There are high schools that offer 20+ UC approved honors classes and 20+ AP classes. If one takes 15 honors and 5 AP, it would be weighted the same as someone who took 5 honors and 15 AP. How much do the different UCs look at AP classes as an indication of rigor vs UC approved honors classes? Or is rigor shown by the number of years of each subject that you took above and beyond the minimum requirements?
Are you sure all these honors classes are UC approved? Usually only Precalc Honors and a few other non-AP/IB classes are approved for weighting. The school might weight all the honors classes even if the UCs don’t.
Look up the school. They have to have “Honors” in the “Honors Type” column for an honors class to be weighted. Just having “honors” in the class title is not enough.
Other than UCLA/UCB which uses a weighted uncapped GPA calculation, the rest of the UC’s cap UC approved Honors/AP classes at 8 semesters for 10-11th. HS course rigor will be determined by your individual HS and counselors. If your HS offers only a few Honors/AP’s and you take all then your HS course rigor is high. Beyond 6-8 AP classes, it really will not make much a difference. You want just to do your best in all your classes. Always going beyond the minimum is recommended to be a competitive applicant for a UC, but you will not be penalized for not taking all rigorous courses offered by your HS.
@Ynotgo UC besides math, approved honors classes at our HS include World History H, Spanish/French/Chinese/Japanese/Latin 3H, Bio H, Chem H, Marine Bio H, Anat/Phys H. We also have Eng 1H, 2H and 3H but I’m not sure if UCs look at English honors classes. Anyone know? I’m more interested in the sciences. Does rigor look different to the UCs if you took Anat/Phys H rather than let’s say Bio, Chem or Physics AP or is it weighted calculated GPA regardless?
@Gumbymom, does UCLA/UCB use weighted uncapped GPA for just 10th and 11th grade or do they look at 9-11?
While the official UC GPA is based on a-g courses in grades 10 and 11 and is capped with 8 semesters of ‘bonus’ points, all the UCs see your full transcript and UC GPA is only part of their evaluation. They can see how you did through the summer after 11th grade. UCB and UCLA want to see you take the hardest classes your school offers and Ace them. If your school has 20 AP and 20 Honors courses, you physically can’t take them all. They understand that.
The only way to know if a particular course at your school qualifies, look up your high school in the tool linked above. The Honors Type column will say AP or Honors for the ones UC (and CSUs) will give you bonus points.
The Detailed Freshman profiles linked here will tell you the admission rate by bands of how many a-g and AP/Honors courses
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/freshman/profiles/
Note for Cal, 15+ AP and 50+ a-g improves your odds significantly.
Also note, a low GPA will get you rejected regardless of course rigor. Though the definition of 'low GPA differs by campus, that is true at all 9 UCs.
Good luck.
Thank you for your help. Our school offers 30+AP and 10+ UC approved honors. The numbers above were not meant to be exact and my question was hypothetical, asking how do the UCs view if you take UC approved honors classes vs AP classes? Hypothetically, how would one kid who took 10 UC approved honors semesters and 10 AP semesters look compared to someone who took 4 UC approved semesters of honors and 16 AP semesters?
At info sessions the schools say that it doesn’t matter as long as it is UC approved honors. My question is, does it really not matter? Does Anatomy/Physiology Honors really look equal to Chem AP in their eyes?
Second question since you guys seem to know this so well… When the SAT is listed on admissions statistics, many times they split the scores into reading and math. For the ACT, they only list the composite. Do they look at the breakdown of the subsections on the ACT? Again hypothetically, would a composite score of 31 with 36 in math, 34 in English, 27 in reading and 28 in science look different than someone who got 31 in all subject areas?
Thanks again for your help.
Cal and LA really do use holistic admissions process. They consider lots of stuff - including course rigor - but you gotta have the GPA and SAT/ACT or they wont give you much of a look. Keep in mind, Cal rejects more applicants with a 4.2 GPA than they accept.
My understanding is that they prefer AP - and that you pass the AP test. Rigor can also be offset non-academic achievement and lots of other factors. They read and weigh you personal statement too.
When it comes to ACT sub scores, of course they see them. If your strong sub score is related to your major, that fine but, a weak math score for an engineering major would be a negative.
Hope that’s helpful.