UC's to Adopt Sweeping Changes in Admissions Policy

The Board of Regents of the University of California approved changes to the University's admission policy that will affect current high school students graduating in 2012 and beyond.

The new policy requires the same number of "a-g" courses and the same GPA as current policy. The key differences are:

Two SAT Subject Tests will no longer be required for admission. However, students could still choose to submit their scores for consideration as part of their application, just as they do now with AP scores. The Subject Test also could be recommended for certain majors.

All applicants will need to complete 11 of the 15 "a-g" courses by the end of their junior year. Currently, this is required only of students who are designated eligible by ranking in the top 4 percent of their high school class.

All California high school seniors who complete the requirements will be invited to apply and will be entitled to a comprehensive review of their applications at each UC campus to which they apply.

Within this "entitled to review" pool, two categories of applicants would be guaranteed admissions somewhere within the UC system:
1. those who fall in the top 9 percent of all high school graduates statewide, and
2. those who rank in the top 9 percent of their own high school graduating class.

Fundamentally, these changes will not change the way students prepare for the University: students will still need to complete the "a-g" requirements, earn the best grades possible, and take the ACT Assessment with Writing or the SAT Reasoning Test. They will also need content knowledge in case they choose to take an SAT Subject Test to demonstrate specific subject-matter proficiency.

Students who graduate from high school prior to 2012 will be held to existing admissions requirement. Most importantly, this means that these students will be required to submit scores from two SAT Subject Tests in order to be eligible for admission, as is the case now.

You are invited to submit questions you may have about the new policy at http://www.univsersityofcalifornia.edu/educators/counselors/ask. The University will respond to all inquiries and will post answers to the most frequently asked questions.

UC System Release