I’m sorry, I misunderstood your post. If you go through UC posts you’ll see that this issue of UC-approved honors courses has been discussed many times.
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27 posts were split to a new thread: Prospective Student questions on UC GPA and Test scores
UCs will not use 9th grade GPA. This is not correct and is contrary to every statement they’ve made publicly. If you had a bunch of D’s on your 9th grade then it might require an explanation but as for as GPA they will only calculate and consider 10-11. @Gumbymom - can you weigh in?
That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. I had discussed the value of the InfoCenter data sorted by high school. That’s what Naviance does for other schools. In my opinion that is the most useful type of comparison because they evaluate applicants in context of their high school offerings. I think it’s more valuable than full weighted GPA Info.
The UCs are test blind in terms of admissions. If you get an acceptance, you can send your official SAT score. The scores can be used for placement in math and English classes.
IN my S22’s school, the Naviance shows cumulative GPA and not UC GPA. SO the scatter plots are unhelpful.
They look at fully weighted GPA too. They also believe that the number of A-G courses, and the rigor of those courses, are very important. The student with 5 classes may get a GPA bump, but the student with 6 or 7 classes will get more credit for the number of A-G taken and also appear to have taken a more rigorous course load. It evens out.
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From the UC site. Their Comprehensive Review includes many other things besides GPA:
We spend time evaluating your academic achievements in light of the opportunities available to you and your demonstrated capacity to contribute to the intellectual life at UC. Some factors we may consider are:
- Academic grade point average in all completed A-G courses, including additional points for completed UC-certified honors courses.
- Number of, content of and performance in academic courses beyond the minimum A-G requirements.
- Number of and performance in UC-approved honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate Higher Level and transferable college courses.
- Identification by UC as being ranked in the top 9 percent of your high school class at the end of your junior year (Eligible in the Local Context, or ELC).
- Quality of your senior-year program as measured by the type and number of academic courses in progress or planned.
- Quality of your academic performance relative to the educational opportunities available in your high school.
- Outstanding performance in one or more specific subject areas.
- Outstanding work in one or more special projects in any academic field of study.
- Recent, marked improvement in academic performance as demonstrated by academic GPA and the quality of coursework completed or in progress.
- Special talents, achievements and awards in a particular field, such as visual and performing arts, communication or athletic endeavors; special skills, such as demonstrated written and oral proficiency in other languages; special interests, such as intensive study and exploration of other cultures; experiences that demonstrate unusual promise for leadership, such as significant community service or significant participation in student government; or other significant experiences or achievements that demonstrate the student’s promise for contributing to the intellectual vitality of a campus.
- Completion of special projects undertaken in the context of your high school curriculum or in conjunction with special school events, projects or programs.
- Academic accomplishments in light of your life experiences and special circumstances, including but not limited to: disabilities, low family income, first generation to attend college, need to work, disadvantaged social or educational environment, difficult personal and family situations or circumstances, refugee status or veteran status.
- Location of your secondary school and residence.
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@Wjs1107 - Yes. Both UCB and UCLA report some info about Weighted GPAs. See these two links. I like the UCLA one a bit better (and the 2019 data, in particular), because they show the big distinction between WGPA for CA and OOS admits. The OOS GPAs are WAY higher. Note that the UCLA data also includes the number of Honors courses taken 10-12 as its own line item in some years. You can’t technically get an “average” from these ranges, but you can know the median of the admitted class (close enough)…but keep in mind that even having a median-level admits profile probably means you still only have something on the order of a “coin-toss” whether you actually get admitted or not.
Student Profile | UC Berkeley | University of California, Berkeley
I do hope they take school context into consideration, too. My daughter’s school allows sophomores to take 1 AP class – AP European History. She took another online over the summer, and 3 more her junior year, and then a semester of AP Government after junior year. And she has 5 AP classes her senior year. She is no slouch in the rigor department, but the mandatory slow start sophomore year doesn’t help the weighted GPA.
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If you like data, you might have fun poking around on this site. Our Berkeley | Office of Planning and Analysis
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@Wjs1107 - They do look at the school context. This link may help give comfort re profiles at your specific school. They have tabs that show overall apps and admits total counts, and then one tab that shows what I believe to be average GPA of apps and admits and enrollees (and I assume that is W&C GPA)
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No it has nothing to do with honors classes. There are writing requirements for the UCs and if you have over a certain SAT score in the reading part of the SAT you don’t have to take that class. Just an example.
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Yes, they do. A school in Fresno and a school in Palo Alto may not have the same resources. Looking at admitted data that shows kids with 4.75 GPAs and 20 APs is not relevant to those that attend high schools with access to no APs or limited APs. That’s why I keep saying context is such an important factor and the reason you won’t be able to ascertain true odds looking at statewide/OOS data.
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For OOS applicants, the only difference in calculating their UC GPA’s is that there are no qualified “Honors courses” but AP/IB and UC transferable DE/CC courses are given the extra honors points. Only California HS’s will have UC approved “Honors” courses.
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UCLA: 32 honors courses for out of state is very high. That is 5 honors/AP course each year in 10-12. Most public schools do not offer this many uc approved honors/ap courses.
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Basically, in order to have a solid chance you need to be in the top 10% of your graduating class. It is not a guarantee but it gives you a chance. That is my understanding, at least for California applicants.
@raj_125 - Yeah…the honors count for the 75th percentile for OOS is really high…about 5 AP/semester. I figure the IB grads pull it up a little and account for a lot of the upper, upper end…but yeah…UCLA for OOS is a tough pull.
That makes sense. I know they compare with students in prior years as well.
You also have to remember the OOS applicants applying to the UC’s are very self selecting since the OOS costs are high. Only very competitive students will apply to the UC’s and they are usually the top UC’s: UCLA and UCB.
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