Bay Area counties fare better than most of the state when it comes to completion of high school courses required for admission to a four-year public university, a Chronicle analysis found — a factor that has a strong impact on whether students apply to the University of California. Of all California counties, San Francisco had the highest A-G completion rate for high school students who graduated last spring, according to a Chronicle analysis of state education data. Six of the nine Bay Area counties had higher A-G course completion rates than the statewide average of 52%. The data only includes students who graduated from public high schools. After San Francisco county, which had a completion rate of almost 70%, Alameda and Santa Clara counties had the next highest completion rates, at about 65%. Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties were below the state average, though each was still above 42%.At the county level, A-G completion rates did not have any correlation with UC admissions rates, but they did have a strong correlation with UC application rates, the Chronicle found. Sherrie Reed and Michal Kurlaender, both faculty at the UC Davis California Education Lab and researchers with Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), who have researched A-G completion rates, explained that the requirement exists to make sure high school students are prepared to enter a four-year college. But it’s also a minimum threshold for students hoping to attend a public four-year university in California.“A-G completion is just really a gatekeeper: if you don't have it, you can't be admitted to a CSU or a UC,” Reed said. “So if you're denying students the opportunity to complete (the courses), then you're denying them the opportunity to even apply.” Reed and Kurlaender explained most schools do offer a complete set of A-G courses. There are a myriad of reasons why students still might not complete them. Many students who do not complete the requirements are just missing a course or two, Reed and Kurlaender said. Their research indicates that for students who don’t pass a course with a C or higher, it’s often difficult for students to find a way to make up that credit while completing the rest of the requirements. “Once you get behind, it’s hard to catch up,” Reed said. SFUSD’s strategies include making sure its graduation requirements encompass A-G requirements, aligning career technical education courses with A-G courses by getting courses approved under both pathways, creating a college prep curriculum that explained the A-G requirements and tracking student progress data so counselors can intervene early if necessary. For Reed and Kurlaender, the bottom line is making sure that students are encouraged to complete the courses and supported through the process — even if those students don’t think a four-year college is for them. “A certain bar of reading, writing and mathematical ability is good no matter what career field you go into,” Kurlaender said.