What is a high school "a-g" list? What is Doorways? Why do these matter?
A current high school "a-g" list is crucial in giving universities a snapshot of what college preparatory opportunities students at your high school have had. Admissions departments for both UC and CSU campuses look at Doorways to determine what opportunities students had in high school and how well they performed in their "a-g" courses.
What is Doorways?
Doorways is a series of web sites that contain information about every college preparatory class a school offers, how schools can update that information, and extensive general information on the "a-g" guidelines.
For a course to be certified as meeting the "a-g" requirements, a detailed syllabus (as well as other pertinent information) must be submitted to UC for approval. The UC faculty has ultimate responsibility for determining whether courses meet the rigor and content guidelines to be certified as a college preparatory ("a-g") course for UC and CSU. That work takes place at the UC Office of the President (UCOP) under faculty supervision.
When UC and CSU review applications and transcripts, they look to see how students performed in "a-g" courses, as well as what courses were available to them. That information is found through the Doorways "a-g" Course List site (To get there, go to the Doorways home page and click on "a-g Course Lists").
Every high school maintains its own list of the courses that have been certified as meeting "a-g." These lists are available for all to see at the "a-g" Course List site described above.
California high schools, public or private, can update their lists between February and September (check Doorways "a-g" Online Updates for specific dates), either by removing old courses no longer taught or adding new ones that meet the requirements. You can obtain information and guidance at the Doorways Course Update website about submitting new courses for approval, and you can submit them online. In fact, that is the only way you can submit them; UCOP no longer accepts paper course submissions. (To get there, go to the Doorways home page and click on "a-g Online Updates").
