I know I’ve spoken with some of you as I brought this up–off topic–in another thread of mine, but was hoping for more to see it and see if anyone has first hand experience with this.
First, I’m trying to get into Haas @ UCB Fall of 2016.
I took some classes at a community college in Washington in 2006 and I didn’t do very well. I have 3 C-'s, two of which are classes I believe would be considered transferable (General Psych and Intro to Criminal Justice) and one (Human Nutrition) that I’m not so sure about.
After these classes, I figured college wasn’t right for me at that time and I joined the military. Since then, my grades have been great and I expect around a 3.8 transferable GPA … not including those 3 grades. I know I can mention that in my essays and additional comment section, but I’m trying to see if something can be done other than that.
I’ve checked with the out of state community college and it doesn’t seem like there is much they can do, and it doesn’t seem like academic renewal would help me considering these grades would still be on my out of state transcript.
Does anyone else have any experience with this? Let’s just say I retake General Psych and get an A in it … what would UCB do? Would they average them? Take the newest grade? Take the original/oldest grade?
I’ve spoken with a transfer specialist at my CCC and he didn’t know. I plan on speaking with a pre-addmissions advisor at UCB this week, but just want to make sure I have all the info needed to ask the right questions.
(1) how much do they factor in ten year old grades. They might be irrelevant, and
(2) if you’re retaking a general psych course ,will it replace your earlier class? I suspect they will not give you an answer to that, as their default position seems to always be they won’t know until later. But if your earlier class was essentially intro to psych, with Freud and Jung, etc it’s more than likely the latter will replace the first. But you probably will not get a direct answer. Is there any way to see what the course catalog said for that class ten years ago? They usually keep all catalogs. That will probably help compare the two. Or - a psych prof who has been there a while might be able to help answer that. If the UC says they will not factor in ten year old grades, you can take psych without worrying about matching.
Someone else may have more things to add, but these are the two points I would ask.
A) They won’t be factored heavily into your application.
ex. 1 2 yrs ago a 3.6x military person got into Haas. He had bad grades before he enlisted and good grades after (almost all As).
ex 2. last year a girl with a 3.6x got into Haas and she didn’t even have a straight A success street. She was constantly getting a B or 2 each semester.
I believe if you are 3.6+ it’ll really be the essays & ECs that get you in.
Maybe the people with more ECs are just better essay writers?
Since they are C- and not a C, I believe you can retake them.
Winter & Spring before you transfer won’t be factored into your application. So retake them this spring, summer or fall.
*If you take the courses at a different CC with a slightly different name to the same course, make sure you mention which new courses repeats what old course in the additional comments section.
C) If you can get academic renewal done then do it. Privates such as USC will not accept it but the UCs will. With AR they will not factor those grades into your application and you will not have to repeat the course. Plus you could still repeat the course with AR.
I can see the old grades/military situation, but are you sure the girl got in to Haas with a 3.6? You can’t believe everything you hear on CC. That just doesn’t really gel.
She said she wrote about how her mom died of cancer during her first semester of college and about her interest and work experience in biotech. Also said her resume included full time work at a food restaurant, campus mentor, honor society and that cool biotech internships; She said it was nothing special but IMO she was a well-rounded applicant. (One of the qualities I keep stressing on these forums.) So I personally believe she did get accepted. Also Haas enrolled an unusually low amount of females last year (38%).
A friend of mine who’s in Haas told me how there was a student that ranked first in UGBA 10, had a near 4.0, but didn’t get accepted into Haas because he didn’t do anything really outside of academics. This applies to both traditional students and transfers. Being a well-rounded applicant is of upmost importance that a 3.6-3.7 student with a heck of a resume and excellent essays can be a more worthy applicant than a 4.0 student with minimal things on a resume and subpar to average essays.
@ocnative I know they look for well-rounded and 4.0s are not their primary concern, but the average transfer GPA to Haas is 3.84. 3.6 just seems pretty low, but, as you said, she was probably bringing in some stellar ECs. I would say it’s more the exception than the rule.
Just got back from Haas and UCB. It was my first time at Berkeley aside from spending a few hours in an MRI machine, so it was nice to have the opportunity to walk around and see the campus.
I met with a pre-admission advisor who was very nice. I asked about the C- grades and she told me not to worry about them too much and that they don’t just look at the GPA but more so want well-rounded individuals. I tried asking a few different ways about them and asked what would happen if I retook them and she said I shouldn’t bother retaking them.
Sooo … lol. Still don’t have a straight answer that UC Berkeley does when a C- is given in a transferable class and is retaken at another school.
I am well-rounded, in my opinion. My EC’s need work, but I’ll be doing that this year. I can write great essays and if I have trouble with them, I have people I can turn to for help. So I’m really just trying to figure out what to do with these three C-'s. If anyone has any definitive answers, I’m all ears/
I appreciate all the info and help @lindyk8 and @bomerr. Thanks!
UCB was beautiful though. Lots of construction going on, but it is a beautiful campus.
I’m so happy to hear this. I wouldn’t even bother with any retakes unless you really want to do psych (which is a great subject- and easy!). I’m glad you weren’t in an MRI machine this time around. =D>
That’s probably a first on CC regarding a return visit. :))
@lindyk8 It’s certainly a unique anecdote. I was part of a study sponsored by the VA and Berkeley for veterans with traumatic brain injuries and/or PTSD and they were trying to see if they could repair/strengthen the networks in the brain, as I feel like I’ve lost some cognitive function from my brain injury. I got to spend an hour in an MRI as they watched the blood vessels in my brain during a series of tasks, for a baseline and at the conclusion of the study.
Maybe I can find a way to write a compelling essay about how this brought me to UCB for the first time and I left knowing that this was where I want to be. Hmm …
In the meantime, those C-'s do worry me … but I suppose I have plenty of time to figure them out as I’m set for this coming semester regardless. At the very least, I’ll try and redo the general psych class because that should be easy … and hopefully I can get a solid answer about replacing those grades next time around a UCB rep visits Napa Valley College, where I attend school.
I assume you are writing somewhere about your brain injury. There is the additional comments section in the application that allows for 550 words. I personally suggest stuff related to hardships, grades etc go there because every UC looks at it, whereas the essays are only guaranteed to be read as part of the transfer application process by UCLA and UCB, even though the matrix implies Merced and Irvine. I would throw a sentence in about the UCB study, as they like being part of the solution.
Like I said, I don’t think they’ll be factored heavily into your application but if you have the time then you might as well retake them. Any advantage is an advantage right.
Thanks @bomerr. I’m not going to go out of my way to retake them but my course load should allow it I think. The good thing is I have some time so it’s not something I’ll stress myself with too much as long as I can make myself look good elsewhere.
@lindyk8 I will mention it somewhere. I haven’t researched the essay/additional comment section too much yet as I’ve been focused on my plan, in general, academically so I can make sure I get to where I need to be and there are no surprises. I will definitely be including it somewhere, as it has been a big hurdle for me as I have trouble learning in a classroom environment because of some cognitive issues resulting from brain damage related to my service in the military.
I got a C (only C) and a B in 2 Cal breadth courses. For a B, I was able to use another IGETC course to fulfill the same requirement; a course I got an A in. For the C, I retook a more advanced course in the same discipline. Now my breadth pattern on the supplemental update reads all As.
