Does High School GPA Matter for Community College Transfer to UC?

I'm currently in high school, thinking about starting at a community college before transferring to a UC. How much does my high school GPA factor into the transfer process, if at all?

In general, once you've enrolled in a community college, your high school GPA is not considered as much in the admissions process for transferring to a University of California (UC) System school. The UCs are primarily interested in your performance at the community college level, so your college GPA, coursework, and any earned degrees or certificates will carry the most weight.

More specifically, the UC system has a lot of resources for California community college students who are intending to transfer, including the "Transfer Admission Guarantee" (TAG) program which guarantees you admission to a UC campus if you meet certain criteria. For this program, your community college GPA is directly taken into account, while your high school GPA typically is not.

That being said, your course selection and academic performance in high school could potentially make a difference for your initial enrollment in the community college, for instance, in regards to course placement or eligibility for certain programs. Usually, however, community colleges have open-enrollment policies, so your high school achievements don't play as big of a role as they might for a four-year university application.

Once you're at the community college, I encourage you to focus on maintaining strong grades and taking advantage of resources or programs designed to help students transfer to a UC. For example, utilizing counselors, joining extracurricular activities, and taking advantage of articulation agreements or transfer programs like TAG can all improve your chances at a successful transfer. Keep in mind the minimum GPA requirements for UC schools are typically a 2.4 for out-of-state residents and a 2.8 for California residents. However, meeting the minimum isn't usually sufficient to be competitive, so you should aim to exceed those standards whenever possible.