Regents Finalize GPA Proposal

The UC Regents, at their meeting Thursday morning at UCSF, voted to raise the GPA requirement to 3.0. The previous minimum was 2.8.

Daily Cal Coverage

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SFGate Coverage

Now, what effect will this have on UC Berkeley? Probably very little. According to the UC Berkeley Common Data Set, the average GPA for 2003-04 incoming first-years was 4.24. 99% of first-year students had a GPA above 3.0. So, the impact on UC Berkeley will be minimal.

What effect might this have on the UC system? Potentially, a much more substantial one. According to the UC Riverside Common Data Set, the average GPA for 2003-04 incoming first-years was 3.42. Only 88% of first-year students had a GPA above 3.0. That leaves a substantial amount of students out in the cold in the new policy. The UCOP's website puts the system-wide mean GPA at 3.8. So, if you average GPAs and percentages, approximately 6% of last year’s first-year class would not have gotten in to a UC school. That is an estimate because I can’t find those percentages.

The problem with this new policy goes beyond the fact that this policy will hurt lower-income students without the same opportunity for weighted classes to increase their GPAs. The larger problem is that it acknowledges that the current system of judging high school performance has any validity. Weighted GPA is incredibly relative, and cannot be used to accurately distinguish one student from another. Given, anything above a weighted 4.3 generally is still pretty impressive in that it shows that the student is taking many advanced courses and succeeding in them. But blatant inequalities in the high school system make a 4.3 impossible for many students, setting them at a disadvantage.

This is why the new comprehensive review program had the potential to really make progress in the admissions program. Unfortunately, after a year with mitigating circumstances (jobless economy = less diversity in college attendees), the program is not being given a fair chance to prove itself as an effective way to help solve any perceived problems with the UC admissions system.
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