What’s the highest UC Weighted capped GPA one can receive.
Highest UC Capped Weighted is a 4.4.
(5 subjects per year, All extra point) X (4 years of HS) X 5 (grade with extra point) / 20 = 5.0
In other words, the highest possible academic GPA possible is 5.0
If you have one subject, where you can’t get an extra point, than
[4 subjects X 5 (grade with extra point) + 1 subject x 4 (grade without extra point) ] x 4 (years of HS) / 20 = 24x4/20=4.8
If you have more than 5 subjects per year -> the calculation is adjusted.
I know that some kids report GPAs higher than 5.0 but I don’t understand how they get them.
@dogandcat: OP asked about Capped weighted UC GPA which caps the # of semesters of Honors points at 8 (4 year long courses) taken 10-11th grade. UC’s have their own GPA calculation.
The capped GPA is used to calculate the minimum threshold, students below the minimum are disqualified.
The GPA reported by UC schools in their admission statistics are NOT capped GPA. It is simply not possible, because Berkeley and UCLA report higher GPAs than the maximum possible capped GPA.
Please, correct me if I am wrong.
@dogandcat
Based on your assumptions,
Max extra point: 8 (capped)
Max regular points: 8 semesters x 5 courses x 4.0 = 160
Uc capped gpa: 168/40 = 4.2
However, they dont count 9th & 12th grade, so
Uc capped weighted gpa = 88/20 = 4.4
Ucb and ucla use uc uncapped gpa. For that, the max is indeed 5.0
@SculptorDad Thank you
that assumes 5 academic classes per year. You can boost the gpa by taking fewer courses for grades. (pass/fail study hall?)
5 academic classes, straight A’s, 8 bonus points = 4.2 UC GPA
4 academic classes (for grades), straight A’s, 8 bonus points = 4.25 UC GPA
Unless otherwise stated, high school GPAs reported by UC are generally weighted-capped.
Also, UC admission readers will see three variants of high school GPA in the application: unweighted, weighted-capped, and weighted-uncapped.
In terms of highest possible weighted-capped GPA, it depends on the total number of semesters of graded a-g courses one takes in 10-11th grade. For example (assuming all A grades and at least 8 semesters of honors courses that get the +1 grade points):
4 a-g courses per year => 8 semester grades per year => 16 semester grades over 10-11th grade:
(8 * 4 + 8 * 5) / 16 = 4.50
5 a-g courses per year => 10 semester grades per year => 20 semester grades over 10-11th grade:
(12 * 4 + 8 * 5) / 20 = 4.40
6 a-g courses per year => 12 semester grades per year => 24 semester grades over 10-11th grade:
(16 * 4 + 8 * 5) / 24 = 4.33
^crap, I forgot to exclude Frosh & senior grades. 
@ucbalumnus <unless otherwise=“” stated,=“” high=“” school=“” gpas=“” reported=“” by=“” uc=“” are=“” generally=“” weighted-capped.=“”>
Berkeley average (?) GPA is listed as 4.44, above the maximum possible 4.40. http://admissions.berkeley.edu/studentprofile.
However, another web site lists GPA and test scores of middle 25%-75% students 4.15 - 4.30 http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/berkeley/freshman-profile/ . “This is a snapshot of the admitted freshman class for fall 2017.”
I don’t understand the discrepancy.
UCLA is much better. They clearly indicate that they are NOT using capped GPA.
Profile of Admitted Freshmen Fall 2016
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof16.htm
All GPAs are calculated from courses taken in grades 10 and 11.
The Fully Weighted GPA includes an extra grade point for all UC-approved honors courses (which include AP, IB, school-based honors, and transferable college courses) in which a grade of C or higher is earned. The maximum value possible is 5.00.
This Unweighted GPA does not include any extra grade points for honors courses. The maximum value possible is 4.00.
Then statistics match: 75 percentile of admitted CA students is 4.58 (above 4.40) and out-of-state students is 4.80
Love you, UCLA for openness and transparency.
@dogandcat Both Berkeley and LA did state in many places that they use Uncapped. But they also use capped.
Your discrepancy is resulted from the second link coming from UC and not UCB specifically
@SculptorDad Thanks!
Do you know, by chance, whether other UCs (UCSD, UCI, UCSB) use capped or uncapped in their posted statistics?
@dogandcat All of the rest usually use capped weighted unless directly/ indirectly specified.
Thank you
Btw, it’s not that important. Once a minimum threshold is met, the actual transcripts - with individual course load - will decide the admission and not how high someone could game either the capped or uncapped gpa.
I just noticed that 75 percentile of admitted CA students is 4.58 (UCLA) but 75 percentile of freshmen in Berkeley is 4.30.
Is UCLA a better school now than Berkeley? I know that it receives much more applications than Berkeley.
UCB”s CS is a bit more valued than UCLA’s CS in the Bay Area. UCB’s HAAS is more valued then Econ at either UCB or UCLA. Other than that, they are equally great and competitive schools and the comparisons are meaningless.