Which years are included in the UC GPA?
UC GPA is calculated using a-g courses (e.g. PE or Tutoring does not count) taken between the summer after 9th grade and the summer after 11th grade (inclusive). Here is what that means: freshman year grades are not included in the GPA calculation and neither are senior year grades (although the course load may be considered).
How does the weighting work?
For any UC honors classes, add 1 point per semester per course. For example, if you take PreCalc Honors at Homestead High School for both semesters, then you should add 2 points, since PreCalc Honors at Homestead High School is considered a UC honors (you can check which courses at your high school are UC honors here). With the weighted GPA, more honors or AP courses will increase your GPA, right? Not necessarily.
The weighted GPA is capped?
That’s right. You can use a maximum of 8 additional points for UC honors level courses between 10th and 11th grades. You also cannot use more than 4 honors points in 10th grade. Let’s do a sample GPA calculation for a fictitious Saratoga High School junior.
| 10th Grade | 11th Grade | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course | 1st Semester | 2nd Semester | Course | 1st Semester | 2nd Semester | ||||
| Grade | GPA Points | Grade | GPA Points | Grade | GPA Points | Grade | GPA Points | ||
| English 10 | A | 4 | A | 4 | English 11 | A | 4 | A | 4 |
| PreCalc H | A | 4+1 | A | 4+1 | AP Calc BC | B | 3+1 | A | 4+1 |
| Chem H | B | 3+1 | A | 4+1 | AP Chem | A | 4+1 | A | 4+1 |
| World History | A | 4 | A | 4 | AP US History | B | 3 | B | 3 |
| Spanish 3 | A | 4 | A | 4 | AP Comp Sci | A | 4 | A | 4 |
| Band 2 | A | 4 | A | 4 | Band 3 | A | 4 | A | 4 |
| Total | 25 | Total | 26 | Total | 24 | Total | 25 | ||
| Capped Weighted GPA | 4.17 | Capped Weighted GPA | 4.33 | Capped Weighted GPA | 4.00 | Capped Weighted GPA | 4.17 | ||
If you take a closer look at the 11th grade GPA calculations, you may notice that the student did not get the additional points for AP US History or AP Comp Sci even though they are clearly UC honors courses. This is because there is a cap of 8 honors points, and this student already had other courses in which the honors points were applied.
If you consider the GPA calculations for students who take five a-g courses each semester, the maximum capped UC GPA would be 4.4 (ironically, if you take more courses, even if you get A’s in all of them, your capped UC GPA would be lower.
Why do some kids take as many APs as possible?
Considering the fact that your grades are likely to be worse with a more aggressive course load, why would some students take more than a total of four honors or AP courses in 10th and 11 grades? Doesn’t doing so risk a lower UC capped GPA? The answer lies in the fact that since there are so many students with a maximum capped UC GPA, some of the top UCs consider the “fully weighted GPA.” Take a look at a recent UCLA Admissions Profile. Some relevant information has been highlighted.
So, how many APs (or honors) should I take?
This question does not have an easy answer. A student who takes five APs each semester will definitely be more competitive than a student who takes two each semester, if they both have straight A’s. However, that is a BIG if. Obviously, the more rigorous the course load, the more difficult it is to maintain great grades. The right course load depends on your study habits and your extracurricular activities.
It is possible for students to lower their chances to UCs by overloading. With poor grades (resulting from overloading) a student will surely not be competitive for UCLA or UC Berkeley, but more importantly, he/she may also not be competitive for some of the other UCs that would have been possible with a more sensible course load.
