WF screwing me over?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

I’m in a bit of a pickle because at the end of my sophomore year, I signed up to take AP Comp Sci AB for 11th grade (a new program at my school offered to <10 kids). My counselor had me sign an AP contract contract which essentially says that people who drop out of a preregistered AP course, but are not failing it/haven’t taken it, automatically get a WF if they drop. My school does this to discourage wasting money on unused registrations for these special AP courses offered to limited students.

My sophomore year, I decided to sign up for AP CS AB since I’ve been coding for so long. First semester was APCS A, in which I got an A. Second semester however, my counselor informed me that APCS B was now obsolete since CollegeBoard and UC a-g only credited APCS A. I decided to drop part B and took the WF in hopes of explaining it on my application.

In place of that, I elected to take an online AP Physics C, which lasted from second semester into the summer. Got an A in that. I talked with the UC admissions office and they explained that I’d have to explain my WF situation in the Additional Comments and that each UC would consider the WF differently. Anyone have any experience in this or know how it would affect my chances? Thanks

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Fully Weighted GPA: 4.29 (4.12 if WF is counted as an F)
UC GPA: 3.96 (3.8 if WF is counted as an F)
Rank: Top 5% out of 750+ kids
2300 SAT
35 ACT

Grades:
Sophomore - Sem1/Sem2
Eng = A/A
Honors Chem = B/B-
Honors Precal = A-/B
APWH = A-/A-
Spanish 2 = A/A

Junior - Sem1/Sem2
AP Computer Science = A/WF
AP Chem = C/B
Spanish 3 = A/A
AP Calc BC = C/B
Journalism = A/A
Honors English = A-/A
AP Physics C = /A

Community College Summer -
US History = A
English Composition = A

Senior Course Load: AP Physics, AP Gov, AP Stats, Photography, Journalism, AP Macroeconomics

ECs: - Debate (4 years that has led to regional and national level success), team captain

  • 100+ Hours coaching middle school debate (and some HS kids) that led to local and national level success
  • Interned at a software engineering startup over the summer
  • I’ve been coding for 8+ years, made a couple of apps for people
  • 50+ other hours volunteering for a community service organization
  • News Editor for School Newspaper
  • Tech/Business News Analyst for an online newspaper (which is based in the east coast)

Major = Computer Engineering at all except L&S at Berkeley
Applying to = UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, UCSB, CalPoly SLO, SJSU, Purdue, GA Tech

2

First, your WF is NOT screwing you over. You made a choice. “ya takes your chances and ya pay the price” I really doubt they will consider it an F. Just ask your GC to explain the school stance and why you made the choice you did.

3

@“Erin’s Dad” Thanks for the response. There’s nowhere for my GC to explain my situation in my UC application, and regardless she’s not at school this year, so I just explained it to the best of my 500 character ability in the Additional Comments section under Academic History.
Can I pm it to someone to look over to see if it makes sense under the 500 character limit?

4

Can’t your school make an exception given the circumstances?