Since UC is not going to take honored course from out of state, the weighted GPA is low. Taking cal III now, got 5 on Cal BC, any chance for college of engineering?
The UC’s look at all 3 UC GPA’s so unweighted, Capped weighted and Fully weighted. They also look at what type of courses are offered at your HS be it Honors, AP, IB, DE etc… and if you took advantage of a rigorous HS class schedule. Your Senior courses are also considered for rigor. Basically you are reviewed in the context of your HS.
AP scores are considered by the UC’s however one AP score of 5 will not tip admissions into anyone’s favor.
You have given little to go on regarding your chances for Engineering at UCB. Which Engineering?
What is your HS course rigor?
Can you only take AP classes Junior and/or Senior year?
How many AP classes are offered at your HS and how do you compare to the top students there?
EC’s/Awards?
PIQ topics?
Give posters an idea of the fuller picture of your academics and student profile so they can post an informed response.
UCB 2020 Student profile:
Unweighted GPA:3.86-4.00
Fully Weighted GPA:4.27-4.62
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic): 2021
UC Berkeley: 14.1%
For perspective…a 4.1 weighted GPA is not low in most contexts. It might be lower for places like Cal and UCLA, but it’s a great GPA for most colleges.
Engineering is a tough admit at some of the UCs.
@Gumbymom should this prospective engineering student be looking at CalPoly SLO?
Cal Poly SLO will use 9-11th grades for their GPA calculation with an 8 semester cap on AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th grades for the weighted GPA.
SLO can be an option depending upon which Engineering, if a smaller town location is acceptable and how the SLO GPA will compare vs. the UC GPA. Again, OOS honors are not weighted for the CSU’s.
How do they know HS course rigor for OOS? They do not have transcript or school profile or GC rec.
Many HS’s have school profiles that can be looked up on-line plus the UC’s offer OOS schools submit HS profiles via this link:
https://hs-profile.ucop.edu/profile/profileLogin.htm
If it is an OOS HS that has had applicants apply before, the UC’s do maintain a database for that information.
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Thanks for all the information. Calculus BC: 5. AP English: 5 , AP physics I: 5. Not able to take Physics C due to schedule conflict. Taking AP chemistry in high school and Calculus 3 at local community college. Very rigor for current school. Not sure if anybody from this high school applied for UC before.
General engineering ~Undeclared
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I know you are asking about chances…but are you also OK with paying the full cost of attendance at the UCs? They don’t give need based aid to OOS students and their merit awards are not huge for OOS either .
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Yes. But want to go College of Engineering
Will UC ask the HS to submit their profile?
So are you saying YES you can afford $65,000 a year for your kid to attend a UC as an put of state student?
There are excellent colleges of engineering in every state…your own state of residence included.
Of course it is your family decision, but really, engineering doesn’t need to be done at Cal. Hoping your student has other colleges of engineering on their application list.
I guess my question would be…why UCB?
If UCB is not familiar with the HS, they may contact the school for the HS profile. I unfortunately do not have specific insider information on how the AO’s handle OOS applicants that attend HS’s they are not familiar regarding their profiles.
How many students are admitted into engineering?
For the 2020–21 academic year, there were 15,881 freshman applicants to the College of Engineering and 12.2% were admitted.
UCB engineering undeclared “can be more competitive than admission to other engineering majors” according to Undeclared - Berkeley Engineering .
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Thank you, good information
Thank you for the information!
@Gumbymom and @ucbalumnus, do you know when UC stopped counting out of state honored courses?
Just as an FYI- there are many honors courses as a CA resident that don’t get extra points. The only bonus points you get are Honors Chemistry and Enhanced Math III (similar to Honors PreCalc) so all those honors English, Social Science and Honors Bio don’t get a boost for California residents either.
My kid got honors points for honors pre-Calc. But that’s about it!
Interesting- my son got an extra point sophomore for Honors Chem- did your son go straight to AP Chem? Our school had kids take Honors Bio and Honors Chem before taking APs (which started junior year).