Chrysalis Academy Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I've read here (and elsewhere) that it is difficult or unusual for a CA-resident homeschooled student to be admitted to a UC as a freshman. I'm wondering if anyone has firsthand knowledge/experience with applying to a UC school? Either successfully or unsuccessfully . . . Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moki4 Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I don't have much time, but search the boards for "UC". There are some! CAmom (if I remember correctly) had a DS who was accepted to a few UC's...I think now at UCLA. He had an excellent SAT score. The prob is with a-g requirements. I think most can be bypassed with SAT/AP similar classes with good scores. We will have a few UC's on our list in a couple of years. I'm not worried! Hope others chime in:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Not among the people I hang out with, at least not directly out of high school. There are a few that went to community college first and then to a UC. But I don't know that the reason is because they can't get in, most of them are choosing to apply elsewhere due to over-crowding and price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Sandra Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 A UC grad spoke to our homeschool support group about this topic several years ago. I will look for the notes I took because the information is still relevant. Is there a particular reason your dc is looking at a UC? Major? Proximity to home? As you know, cost is no longer such an attraction. I got my undergraduate degree from a UC, yet I am not especially planning to steer my dc in that direction. I am asking because the UCs are less flexible than private colleges because of the a-g requirements, so you will have to tailor your homeschool to meet those requirements or prepare your dc to test out of them. If a particular major, etc. makes UC important it can be worth it. For the most part, top schools look for the equivalent of the a-g requirements, but I think the UC may be less flexible regarding what curriculum you use to meet those requirements. If dc child has a particular UC campus in mind, contacting the admissions office is the best suggestion I can give you. Hopefully I will find my notes. In the meanwhile, HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 UC Riverside is the only UC with an explicit pathway for homeschoolers. The other UC's don't accept homeschool transcripts to meet their A through G academic requirements, so they generally don't accept homeschoolers who aren't using a homeschool charter program as Freshman. I think most homeschoolers transfer in after taking classes at CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moki4 Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 We have discussed this at length before... You can meet a-g requirements through SAT 2 testing/AP class w test. Another avenue would be through examination. A great SAT score could do it. I completely agree that the cost of UC is now prohibitive to many. We probably will have a few UC's on Dd's list (selective at that). If there is a specific school which interests you, then contact them. Is there one school which piques your interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 A UC grad spoke to our homeschool support group about this topic several years ago. I will look for the notes I took because the information is still relevant. Is there a particular reason your dc is looking at a UC? Major? Proximity to home? As you know, cost is no longer such an attraction. I got my undergraduate degree from a UC, yet I am not especially planning to steer my dc in that direction. I am asking because the UCs are less flexible than private colleges because of the a-g requirements, so you will have to tailor your homeschool to meet those requirements or prepare your dc to test out of them. If a particular major, etc. makes UC important it can be worth it. For the most part, top schools look for the equivalent of the a-g requirements, but I think the UC may be less flexible regarding what curriculum you use to meet those requirements. If dc child has a particular UC campus in mind, contacting the admissions office is the best suggestion I can give you. Hopefully I will find my notes. In the meanwhile, HTH. Thanks (and to the other posters too) for the response; I am looking at UCs because of a potential major interest. Of course my dd is young and lots may change, but she has a sustained interest in entomology and sees this as a potential career. I know that UC Berkeley, Davis, and Santa Cruz all have excellent entomology programs, and I have professional contacts at all three places, and dh is an SC alum, so they somewhat naturally fit onto our proto-list of potential colleges. Just trying to do my best as her guidance counselor! We are on a good track with math and science to be able to put together a strong transcript, and can support that with AP or SAT exams if we need to. It sounds like that if we are targeting a UC that might be necessary. So I'm just trying to do a little research to figure out what the options and potential paths are. Besides shooting for UC admission as a freshman, it may be that 2 years at cc and then transferring is the best bet; it may be that a strong Biology undergraduate degree from another college, and then a UC for grad school specializing in Entomology is the preferred path. Or she might decide to be a journalist or a vet or something, who knows! :D One thing that occurs to me: if she were to decide that a CC AA and transferring to a UC is her path, that might really change what high school looks like. I expect that she will take some cc classes in high school either way, but was assuming we needed to enroll as a hs student or keep the units below the level that would turn her into a transfer student. But if she decides to transfer to a UC, maybe officially graduating her early and letting her start at the cc for college credit would be better? She is on a path that would make her academically ready for that, as of now, but I have always assumed that it would be best to graduate at the regular age for maturity reasons - the thought of sending a 16 or 17 yo off to a 4 year college is really daunting to the mama of a 10 yo! I'm a planner, if you couldn't tell! ;) So thanks for helping me process this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Not UC, but CalState. My dds did c.c. instead of high school. C.c. students who transfer are guaranteed to be admitted to both UC and CalState (they need to plan their course of study at the c.c. to make sure they take classes which are tranferrable). High school transcripts are irrelevant for c.c. transfer students. Some people look down on that course of action, but I don't care. We couldn't see the point of doing four years of high school and then repeating those courses as part of the required lower division courses in college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Reading this thread, it sounds as if the UC schools have made it much harder for HS students to enroll, than the U.S. Air Force Academy. http://www.academyadmissions.com/admissions/advice-to-applicants/home-schoolers/ The quality of the UC schools now is hardly equal to that of the U.S.A.F.A. This California native wonders if this extreme difficulty, for Home Schoolers, is because of the teachers unions in California? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moki4 Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Do you think it's a control issue with the teachers union? Just curious...Calif high schools (public) are indoctrinated into the public universities, as if there are no other options! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphispeg Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 We are out of state CalPoly. Our transcript had loads of info. about our course content. My dd did not "test out" of any classes but, she could have. She is going there b/c it is perfect for her. There are many v. smart CA residents, home schooled or public schooled, who did not get in. There is some resentment about this but my dd does not care. We had all the required grades in a-g classes. Dd went to public school fr. and soph. year. It did look as though taking the SAT 2 in some of the subjects might be helpful but, dd was not required to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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