SAT of international applicants, both submitted and accepted.</p>

<p>All you can do now is really nail those essays. Make sure you show your PASSION. That is key. Make sure the AdComs can really feel, “wow, this guy really has a knack for what he wants to do with his life.” Good luck.</p>

6

<p>Sorry to revive an old thread; I have several more questions.</p>

<p>(For the record, I did try to contact the university – I wrote an email to the UCLA International Admission Specialist more than two weeks ago and still got no response.)</p>

<p>1) What exactly should go under “Coursework othen than A-G”? I know there are lots of threads on the CC forum dealing with this topic and I’ve skimmed through many of them, but the information they present is often contradictory. Is the coursework limited to high school and college classes? Some people claim it is ([here](<a href=“Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”>Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos)</a>), others say it’s not ([here](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/433561-coursework-other-than-g.html]here[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/433561-coursework-other-than-g.html)</a>). Would a course at a for-profit language school count?</p>

<p>The app also states that course to be listed in this section “might not have been granted academic credit”. Does that mean that if they have been granted credit, they shouldn’t be listed? For example, many people here report their computer classes as coursework other than A-G, but my computer class is a required “core” subject that appears on my transcript. Given that grades aren’t reported for courses other than A-G, I would provide the university with incomplete information for calculating my GPA if I included it in this category. The same goes for my Latin elective. Is there something preventing me from reporting it as another “Language other than English” instead of “Coursework other than A-G”?</p>

<p>2) When listing Educational Preparation Programs, should I translate their names into English or use the original non-English ones? The limit is 30 characters, so there’s not enough space for some parenthetical combination of both. Also, does my participation have to be verifiable? If so, I suppose using their original names would be the better option.</p>

<p>3) How trivial can my community service be? The app offers “unpaid math tutor for elementary school students” as an acceptable example. What about tutoring my classmates? Devising problems for a physics school math competition? Distributing invitation cards for a series of student lectures at my school? Is it okay if the organization I volunteer for is my school? </p>

<p>Thanks a lot.</p>

7

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</p>

<p>I would only list things that go beyond the services or favors that a ‘normal’ person would perform in their everyday life. For example, if you are sometimes helping your classmates with their homework during lunch break (the way that someone else might help you when you are stuck), I would not count that as community service. If you are sitting down with them for formal tutoring 3 times a week for an hour each time, I would list that as community service. </p>

<p>Same principle for distributing flyers or invitation cards. If it takes you half an hour a couple of times per year, I would consider that a “normal favor” and not list it as community service. If you spend two hours each week distributing flyers, list it.</p>

<p>

The UCs have a standardized formula for computing GPAs for their applicants. They don’t want to use grades in courses that are not “a-g courses” for admission purposes, even if your own school did give you a grade for the class. For example, you may have had physical education in high school but the UCs don’t care about your PE grade. (Who cares if you are a good athlete?) </p>

<p>That being said, you should be able to list computer science as a college-prep elective (g course) and Latin as a language other than English (e course).</p>

8

<p>Thanks a lot for the answer.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Does this mean it’s basically up to me to decide whether I list computer science as a G course or “Coursework other than A-G”? (That would be great.)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m not, which is why I’m glad they don’t.</p>

9

<p>

Yes and no. If you were an American student, your high school would determine which classes are college-prep and which ones are not. As an international student, you should follow the same guidelines. If a course is academic in nature (physical education, for example, is not) and part of the college-preparatory curriculum, it’s an A-G class. It sounds like computer science meets both criteria, so you should list it as an A-G class.</p>

10

<p>Thanks again. Two more questions (really sorry for that):</p>

<p>1) Is writing a blog an acceptable EC? (It’s a technical blog on evolutionary biology, not a personal journal, and it would tie in nicely with my essay and educational programs. However, it’s not written in English.) Should I include a link?</p>

<p>2) I attended a college course while in high school, but I’m not sure whether to list it or not. The course consisted of three days of lectures and students were assigned grades based on a paper they wrote afterwards. However, this applied to college students only: high school students were allowed in only as part of an informal arrangement between us and the professor teaching the course. (I was actually invited to come by the professor after our previous communication.) We could take notes, ask questions etc., but weren’t supposed to turn in the final paper; no sort of academic credit was involved. Neither the university nor my high school knew I attended and they wouldn’t have cared either way. As far as I can tell, none of the grading options offered in the “College Courses” section of the app (Incomplete, No Credit, Withdraw, and so on) covers this situation.</p>

<p>I could probably list the course as an educational prep program (it definitely was an enriching academic experience), but if I stated it was a regular college course in the description, it could look out of place in that section. Should I try to explain the situation in 160 characters? I wouldn’t like to leave the course out entirely and I don’t want to include it in my essay.</p>

11

<p>It would seem dishonest to claim that you took a regular college course because you did not do the work for the college course. (e.g. write the final paper) It sounds to me like you attended the lectures and nothing else. The proper word for this is “auditing.” </p>

<p>There are a couple of places where you can list a course audit. I like your idea of listing it in the education prep program section. In the US, many academic enrichment programs for high school students are actually offered through colleges (and often the high school students take regular college courses, albeit for credit). It could also go under extracurricular activities, since you did not get any form of academic credit for your efforts.</p>