Hello everybody,
I am an out of state applicant and applied to Berkeley and UCLA. Since I am out of state my counselor isn’t all that well informed about the UC system. As a result I had no clue about the a-g course requirements.
I have fulfilled all the requirements for the most part, except I have never taken a visual/performing arts course. I have had trouble finding a relevant resource and have found conflicting info. I need to know whether the a-g requirements are enforced for out of state students? If so, what are my options? I have read things about having a certain SAT score and one not needing to abide by the requirements. Is this the case?
I would greatly appreciate any help. As a CS guy Berkeley and UCLA are near the top of my list. It would be devastating to not be able to get in because of a dumb arts requirement.
Thanks again.
Here is the UC Application center reply for another poster in regards to this issue:
The Visual and Performing Arts requirement states that a student must take a year long or two semester long courses in one of the four accepted disciplines of Music, Theatre, Dance or Visual Art. If the student opts to take two semester long courses they must fall within the same discipline. For example, a student can take a semester of Painting and a semester of Ceramics to fulfill the requirement. If they take a semester of Painting and a semester of Orchestra they will not fulfill the requirement as the courses do not fall into the same discipline.
If your school does not offer two semester long courses that fall into the same discipline there are alternate ways to fulfill the requirement. The website included below will detail the other ways to fulfill this requirement.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/index.html
If you find that you are unable to fulfill the requirement with any of the above options you can explain the reason why in the additional comments section. Please be aware that failure to fulfill all requirement will have a negative impact on your application.
If you have any other questions please feel free to contact us again.
I would like to note that as an applicant to any college, it is also your responsibility to make sure you meet the school requirements. You should not depend upon others including your counselor.
I wish you good luck.
I also found this answer from another poster concerning UCLA:
Me:
Good day, I have a question regarding UCLA’s application requirements. As an out-of-stater attending a private school in New Jersey, I was not cognizant of the requirement that we had to take one year of an art to be applicable to the UC system. At our school, I took AP Computer Science, Intro to Computer Science, Health and Driver’s Ed and Physical Education to satisfy the High School’s requirements for “Fine Arts” as opposed to “Visual/Performing Arts.” Are those courses satisfactory for the requirement? In my free time, I do dabble in Graphic Design (Photoshop CC) and Video Effects (Adobe After Effects CC) if that opens up any doors for me.
UCLA’s Response:
Hello,
Unfortunately, those courses would not meet the VP requirement. For more information about what courses may satisfy the requirement you can go to the UCOP website http://ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/f-visual-performing-arts/index.html.
In addition, while the University of California have a set pattern of academic courses that are required for admission, we understand that these subject requirements may be difficult for some applicants to meet due to differences in school curriculum.
All applications for admission are reviewed within the context of courses available to them; if a particular required subject is not available, we will consider the application without it. We would not deny an applicant due to any one single criteria, therefore if the applicant is otherwise a strong competitive applicant but they are missing the VPA course (1 semester or the entire year) we can still admit that student.
There is no single academic path that we expect all students to follow, but the strongest applicants take the most rigorous high school curriculum available to them.
Sincerely,
UCLA Undergraduate Admission
ASUAR
There are other ways to fulfill the requirement such as passing an AP exam for Art History or Music Theory. You can also take a 1 semester class at a local community college.
There is a class I’m taking called STEM Engineering at my school that currently fulfills my school’s Fine Arts requirement. Do you think that will suffice?
It is doubtful that UC will see a course called “STEM Engineering” as a “visual or performing arts” course.
That is YOUR school’s requirement, not California schools’ definition of ART.
No, it will not suffice because the UC’s spell out Visual and performing arts. They want students to be exposed to ART. ART in a nutshell.
So, you either perform for a year with a musical instrument, in an orchestra/band, and get a grade, or you take a class in drama or dance for a yearlong grade. You can also take an art class for a year (drawing, painting, ceramics) or AP Art History.
It is the responsibility of applicant students to read the requirements before applying. The UC’s get hundreds of thousands of applications-especially at LA and Berkeley. If you thought you were intelligent enough to get into LA or Berkeley then you should have been responsible enough to read the requirements and not make assumptions about completing the requirements, i.e. “fine arts” vs. “visual and performing arts”. Your school counselor is not responsible for knowing the specifics of each OOS school.
Students in California are also responsible for taking a class in computers/engineering that covers the
“practical arts”, so the California kids must take more requirements than many states.
Every applicant from California has taken a “dumb arts” class. The UC’s want students who are aware that VPA are crucial to cultural development. The UC’s were developed for residents of California so priority goes to these students. The UC’s have hundreds of thousands of OOS applicants, with great stats, who have met the VPA requirement, and being more than willing to fork over $250K over 4 years to attend. If you have a narrow view of this requirement, then the UC’s are really not for you.
http://ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/f-visual-performing-arts/
@PleaseStan @@“aunt bea” If your school does not have any VPA courses (offered), you will still be considered. There is no automatic rejection because of lack of VPA.
@PleaseStan
-“It would be devastating to not be able to get in because of a dumb arts requirement.”
Not nearly as devastating as admitting a student who thinks art is “dumb.” If the broad liberal arts curriculum does not appeal to you, consider another school.
@grtd2010, yes the student will be considered, but given that other “comparable” students will have met the requirement, its not a tough call for an admissions officer. I’ve had students that thought they could bypass that requirement. Admission did not happen.
@ProfessorD, spot on!
wow
I called admissions and they said that they were pretty flexible in regards to the a-g requirements so it shouldn’t be a concern. However, other UC schools have varying levels of said flexibility.
@“aunt bea” Really, I doubt it.
@grtd2010, how many of your students reported getting into the school without the F requirement? Everyone targets LA and Berkeley. Political pressure is on the committees to admit more instate students. Each school is different in how they view applicants. Applying to the 2 most sought after schools without the “ducks in a row” can be risky.
I got the engineering likely letter and was accepted OOS to UCLA for computer science. Berkeley remains to be seen. I guess my school’s class sufficed? I also contacted both admissions offices around the time of this post. Berkeley’s adcom said they were flexible regarding the arts requirements, especially for OOS students, and UCLA (whom I contacted via email) said that they had noted my coursework clarification and added it to my file.
I also got into UC Berkeley!