I recently found out that the UC schools require you take an art course to apply, even as an OOS student. Some of the UC schools have been on the top of my list, but I never took an art/music class in high school. However, on the UC admissions website I saw that they would also accept a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP Art History exam. Can I still take this exam as a senior and be able to enroll into a UC school (assuming I get into one and get a 3 on the AP exam)? I just wondering since by the time I would take the AP Art History exam, the school decisions would have already come out. Also, if this is a possibility for me, how would I indicate to the UC schools I’m self studying for the AP art history exam?
Even if they accept that “in progress self study” for not auto-rejecting your application (seems unlikely), that means that if you do get admitted and matriculate, but either do not take the AP art exam or score lower than a 3, your admission will be rescinded.
UCs are not the only schools with an art requirement for frosh admission.
The exams are given in May.
All UC applications, for fall 2024 attendance are due by November 30th, 2023. Testing, for AP exams, is strict. The school districts order a specific number of tests in the Fall, that will be provided to the HS site the following May.
You have to find a HS site that is willing to let you sit for the exam. That is a very difficult thing to do if you are not enrolled in the class. Priority seating goes to enrollees of the class.
Everything regarding admissions and student life is provided on their websites. You’ve been asking about the UC’s for a while and have asked about instate tuition but neglected to check the admissions requirements?
Students who hope to attend a UC are often well-versed in the subject requirements for admission, either by the counselors, or on the web site. The UC’s receive large numbers of very high-caliber applicants from every part of the world, so the UC’s can afford to be picky. Can you afford $72-$75K a year? Merit and financial aid are almost non-existent for OOS students. There are no guarantees that you will receive an acceptable score.
AP ART is an extremely tough test. My daughter and her friends had to group study thousands of pieces of art with a field trip to The Getty in Los Angeles. They had hundreds of hours of notes.
Start asking at your high school and find out if you can get a seat for a monitor and exam. I don’t know when fees are/were due. It is a huge time commitment to study all of those details, timelines, medium, artists, and histories and then to retain all of those facts to memory.
FWIW: The colleges and universities don’t look favorably and discourage self-studying for the AP exams.
In the AP/IB/English proficiency/International exam section of the application:
You will be asked about each of these exams on separate pages in the test score section. You’ll need to report your scores if you’ve already taken an exam or indicate if you’re planning on taking an exam in the future.
This is where you will indicate you are taking the AP Art History exam.
I agree with others that finding a HS where you can sit for the AP Art History exam may be difficult, assuming you aren’t in that class now at your HS. This option is risky, IMO.
Another option may be to take a one semester class at your local community college (1 semester of a college course fulfills the UC one year visual arts requirement). You could also look at online community/4 year college classes too.
All of which is true. But Occam’s Razor applies here; the simpler solution is to just take an art class.
I’m not sure that the OP is aware of the difficulty in actually registering for an AP exam without a class. And that’s even before considering how to prep for the exam.
Completely agree with your statement. I was answering OP’s original question but taking a 1 semester CC Art course or the suggestion of UC Scout are probably the best options.
There was some discussion last year that 1 semester of UC Scout would satisfy the full year VPA requirement. I know a student who did 2 semesters, but that may have been overkill (time and $$ .)
Thank you for all the helpful responses. I’m probably just going to take an online course through UC Scout or another online platform.
One last question: if I take an art course through an online school will it connect to my current high school’s transcript and affect my GPA? Or will it be an entirely new transcript with just that class in it?
It will be a new transcript. Whether your high school also includes it on its transcript for you and/or includes it in the GPA is dependent on the high school. But, for any situation where you are asked for transcripts, you should expect to send both.
For UCs, your GPA will be recalculated including all high school and college courses taken in grades 10-11, regardless of how your high school calculates GPA.
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