Hi everyone,
I am a current junior and UC Berkeley is basically my dream school. I am an out-of-state applicant and I’m confused by the a-g course requirements.
Can someone please explain how they work? For example, do only UC approved honors courses count towards the requirement?
Anyone who could explain the system to me, I really appreciate it.
It’s confusing, but I know some of the UCs have on-line application seminars and web-chats, and their admissions offices can be very helpful (the policies apply to all the campuses). If an admissions rep from any UC is traveling to your area, it’s worth attending an event. My son applied to 3 UCs from out-of-state, and he did not know how they would weight some of his sophomore classes. They were all the most advanced that his (private) school offered, but he did not know whether they would get credited as “Honors” or not. If your own HS guidance counselor can’t walk you through it, then reach out to someone from the UC system. If it’s any encouragement, they were pretty generous in weighting my son’s A-G classes. He did not get into Berkeley, however.
Just a cautionary post - make sure you can afford Berkeley before you fall in love with it. It’s around $56,000 for OOS, and they award very little aid
A-g courses need to be completed including the one year art/music requirement, except that if for some reason you cannot complete a required course, you may be able to submit SAT subject test scores in its place. Review the UCpathways site carefully as it provides alternative ways to meet course requirements. And yes, honors classes from non-California schools do not get weighted when detemining your UC GPA (which is based solely on sophomore and junior year grades) for elgibility for admission to UCs. The minimum GPA requirements you will see on the site are the minimum to determinie eligibility, and for out of state that means you need the minimum just to be considered for admission.
@jamesjunkers Yes, the price is pretty steep but my family is supportive and we shouldn’t have too much of a problem.
@woogzmama @drusba Thanks for the replies. Just to be clear, as long as I have taken all of the a-g courses, regardless of whether or not they are UC approved, does that mean I have met the requirement? I don’t mean the GPA requirements, but the subject requirements.
Okay, just wanted to make sure. I know people who have been set on a dream, gotten into the dream, and then realized money was an issue. Didn’t want that to be you 
It should be, but don’t take my word for it. As a general rule, all traditional academic subjects should qualify. Some private school curricula might have different literature courses that they would have to question as “English,” but one UC admission officer explained that they have file drawers filled with school profiles, and - in OOS cases where they are unfamiliar with the secondary school - they will call for a profile, and ask questions (they don’t want applicants and/or schools to send supplementary materials).