University of California (UC) Admissions Requirements

Eligibility in the Statewide Context is the pathway by which most students attain UC eligibility. To be eligible in the statewide context, you must satisfy the Subject, Scholarship and Examination requirements.

To satisfy the Subject requirement, you must complete the 15 units of high school coursework known as the "a-g" requirements. (A unit is equal to an academic year, or two semesters, of study.) At least 7 of the 15 units must be taken in your last two years of high school.

For California students, the courses you take to fulfill the Subject Requirement must be certified by the University as meeting the requirement and must be included on your high school's UC-certified course list. Your counselor or principal will have a copy of this list. In addition, the lists are available online at the UC's Doorways site.

Applicants must satisfy the "f" requirement by completing a single year-long approved course from a single VPA discipline. The two semesters do not have to be completed sequentially.

The Scholarship Requirement defines the grade point average (GPA) you must attain in the "a-g" subjects and the scores you must earn on the SAT Reasoning or ACT tests and SAT Subject Tests to be eligible for admission to the University.

If your GPA is 3.0 or above, you satisfy the minimum Scholarship Requirement if you achieve the test score total indicated in the Eligibility Index below. But, if the number of applicants exceeds the spaces available for a particular campus or major -- as is often the case -- the campus uses criteria that exceed the minimum requirements. Therefore, satisfying the minimum requirement may not be enough to gain admission to the campus of your choice; you must be competively eligible for that campus.

ELIGIBILITY INDEX for CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

Examination Requirement - You must submit the following test scores:

* Either the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT Assessment (with writing). The verbal and mathematics scores on the SAT I must be from the same sitting. The ACT composite score must be submitted.

* Two SAT Subject Tests in two different areas chosen from the following: history, literature, mathematics (Level 2 only), science, or language other than English.

For complete information on the UC eligibility index visit their page on the Scholarship Requirement.

For complete admissions information, see the UC admissions page on Freshman Admission.