Pre-select category for new post?

I’d like to pass a the category ID in the URL to check the cooresponding category on the post form — like this:

https://blogs.berkeley.edu/quotes/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_category=12

but apparently, this $_REQUEST variable is not being picked up by post.php.

I also tried using JavaScript to assign the Get parameter to the form element, but was not able to address the specific checkbox — they are all named post_category[].

-Sara