Will a UC college accept me?

State Forums
1

i am currently a sophomore in high school and have really been pushing hard thus far. last year, not too good. i had an 89 average for much of that school year. this year i have about a 94, making my gpa a 4.0, when last year it was a 3.3ish-3.7. will a UC college accept me with this type of gpa? also i take an ap class this year and two next year, but ill be taking six ap’s in senior year, btw i am from new york and i attend a private school if that makes any difference to my luck at getting in.

2

Is there specific UCs you’re looking at? UC acceptance rates range from 17.5% for UCBerkeley to 73.7% for UCMerced so there’s quite a range.

3

As an OOS applicant, there are few things you need to know about the UC system.

  1. UC’s offer little to no financial aid for OOS applicants, so check with your parents if they are OK with paying around $55K+/year to attend.

  2. UC’s are state schools, so priority is given to in-state applicants. OOS applicants usually need above average stats for a better chance at these schools.

  3. UC’s calculate their GPA based on 10-11th grades only. They also give extra honors points (8 semesters capped or unlimited semesters Fully weighted) but for OOS applicants only AP/IB and DE courses count for these extra honors points in 10-11th grade only. HS designated Honors classes are not included. Senior grades are not considered in the admission decisions, but HS course rigor will be noted. To get the most benefit from your AP courses, it is better to take the most AP’s in your Junior year not Senior year.

Here is the UC GPA calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
At the end of Junior year, calculate out your UC GPA and include Unweighted/Capped Weighted and Fully Weighted.
All the UC’s will use the Capped weighted but UCLA/UCB also use the Fully weighted GPA.

Depending upon which UC’s you are targeting, you will also need competitive test scores, good EC’s and essays for an overall competitive application. Just this year, UCLA received over 102,000 applications for 6500 Freshman spots.

Good Luck.

4

At this stage, it is simply too early to tell. Generally, freshman grades aren’t heavily weighed and you are just one semester into sophomore year. If you want to come to a UC (and have the budget to afford the out of state tuition) do your best, be sure to take the required A-G courses and try to optimize your resume according to this list

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/how-applications-reviewed/index.html

Generally though, a 3.5 and mid range test scores will make any UC except Merced a reach.