<p>^^You are missing the point. The UC system only gives bonus points to courses in which it certifies as ‘UC honors’. UC does not care what your high school labels a course. But, due to limited resources, UC only reviews and approves coursework from California high schools; each HS must submit a syllabus, reading list and list of text book(s) for course review and approval.</p>
<p>for a tip, UC schools tend to look for academics over EA’s over other Ivy’s, so make sure your grades are good, school rank, high SAT’s, AP’s, etc</p>
<p>itry, you do not need to worry about it - the UC will recalculate your UC GPA regardless of whether you understand or agree with their policy - they will not rely on you to do it. When you fill out your application you will enter your grades year-by-year, you will enter your classes as AP, IB or honors, you will enter your out of state high school, and they will calculate accordingly. The only reason for you to calculate it now is to see how you stack up for admission at each campus. If you insist of doing it incorrectly, giving yourself a higher GPA than will be used in admissions decisions, you may be in for some unexpected disappointment when decisions come out.</p>
<p>UC-certified honors courses are specific for each High School. E.g. Honors Physics at Harvard-Westlake (prep school in LA) could be a UC-approved honors course, so students who took Honors Physics at HW would be awarded the extra point. However, Honors Physics at Tiddlywink High is not UC-certified. So, students who took Honors Physics at Tiddlywink High would not be awarded the extra point. That’s what happened to Alamemom’s daughter’s HS–some of the Honors classes there weren’t UC-certified.</p>
<p>Because your HS is not in California, your HS will certainly not be certified at all. Thus, you won’t be eligible to add the point while calculating UC GPA.</p>
<p>Yes, AP/IB courses count for the bonus point. Yes, Frosh grades are not included in the ‘UC gpa’ calculation. BUT, they will “look” at them since they are on your application. Indeed, the computer will calculate UC gpa weighted, UC gpa unweighted, 3-year gpa weighted and unweighted, and a comparison to any gpa’s from students who might apply from your HS.</p>
<p>i know its really bad, but I have a 3.5 gpa. But i had a pretty bad work ethic plus all honors this year. I am going to change the way I work and try really hard next year. Is that a problem?</p>
<p>AGHHHH… somethings not right!
on UCLAs website it says “Out-of-state applicants go through the regular review processes along with applicants from California.” That would mean that OOS kids would go through the 5.0 scale, and if one takes all honors, their maximum GPA would be 4.0. I am sorry if there is something explicitly different you are telling me and I am not comprehending.</p>
<p>since you’ve just compeleted your Frosh year, I’d give this a rest for another 24 months. Yes, many kids do have Frosh adjustments and ace their next couple of years, but coursework only gets harder when you add in AP courses.</p>
<p>The UC gpa calculation caps the bonus points at 8 semesters’ worth, so a theoretically the max UC gpa is ~4.4. I think the admitted mean for Cal is a little under 4.2, which means only a couple of B’s during two years of hard classes.</p>
<p>Regardless, at close to $50k, the UCs are not a good value for OOS, IMO.</p>
<p>btw: UMich is easier to get into OOS than Cal and UCLA are for instaters.</p>
<p>If you’re OOS trying to get in for engineering, I hope you’re not Asian. THAT’s a chance killer right there.</p>
<p>That being said, yes, the UCs are great schools. All the people I know who attend a UC love it. As for your last question, I’m not totally sure what you’re asking. If you’re asking if there are comparable schools academically, then yes, of course. If you mean the campus life, then I don’t think there’'s an answer.</p>
<p>I’ll give my experiences with UC Berkeley and Caltech:
UCB- I go to a top public high school in the midwest and I applied into engineering. My HS GPA wasn’t fantastic, but it worked out to a 4.0 under the UC weighting system. My test scores were pretty high, so I was eligible to gain admission WITHOUT the fine art requirement; I did mention on my app, however, that I took an elective that many would consider a fine art, but my school did not. I wrote some of my best essays for Cal (I did not come accross as the typical engineer), and I think the essays, test scores, and my junior and senior year schedules (overloaded with math and science) were the overriding factors that gained me admission. </p>
<p>Caltech- I got waitlisted, and I was in the area for spring break so I took a tour. On that tour (which was aimed at juniors) I learned that Caltech focuses EXCLUSIVELY on math and science grades, awards, ECs, essays, and probably recs as well. They specifically said that they “don’t care if you win the Pulitzer prize.” They also want to see an intense math and science passion that goes beyond science olympiad/math club. From what I’ve heard, test scores and math/science grades are very important at Caltech; they have one of the most merit based admissions system around.</p>