First-year application tips
Learn best practices to fill out the UC application.
How to report coursework and grades
Your academic record is the core of your application. It’s important to report all your UC-approved college preparatory coursework — whether taken at a high school or college — completely and accurately. Include courses you enrolled in, regardless of grades, transferability, withdrawal or if they were repeated.
Honors courses
The honors box on the UC application form is used to designate a course for which an extra grade point is awarded for a letter grade of C or better. There are four different types of honors courses:
- Advanced Placement, known as AP
- Designated International Baccalaureate, known as IB, courses
- College courses, known as CL; applies only to UC-transferable college courses
- UC-approved school-designated honors-level courses, known as HL
If you attend a California public high school, see your high school’s UC-approved course list for more information about honors courses. Only UC-approved courses that are listed as honors are eligible to receive an extra grade point.
Nonresident applicants should check the honors box (AP, IB, CL) for AP, IB and UC-transferable college courses as appropriate for all of the above.
Reporting international education
Non-letter grades
Domestic applicants whose school uses a non-letter grade system, need to take some additional steps to complete the application. Check with your high school counseling office to see if there is a conversion scale to the A-B-C-D-F letter grade system. Do not attempt to translate your grades yourself, if a conversion scale does not exist. List the grades exactly as they appear on your transcript, and check the box that indicates your school uses a grading system other than A-B-C-D-F. Your application is reviewed by a UC advisor who will translate these marks accordingly.
College courses taken while in high school
Add the college information after the high school information, if any college or university-level courses were completed while in high school.
If UC-transferable courses were taken at a California community college, known as CCC, a course list will appear:
- Select the course or courses taken, grade earned (or enter IP for In Progress, PL for Planned courses) and the "A-G" subject area in which the course fits. UC-transferable courses taken at a CCC can be found on Assist.org under the “College courses taken while in high school” section.
If non-UC-transferable or non-CCC courses were taken while in high school, students must manually input course information:
- Only non-UC-transferable courses in English and math are reported in this section of the application.
- If there are other CCC courses that are non-UC-transferable, report them in the ‘Non a-g Coursework’ area later in the application.
- If college/university courses were not taken at a CCC, enter each course and grade earned as it appears on the official academic record from the college/university attended.
Explain any gaps in your educational chronology in the Additional Information section of the UC application; only a brief description of what you were doing during these breaks in your education is necessary.
Letters of recommendation and other materials
Do not include letters of recommendation, copies of awards, transcripts or samples of your academic or creative work with your application. We will not review them, nor will we return them to you.
Choosing a major
Apply to a major that interests you, rather than to one in which you think you have the best chance of admission. We also suggest that you include an alternate major in case you are not admitted in your first choice.
How your application is reviewed
UC Davis conducts a comprehensive review of every first-year application to ensure each applicant is assessed thoroughly and fairly.
We evaluate every application using 13 criteria that all UC campuses adhere to. We consider a broad range of factors, from traditional academics to extracurricular achievement and response to life challenges, but we look beyond the numbers to find out who you really are!
How to check your status
In December, you should receive a confirmation email from UC Davis Undergraduate Admissions that contains your UC Davis student ID number. Use your student ID number to set up your MyAdmissions account.