Admission as an undergraduate student to the University of California is guaranteed to all resident students of the state of California who graduate from their high school class in the top nine percent. Outside of this guaranteed admission, the remaining pool of students must compete for admissions. The university has laid out a set of guidelines that sets the minimum standard for incoming freshmen students. The first of these guidelines is the subject area requirements. Students must complete the minimum number of years of courses in high school in each subject area mandated by the university. Graduates must complete two years of history and social science, laboratory science and a foreign language (the university recommends three years for each). Four years of English and three years of mathematics are required, along with one year each of visual and performing arts courses and college preparatory electives.
Students must also maintain a minimum grade point average (GPA) in the required subject courses in order to be considered for admission. For California residents, the minimum GPA is a 3.0; non-resident students must have a 3.4 GPA. The university uses a complex scoring system that utilizes your grade point average and your scores on either the ACT or SAT examination. The higher your high school grade point average in the core required courses, the lower your minimum score must be to be considered for admission. Students who have taken honors or advanced placement courses in high school receive more points for those courses as well.
Potential students must complete either the ACT or the SAT since this factors into the overall scoring system utilized by the university. Applicants can complete the ACT along with the writing component or they can complete the SAT reasoning test. SAT subject test scores must be submitted from two separate areas. These can include math, English, social studies, history and science.
Graduate admissions to UC will vary by program. Because of the nature of graduate education and the sheer size of the university system, uniform requirements for admission to graduate and professional programs are not possible. However, in general, students should expect to submit an application, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose indicating why they are a good fit for the program to which they are applying and scores from the graduate record examination (GRE).