LINK FROM UC TIPS ON APPLYING Use for new version of this document http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/downloadable-guides/index.html Tips for entering information into the UC online application Attendance at OHS often means that our students have an unconventional course history, so here are some tips for filling out your course history in your UC application. Have your transcripts in hand as you work. As a general note, read all the directions on every page of the site, as they provide essential information and will help ensure that you do not enter your data incorrectly. On the right side of the webpage, also notice the Questions? box. It is there to answer common questions about every page of the application. Please contact the College Counseling Office if you have any questions about the UC application. Remember this is due November 30, much earlier than your regular applications, and very close to the Thanksgiving holiday, so get it done early! Some relevant Q&A s from the application site: What if I took online courses? If the online provider has an approved UC course list (e.g., Laurel Springs Online, BYU Independent Study) add the provider as one of the high schools you attended. If it does not have an approved course list (e.g., Middlebury Online, GiftedandTalented) you should be add the courses manually. If an online course was certified by your former high school principal and will appear on your high school transcript, you can self-enter the course as part of the curriculum taken at your high school. Please note that OHS does not list non-ohs courses on its transcript. What are the a-g subject areas? We call academic subjects (history/social science, English, etc.) the 'a-g' subject areas. Each accredited California high school has a list of courses that have been certified by UC as meeting the 'a-g' subject requirements. If you attended school outside of California, list your courses in the appropriate subject areas. What are UC-approved honors courses? UC approves courses at all accredited California high schools as meeting the 'a-g' requirements. Some courses are approved as honors-level courses, meaning they require higher standards. If a course is not designated as such on your high school's course list, or if your school does not have a UC-certified course list, do not select 'HL' (Honors Level) for a course, even if your school calls it an honors course. What if I took college courses that were offered/taught at my high school? For the UC application, college courses are courses taken from colleges or universities. If you took a course through a college, regardless of the physical location of the course, enter the college in your list of colleges attended while in high school. If the courses were taught by your high school, enter them with your other high school courses. What if I took a course for just one semester? For the off-term, enter the grade of NO (No Course). I entered my high school, but it does not appear in the dropdown list of schools. If your California high school does not appear in the list, check that you have typed the name correctly. Try entering just the unique words in your school name and leaving out words such as High School, College, or Saint. If your school is not in California and does not appear in the list (or no matches appear), enter the full name of the school, the city and institution type, then click 'Add This.' 1
What is a specialized curriculum? Specialized curriculum focuses on a particular academic or career-technical area of study. A career pathway/academy is a cohort of students within a school who typically participate for three years in a state-funded California Partnership Academy with a focus on an area of career interest. A magnet school accepts students based on their interest and proven talent in an academic area of emphasis (e.g., the arts, or science and technology) and nurtures student development in that area. If your school does not have a specialized curriculum, leave this blank. Do not select Other. Instructions for the Academic History Pages: Seventh/Eighth Grade Courses If you did advanced math coursework in 7 th and 8 th grade (algebra or a higher level), enter the name of the course(s) and the number of semesters. Also enter any world languages you studied in 7 th and 8 th grade and whether you attended any schools abroad during this period. 2
High Schools Attended On this page you will enter every high school you have attended. Note that there are bullets to check corresponding to the location of the school. Instructions for entering information about OHS will be shown here and you will complete this same process for all schools you attended. OHS is located in California, so check that button. Note: OHS does not qualify as a specialized curriculum, so do not check any boxes relating to that for OHS. 3
Information about your high school Check the high school years you attended and the corresponding academic years. Begin with the current year (2015-16) and work backwards. Check the dates for the duration of your attendance, from August of your first year through June 2016, when you will graduate. Check the radio for graduation as shown below if you are graduating from OHS. The diploma you will receive is a High School Diploma, in June 2016. Our grading system is A B C D F and we use semester grades (two grades for full year classes per year are shown on your transcript). Hit Add This when you are done. Do this for every high school and remember to hit that button every time to save the information. If you have taken non-ohs courses as a home school student, enter your homeschool information. 4
The screenshot below approximates what the OHS entry should look like, with slight variation on the dates and grades you attended OHS. If you need to add another school or homeschool courses, follow the process above. If the schools are in California, the school and many of its courses will be listed. Outside schools will also likely be listed, but often their course lists are not in the database, so you will have to enter them manually. 5
Entering Courses The courses listed below are an example of what automatically populates for OHS, as they are UC a-g approved courses. IMPORTANT NOTE While you will find CRA under Electives on the UC Course List, we would like students to write it in as an English course. 6
Note: While OHS courses are challenging, our University Level courses are not UC classified honors courses. All courses below should be listed as NH for Not Honors. See below for clarification. Summer courses can be listed here if you received academic credit for them. Do not list summer labs, as these are part of the overall science course with which they are associated (AP Bio, etc). Courses such as Leadership, Study Skills, and the OHS summer courses are not credit eligible, and should not be listed in the Academic History section. They can be listed in the Activities section (see pages 12-13), but that is entirely a matter of personal choice. They are not essential to the application. Many OHS courses are in the system. Click the plus sign next to each subject to reveal the courses. Check the appropriate courses you took for each year you attended OHS, then you will be asked to select a grade from a drop down list for each semester you took the course. If you only took a course one semester, select NO for the other semester, meaning you did not have the course. Only courses you took for credit should be listed in the Academic History section. If you don t see a course you took (look under electives first), check I don t see all of my courses and follow the instructions below. The procedure for listing our University Level courses is listed here. If you don t see a course you took (be sure to look at the electives list first), you can manually enter the information. Select a subject area from the drop down, type in the full course name- no abbreviations other than AP. Select the honors type (NH is used for non-honors courses, which most of our courses are as far as the UC classification is concerned) and enter grades. IMPORTANT: Our University Level courses are not UC classified honors courses. This does not mean that the schools will not recognize the level of difficulty, just that the courses don t fall under their classifications for a-g honors courses. The a-g requirements are very specfic, so don t be concerned. In order to note the difficulty, type the title of the University Level courses like so- University Level: course name e.g. University Level: Complex Analysis (with Mathematics as the classified subject). See below for a full list of course titles you may need to enter. History/Social Science Course Category: World History Core: History of Science Advanced History Research Seminar: The European Enlightenment (post-ap) Advanced History Research Seminar: Contemporary History (post-ap) Legal Studies: Constitutional Law Course Category: English Critical Reading and Argumentation (post-ap) Advanced Topics in Literature (post-ap) Advanced Topics in Literature: Writing Option (post-ap) Visual and Performing Arts Advanced Topics in the Humanities: Film Art (post-ap) AP Music Theory Mathematics Course Category: Advanced Mathematics Advanced Problem Solving and Proof Techniques (post-ap) University Level: Complex Analysis 7
University Level: Modern Algebra University Level: Real Analysis University Level: Number Theory University Level: Logic in Action University Level: Economics AP Microeconomics Electives Advanced Topics in Philosophy (post-ap) Programming in C: Algorithms and Techniques Health Sciences Course Category: Biological Sciences Core: Methodology of Science, Biology Earth, Environment and Energy AP Biology w/lab Advanced Topics in Biological Research- nonwriting option (post-ap) Course Category: Chemistry Honors Chemistry AP Chemistry w/lab Course Category: Physics Honors Physics AP Physics C: Mechanics AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism University Level: Light and Heat University Level: Modern Physics University Level: Intermediate Mechanics Course Category: Languages Other Than English Spanish Conversation I and II Directed Study in Spanish Literature Add all missing courses, then hit Next 8
For this current academic year, your 12 th grade year, enter courses but no grades. Your first semester grades will not be finalized before the UC application is due. The system will automatically put IP for courses in progress this semester, and PL for planned courses next semester. Leave this for all courses unless the course is only one semester, in which case classify the other semester as NO. 9
You will be asked if you took any college courses. Note: University level courses at OHS do not count as college courses, as they are not being taken from a college and are not college credit eligible. If you did take college courses for credit at a community college or university, check yes, enter the school and the courses, grades etc. This is very similar to the process outlined for the high schools above. Otherwise, click No. 10
The Academic History entry page can be used to explain any information about your academic record that may not be explained by your entries or other application documents. Because most UC schools do not accept letters of recommendation, we strongly suggest that you use this section to provide background information about OHS. Every application should include a statement in their own words that outlines some of the following information about OHS: It is a WASC-accredited independent online school Courses are taken in real time (synchronous vs. asynchronous) The school operates on a college-style schedule (MW/TuTh courses) All OHS courses are advanced, the school offers AP and Post-AP/University Level courses that have AP courses as a pre-requisite. State that you indicated this level in the course listing section. A mention of why you chose to attend OHS If you have taken any courses listed on the OHS profile denoted with an asterisk, please write here: The following courses I have taken are taught at a post-ap/early college level: BLANK You might also use this section to explain circumstance such as dual-enrollment or why grades suffered during a particular period. 11
Activities What is coursework other than a-g? We call academic subjects (history/social studies, English, etc.) the 'a-g' subject areas. Here, we want to know about other courses you have taken that have helped shape you but that might not have been granted academic credit. The Activities section is where you would list classes you did not receive credit for (e.g. Leadership and Study Skills). If the course was college preparation related, list it in the Education Prep section shown on the next page (pg. 13), if not, list it under non- a-g coursework, shown on this page. Note the instructions for the non- a-g section, specifying that you list courses that demonstrate a particular focus or interest. See the examples they provide for further explanation. Extracurricular activities are broken down in this section. Research projects and other such activities count as extracurricular, they are not eligible for credit. 12
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