UC chances of OOS student planning to major in CS (or CS+math)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
21

I would say that any courses that are in the a-g Course List for UC/CSU would be counted for the UC GPA. Your HS obviously wouldn’t be listed since it is out of state, but you can type in the generic name of the course to see if other in-state high schools get credit for it or not. Look here: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist

So courses that wouldn’t count would be things like PE or Weightlifting or Golf. But most everything else probably would count, whether it be a certified HS online school or at a community college. Even courses like Beginning Dance, Ceramics and Auto Repair would count. The courses you took in college probably would be considered weighted (I think) as well.

So it sounds like you’re more closer to 24-28 semesters in 10th and 11th grade, as opposed to 16 semesters. Which would be better for you if you got As in all of those extra classes. Also, some of the college classes that was taken as one semester might count as two semesters for UC GPA calculation purposes for certain classes (not sure which ones they are).

22

College courses would be weighted if they are UC transferable. Also classes like Health, some Religion classes etc… would not be an a-g course, not included in the UC GPA calculation and not listed on your UC application.

Your example of AP Stats A and B is just a year of AP stats. Could you list all your classes taken 10-11th which CC posters could help with your UC GPA calculation and which courses would satisfy the a-g course list.

23

The UCs won’t see your actual HS transcript during the application process or what your school “reports”.

Instead, you enter your grades and courses on the application. You include each institution attended: regular HS, online HS, and community college. If you are accepted and decide to enroll, you will send your actual transcripts from all institutions, and the university checks that you entered the grades correctly.

If an AP class is a one semester class, that class would receive 1 honor point. If the class, like AP Stats, is a two semester course, that class would receive 2-honor points. For calculations, it’s 1 extra point for each grade received in an AP or college class up to a maximum of 8.

For example, if you took 3 AP classes first “semester” and 3 AP classes second “semester”, you add 6 honor points for calculations.

When my kids went through the UC application cycles 2014, 2016, 2018, college classes counted twice for fulfilling a-g requirements and grades counted once for GPA calculations.

For example, a semester of Art in community college fulfills the 1-year/2 semester VPA requirement but the grade is counted once in the GPA calculations.

Also the UCs require 4 shorter essay responses. It’s likely you can use a version of your common application essay as one of the responses, but will need to write responses to the prompts.

In addition, from my experience in 2016 and 2018, only UCB looks at LORs. Except not everyone has an opportunity to send. UCB accepts LORs by invitation only. When one son applied in 2016, he was invited to upload a LOR. My other son in 2018 was not invited. Both got in, but are attending another UC.

24

Thanks for the detailed info - I created my UC application and its clear what courses are considered and how to add multiple high-schools/college credits (my earlier confusion was from mixing things from my school gpa calculations with UC calculations). I recalculated using a-g courses/grades from (graduatingHS + onlinehigh_school + college).

My final UC stats
UW 3.85
W-capped 4.25
W 4.55 (this could be 4.6 based on how they weight college classes - I just assumed they are weighted same as AP’s).

Seems, I am right at the average for UCB - so assume my chances are on par with other OOS students (which is reach) - I know the chances are low teens at best;

will apply to L&S CS with the knowledge that major will not be guaranteed (I actually like Math more anyway so that would be my fallback if I don’t get in CS).

Thanks to @ProfessorPlum168, @Gumbymom and @svlab112 - you explained this to me more patiently than my GC would have :smile:

25

At 4.25 and with such a high SAT, you’re in that gray area where you need to decide whether to apply for EECS or L&S → CS as far as Berkeley goes. You probably have a ok chance for EECS and I think you should be a good chance for L&S.

https://eecs.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate/eecs-cs-comparison-chart

26

Dance and ceramics would be under the visual and performing arts (f) category. Looks like courses like automotive technology, culinary science, and welding could be in the (g) category, as shown at https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist/institution/372 . But it looks like courses like health, leadership, life skills, and yearbook may not count in any a-g categories.