Hey everyone, I'm currently a junior and I'm super interested in UC Santa Cruz. I'm wondering if anyone can give me details about the requirements for admission? Things like GPA, any necessary test scores or courseload? Thank you so much!
For the University of California schools, including UC Santa Cruz, the minimum GPA requirement for California residents is 3.0, while for non-residents it's 3.4. This applies to your 10th and 11th-grade level coursework in the 'a-g' subjects, which include history, English, math, science, foreign language, visual/performing arts, and college preparatory electives. It's worth mentioning that UC Santa Cruz and other UC schools do not look only at your GPA, but also at the grades in individual classes and the difficulty of your courses, so rigorous classes like AP and IB courses can be a real plus.
Regarding test scores, keep in mind that starting from the 2024-2025 application cycle, all UC schools including UC Santa Cruz are test-blind, which means they no longer consider SAT or ACT scores in the admissions process.
Apart from academics, UC Santa Cruz looks at other factors like leadership, community involvement, extracurricular activities, and more through what they call "personal insight questions." These are short-answer questions that give you the opportunity to show more about your passion, resilience, talents, or other personal qualities. These aspects of your application can be as important as academics for demonstrating that you would be a good fit for the school.
Finally, remember to submit your application during the UC application filing period, which is October 1 to November 30.
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