<p>How does UC view the unapproved for honors classes. Cause i have quite a few. For example in my sophomore year i took HONORS English which is HARDER than regular English at our school. However UCs do not approve the course for the extra point to the gpa. Which looking back i think i could have just taken regular English and goten an A rather than a B in honors english. Which i beleive is unfair </p>
<p>this fact holds true for a number of my classes. And some of those classes if not considered honors HURTS my Gpa, not only that the extra work i did in my sophomore English was not awarded my B in honors english = B in regular english…</p>
<p>So my question in short is that does UC recognize this fact? Should i bring it up in my App or should i expect UC to see it on my transcript because the title of the course shows its a harder class.</p>
<p>The UCs will see the honors designation on your transcript and realize that you tried to take the most rigorous courseload available to you. </p>
<p>Son #3 is a freshman in high school and he is in 3 honors classes and the only 9th grader in his school to be in Algebra 2. None of these classes qualify for the "extra point to GPA."</p>
<p>They'd rather see an A than a B, and unapproved honors courses aren't likely to change much on their opinion. If your overall class load is strong, then that is taken into consideration, but it won't compensate for a significant discrepancy in GPA. At my school, we were told ahead of time that some honors classes are much harder and wouldn't necessarily boost your chances. I'd imagine honors classes would have a lot more weight in private schools, but to list something as "honors" without being UC approved raises the question of the validity of that designation. No UC admissions officer would necessarily know that honors English was harder at school A than at school B, especially if it didn't have honors approval. If you just had 1 B in that class, while the rest of your application is solid, I wouldn't worry too much. If its a habitual thing (consistent Bs on honors), then that would be an issue.</p>
<p>Similar situation for my D: several unproved honors classes. She doesn't come to CC and doesn't seem to care much about extra "points" but she did enjoy her classes. Maybe there is value in that.</p>
<p>@ Peppers. Sometimes UCs just dont want to approve honors course cause they will give the students at that particular school an advantage. Last time i was an upper computer class and it wasnt approved just BECAUSE they were no lower level version of the class. However next year it was approved after my school added the a lower computer class?? however i had to do the same work but did not get the "approved" course?? And many of my teachers complain UCs don't like to approve freshman and sophmore honor classes.</p>
<p>If you had your own answer to the question, why bother posting it here? I'm saying what is legitimately the situation, and that is that they would rather see an A in a normal class, than a B in a non-UC approved honors class. If you think your courseload is strong enough so that you can weather one or two Bs, then, chances are, it is and you're fine, but it doesn't change the fact that you got Bs. I would've thought by now that all teachers tell their students that it's a waste of time taking an honors that isn't UC approved unless you're really passionate about the subject, because the simple fact is that, if it doesn't have an honors designation, the reader who reads through hundreds of applications a year from hundreds of different schools has no idea whether or not the honors at your (I'm assuming competitive) school are significantly harder or not than the honors at an intercity high school.</p>
<p>Peppers i didn't have an answer to my own question. On my transcript the course is given an honors or advancement title. I had not know anything about approved or non-approved UC courses till this year. And i looked back and saw that i took harder classes where i could have just taken easier ones. However my question was that does UC recognize this fact? even though they are not UC approved the courses are relatively harder than other classes at my school.</p>
<p>Fresnomom is correct. Applications readers will easily note if you do not take the most rigorous curriculum offered at your HS, which will reduce your chances under comprehensive review, particularly at Cal and UCLA. </p>
<p>So, I guess that I disagree with Peppers' postion that taking College Prep classes and earning an A is better than taking an non-UC approved honors class and earning a B. The app readers are chosen by area/region, so they ARE aware of the curriculum choices offered at local HS. Heck, some readers are high school employees - teachers/GCs, and they know their competition.</p>
<p>btw: As a general rule, the UCs do not approve Frosh or Soph courses for the honors bonus point, even if your HS lists it as 'honors times two'. By definition all AP/IB courses are eligible for the bonus point, as are advanced classes like Honors PreCalc, or Language IV taken as a Soph.</p>
<p>My position is that its better to get an A than a B. If you know you can get an A in regular English as opposed to a B in "honors" English, then you go for the one that gives you an A. Course rigor matters, but GPA matters more. Obviously, if the difference is minimal, there's not much harm done (ie. 4.0 vs. 4.2), but if its a big difference (ie. 3.8 vs. 4.2), then you're choosing classes that are going to be a detriment to you.</p>
<p>I don't know if Peppers is right. I called the UCSD and said my DD is in honor track for 9th & 10th grades and he seemed to indicate it matters. It counts to different between the non-honors and honors student I think.</p>
<p>It is important to take the most rigorous courses available to you at your high school. Admissions most certainly DOES know the difference. At many high schools if you don't take the lower level honors courses then you won't be allowed into the AP level courses later. My son's GC said for our high school it is better to earn a B in honors then to earn an A in regular English. She says the schools do know the difference.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My position is that its better to get an A than a B. If you know you can get an A in regular English as opposed to a B in "honors" English, then you go for the one that gives you an A. Course rigor matters, but GPA matters more.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, both Berkeley and UCLA consider course rigor and GPA to be on par in importance -- "very important" according to their CDS.</p>
<p>Of course, perhaps not all the UCs have such an attitude, but for those, a B or two probably won't matter that much. The universities have said, many times, that they want to see that you are taking the most rigorous course load possible.</p>