What do UCs really look at?

Applying to College
1

<p>What qualifications do the UCs accept you by?</p>

<p>Do they concentrate on your grades or any source of commitment?</p>

<p>Do they look at AP scores?</p>

2

<p>Use the search function - you can find that many of your quetions are already answered quite thoroughly already.</p>

3

<p>They look at how sexy you are...i guess I am in for sure. LUCKY ME!!!!!!!!!!</p>

4

<p>The UC's base qualification of an individual based on numerous factors, the major ones being GPA, Scores, and ECs. Though throughout the history of the UC system, a decently high GPA or score in competitive range was enough to give one a nod for admission, but nowadays this has changed. Due to the ever competitive pool of senior applicants from California and around the world, the UCs are turning away highly qualified candidates in terms of scores or GPA not unlike the top private schools. A strong EC base seems to be of tremendous help these days, and the stereotypical UC applicant, with just a several hundred hours of volunteering and membership in a few clubs would not be considered much seriously.</p>

5

<p>^
Yup .</p>

6

<p>I don't think they look at your APs..I only took 2 APs and it didn't seem to affect my admissions.</p>

7

<p>Mostly grades.</p>

8

<p>An article about admissions at ucsd, which uses a point system, is at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2cjq5s%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://tinyurl.com/2cjq5s&lt;/a> While the other UCs may not use the same point system, they are looking for more or less the same things.</p>

<p>Grades and test scores are the most important, but you're not getting into one of the better UCs without good ECs</p>

9

<p>Grades are hugely important (a 2300 on the SAT won't make up for a 3.3 GPA), and as Gryffon5147 said, it's getting more and more competitive. As such, they have to evaluate based on more factors (ECs, essays, etc.) and also have to turn away a lot of great applicants. UCLA, for example, got a record # applicants at 51k, I think, with Berkeley right behind it with 47k. So yeah, pretty competitive.</p>

10

<p>It depends on which UC, but, to get into any UC you need at least a 3.0 GPA in their A-G classes, which include English, Advanced math, history and social science, laboratory science, language other than English, and visual or performing arts. Then there is a sliding table that determines what SAT/ACT score you need. The higher your GPA, the lower the test scores you need. The table is here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/scholarship_reqs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you are a California resident and are in the top 10 percent of your class and meet the minimum requirements you are pretty much guaranteed a space in some UC, but maybe not the one you want. </p>

<p>Others in this thread are talking about getting into the most popular UCs, Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. They are pretty selective. The easiest UCs to get into are the two newest, Riverside and Merced.</p>