Standardized Testing

We do not require the ACT or SAT for all courses. Students may be eligible for entry to some of our less competitive courses with just their high school GPA. You may wish to consider the Liberal Arts & Sciences program, which offers an alternative entry pathway to a number of programs, including Commerce, Engineering, Social Sciences, Architecture, Engineering, and Agriculture and generally does not require standardized tests.

To be competitive for entry, we do recommend students submit ACT or SAT scores, but they may not be required for admission to all courses depending on your academic profile.

You can review our US Curriculum Entry Requirements page - there are two columns for each course, indicating entry requirements for students presenting without standardized exams and those presenting with standardized exams. Some courses are only accessible for students with standardized exams and this will be clearly presented. If anything is unclear you can contact the UCD North America Global Centre with questions.

Also, any course marked with ‡ is available for entry through Liberal Arts & Sciences (major code LBS1) - this course is most similar to entering Undecided. LA&S allows you to sample across Architecture, Agriculture, Arts, Business, Engineering, Science and Social Science in the first few years before transferring into your best fit degree and still graduating in four years! You can review more information in the (opens in a new window)Liberal Arts and Sciences Brochure.

The GPA requirement will vary depending on what course you apply to and your academic profile. We have a minimum GPA requirement of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale (B Average), unweighted - however, to be competitive for entry applicants without test scores may need up to a 3.66 (A- average).

Many of our courses do not require any AP exams, but some of our more competitive courses require 1-3 additional subject exam scores to be competitive for entry. UCD will consider any AP exam score of 2 or higher in your application. AP exam scores may also supplement your application in lieu of SAT or ACT results.

Additionally, some courses have specific subject requirements, as detailed in the Additional Requirements column in our US Curriculum Entry Requirements page. Some of these requirements can only be met through AP exam scores or specific grades in college level courses.

You can indicate on your application that you plan to take additional exams. If you meet entry requirements based on your GPA alone you will receive an offer without your exam scores. If we need your exam scores to meet entry requirements, you may receive a Conditional Offer, which will give you until the summer to receive and submit your scores.

You will not be penalized for not submitting test scores. However, some of our courses have higher entry requirements, so you may not receive a full offer immediately if you don’t submit your scores.

UCD only considers test scores that help your application, so if you do have test scores please submit official or self-reported score reports with your application. Please note, UCD will superscore SAT and ACT scores for your best possible result.

You will be eligible for all of our merit scholarships once you meet minimum academic criteria but our scholarship programs are competitive. Students that submit SAT or ACT scores and additional AP exam scores have the best chance of receiving larger awards.

All UCD scholarships are merit based and awarded based on program eligibility.

Yes, if your academic profile changes, either by taking ACT/SAT exams or receiving AP scores, please contact our North America Global Centre,and we can reconsider your application, subject to course capacity and availability of places at that time.

We evaluate our admissions requirements every year and update them as necessary. Changes will be communicated as soon as possible.

Please submit our Contact Form with your current citizenship and residency to be directed to the relevant regional team to discuss your eligibility.

Yes, if you submit the SAT or ACT, we will superscore your results from multiple exam sessions to give you the greatest possible chance of admission.

Students who have attended a school with non-traditional evaluation methods may be asked to provide test scores for admissions; please contact our North America Global Centreto discuss your eligibility.

For admissions purposes, you should upload a PDF copy of your score report to your online application. You can send official scores via the testing agencies:
UCD College Board DI Code: 6675
ACT College Code: 5512

If you decide to attend UCD, you will be required to submit official scores via the testing agencies.

UCD completes a comprehensive review of a student’s academic performance to determine whether admission is merited. We will consider high school or college level GPA, standardized test scores, including ACT, SAT, AP, IB, and other recognized exams. Except for our highly competitive clinical courses in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, and Physiotherapy, UCD does not consider letters of recommendation, essays, or extracurricular activities. Our clinical courses may consider previous experiences, letters of recommendation, and interviews in making admissions decisions.