I am an out of state resident, planning on applying to UCs. I took a class during my freshman year called “Freshman Connections”, which my high school counts as an art course/credit (I need an art credit in order to graduate). Just by looking at the name, it does not sound like it would be an art class. I tried to reach out to UC counselors, but they said they can’t pre approve out of state classes for the subject areas.
The following is a course description from my high school’s art department:
"Ninth Grade Freshman Connections - Art & Social Commentary
Art is a form of communication. Artists throughout time have used art to express themselves, to react, protest or take a stand in response to different issues in the world. This course will support your social emotional learning as you explore a variety of media, acquire knowledge of the elements of art and principles of design to create works of art that are both personal and/or explore different issues facing teens today such as bullying, digital citizenship, drugs and alcohol as well as your personal values. ”
Could someone tell me if they think this would be counted for the VPA requirement in the A-G courses? - I plan to put this description in the additional comments section so the readers can understand that my high school counts it as an art class.
And what is the difference between a Subject F VPA and Subject G VPA? I need my class to count for Subject F VPA.
Subject F VPA is the 1 year requirement. Subject G VPA would be any additional VPA course taken beyond the 1 year Subject F VPA requirement.
This is the official description of the F requirement:
The description of your course sounds like an “Art Appreciation” course which seems like it would fulfill the requirement. Did you do any hands on projects as noted in the 2nd to last paragraph? I would definitely include the course description on the UC application but if in doubt, is there a community college winter session or spring session Art course you could take just in case?
Before you make efforts to adjust your schedule to apply and attend the UC’s, you need to know that being from out of state does NOT qualify you for any state aid. None. Federal aid is very limited and your parents shouldn’t be taking out loans, for over a quarter of a million dollars, for this kind of school debt. Plus they may not qualify for these kinds of loans.
As an out-of-state student you will be charged $65,000 per year to attend a UC. As a non-resident, you don’t qualify for any funding from the State of California, which is where a large majority of money comes from for in-state students. How will you pay these fees?
A previous post indicates that you wanted to apply to some schools through Questbridge, based on your family’s income of $100,000 for a family of 5. As a parent, I would find it extremely hard to give more than half of my yearly income for my child, to attend a public university in another state. You can attend your in-state university, get good grades, and then apply to graduate professional school for your physicians assistant training.
Going to a UC won’t give you any better chances of getting into one of the programs in the state of California. If anything it’s more competitive.
You could try applying to one of the many good, private colleges in the state of California, if you only want to go to schools in California, and see if they would award enough financial aid for you to attend.