What average do I need as a Canadian to get into UC schools?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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I attend a public school in Ontario (IB Curriculum). In Ontario they calculate marks on a 1-100 scale. My average in grade 9 was a 89%, grade 10 was a 87% and grade 11 a 94%. From what I understand, the UC admissions office will only look at my marks in terms of a percentage (not convert it to GPA). The reason my grade 9 and 10 marks aren’t so high is because in Canada they only look at grade 11-12 marks for university so I put more effort only later on.

I plan on applying to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, UCSD. Are my averages strong enough to be considered for the Engineering and Computer Science programs at these schools? I have a good number of EC’s and consider myself to be a decent writer for the Essays.

2

The Universities of California do not look at your freshmen year grades. This might help you some. Engineering and Computer Science are very competitive majors for admissions. UC Berkeley and UCLA are going to be high reaches.

How do your grades in grade 10 and 11 compare with other students in your high school? It seems that universities in the US are aware of Canadian high school grading levels.

Why do you want to attend university in California? What is your budget?

One year at any of the Universities of California is going to cost you as much or more compared to your full four years at any university in Canada. UC Berkeley and UCLA are great universities, but I do not see them having any advantage over McGill or Waterloo or Toronto or Queens or McMaster. You will not get any financial aid at all at any University of California and will pay full pay out-of-state prices.

Getting a degree from a university in the US will not allow you to stay in the US. You will be required to return to Canada after graduation. At least in my experience which was quite a while ago, as a Canadian graduating from university in the US you will find that Canadian employers prefer to hire from the excellent Canadian universities, which can make getting a job after graduation very, very difficult.

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https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school

You might be able to find your HS on FRGPAbyYr tab if you select the Foreign Institution radio button.

Understand, the schools you list are super competitive - especially Engineering and CS.

that will give some idea of UCLA - for international admits, it looks like a mid point GPA above 4.2 (a 9% acceptance rate for international applicants)
https://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof20.htm

UCSD and UCB are similar,
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses-majors/san-diego/freshman-admission-profile.html

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses-majors/berkeley/freshman-admit-data.html

Honestly, all 3 are a reach for most applicants

UCI is slightly less selective but , you sitll need a GPA well over 4 to be competitive

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses-majors/irvine/freshman-admit-data.html

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Can you pay US$65,000/year?? No financial aid at the UC’s for out of state and internationals.

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I do not plan on going to the UC as my first choice (Waterloo and Queens Engineering are my preference). However, I do have family that resides in California and for that reason I want to test my luck and see which universities I can get into. If I am able to get into UCB or UCSD, I might reconsider.

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How would I compare my percentage to a GPA system so that I am able to better understand the requirements on the UC websites? They do not seem to have any equivalents for Canadian grades.

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How do you compare to your fellow classmates? Are you ranked at your school? Students getting admitted into the top UC’s are on average in the top 10% of the High school class.

International Baccalaureate:
Filling out the application

You must report grades exactly as they appear on your official academic records (that includes the secondary school transcript and exam report from the International Baccalaureate Organization.)
If your school releases predicted scores for the diploma exams, you should enter the predicted scores on the International External Exams page of the application, under the Test Scores tab (Step 6 of 7). You should not put your predicted scores on the International Baccalaureate page.
If predicted IB scores are not available at the time you submit the application, you do not need to report them on the application, and you do not need to submit them at a later date (unless a campus requests that you do so). UC campuses do not use predicted scores as the only factor for admission.

https://gpacalculator.net/grade-conversion/canada/

UCB/UCLA should be considered Reach schools for all applicants.

UCB offers CS in the School of Engineering and also in the School of Letters and Sciences. EECS in Engineering is a direct admit and highly competitive. CS in the College of L&S does not admit directly into the major, so you need to complete course pre-req’s with a specific GPA to declare the major.

UCLA only offers CS/Engineering in the College of Engineering which is a direct admit and highly competitive.

UCSD and UCI admit into the University first and then into the major. If you do not specify an alternate major, you can be admitted into Undeclared and then would be require to change majors later. Changing majors into Engineering/CS is not guaranteed for either school and for UCSD, CS change of major is done by lottery after completing the pre-req courses with a specific GPA.

None of these schools will easy admits but UCI would be your best target.

Just remember, will it be worth $260K for an Undergrad degree from any of the UC’s vs. the Canadian Universities?

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 12%
UCLA: 7%
UCSD: 33%
UCI: 35%

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 38%
UCLA: 35%
UCSD: 71%
UCI: 55%

**2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range: **
UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)
UCSD: 4.18(4.04-4.28)
UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)

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Having family in CA will not get you in state tuition there.

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^ Agree! No matter which UC you attend, the cost will be $65K per year. There are no scholarships for non-residents. The UC’s are partially funded by California taxpayers for these public universities. Priority admission goes to in-state residents. Living with a relative DOES NOT MAKE YOU a RESIDENT. You will pay over $260K for 4 years. The State of California needs your money and will fully charge it to you.

Computer Science and Engineering are impacted. Too few spots. The classes and labs have LARGE numbers of students! Also, most of the UCs are on the quarter system. You have 10 weeks to prove yourself.

This does not bode well for the quarter system…

You need one full year in a graded course of Visual and Performing Arts. Make sure you follow the A-G requirements to the letter.

Canada has great schools at exceptional prices!

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