Admissions Requirements

The UC Berkeley ATDP's goal is to select students who will benefit from the challenging course offerings as well as succeed in this fast-paced Program.

Students are invited to attend the Program on the basis of traditional and non-traditional indicators of exceptional academic talent.

Traditional indicators include:

  • Standardized achievement test scores. On the average, successful applicants have scored at or above the 90th percentile on their standardized achievement tests (both the mathematics and reading tests).
  • Course grades and GPA. On the average, successful applicants have earned an overall academic grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.5 on a 4-point scale.

Non-traditional indicators include:

  • Teacher recommendations.
  • Student products. Writing samples (essays, poetry, etc.), science reports, computer programming projects, architectural designs, and the like.
  • Student interest inventory. When making decisions about course placement, we also take into consideration a student's special interests, as indicated on the Interest Inventory.

(See here for a more thorough explanation of SD admissions requirements.)