<p>After 8 emails to people at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, I finally got an email from an assistant dean at Berkeley to answer my concerns about the transfer rate.</p>
<p>Here were some of my questions and answers:
Question:
The description of the program requires that I maintain a 3.2 GPA in my lower division engineering courses while at UC Santa Cruz. I understand that UC Berkeley has a much more competitive GPA closer towards 3.8 and a 24% transfer acceptance rate into the school of engineering. My question is, as a Dual Degree applicant, are the admissions adjusted in any way? </p>
<p>Answer:
While we treat 3/2 applicants the same a other junior transfers, there are some subtle differences. We actually visit UCSC and conduct group interviews. This gives us a feel for the student that would not be present for regular junior transfers. We also take into consideration that the academic competition at UCSC is higher than at the Community Colleges. While the average grades appear high, the range is usually 3.1/3.2 to 4.0 for most majors. Students who follow the 3/2 course program faithfully, we have the necessary lower division prep for admission, a strong personal statement indicating their interest in the major and their involvement in the 3/2 program will help. Grades are the third criteria and as long as you are within the range, you will be strongly considered.</p>
<p>Question:
Is there anywhere that I can find information about the number of Dual Degree applicants? </p>
<p>Answer:
We usually receive about 8-14 applications a year from the 3/2 program of which only one or two are not admitted.</p>
<p>He goes on to send me a 50 page document detailing basically everything you have to know about the 3/2 degree and the transition to Berkely including graduation rates at Berkeley, putting your 5 years together, getting involved, and almost anything else you would ever want to know. If you want this document, you can PM me and I can email you the information. It is very helpful and I am so thankful that I found out about this.</p>
<p>I know there are a handful of people out there looking for information, so I figured that I should let everyone know.</p>
<p>I have ended up deciding to go to UCSB. The biggest concern about the 3/2 program is going from being in the 70th percentile of students to probably around the 30th. That just seemed like an unhealthy jump between two very different campuses.</p>
<p>Another statistic that bothered me was that in the last 3 years out of 29 people in the program, only one got out in 2 years. So it was either taking 2.5 or 3 semesters at Berkeley. To me, 6 years is too much for a double major. </p>
<p>Now I know those weren't Alicia's students,but this is on Berkeley's side, so I'm not sure how different Alicia can be preparing students anyways.</p>
<p>I'm sure this is a great program for some who get the chance to study at 2 great universities and get to cheer on a great football team (GO BEARS!), but it just wasn't for me.</p>
<p>Going from 70th percentile to 30 percentile? </p>
<p>You do know that UC's are present for the "top 12.5% of California students" right? Berkeley is the top public University in the country while UCSC is in the high 30s. Overall, the students at both campuses are very intellectual and definitely are not in the '70th percentile and 30th percentile,' whatever that means.</p>
<p>to cali- im describing roughly my academic fit in terms of admissions, this is very objective i know, but im using rough judgements, these comparisons are within graduating classes so ucsc's class of 08 is going to be different than ucb's class of 08, im just saying the academic atmostphere change between the campuses would be too much for me</p>
<p>to blackace - they expect about 30-45 to enroll each year, and about 15 end up applying for transfer, alicia said that those who drop out, drop out by choice because they simply lost interest in transfering, not because their grades arent high enough</p>
<p>and yes, in the last 3 years it took 28 out of 29 3/2ers 2.5 or 3 years to graduate</p>
<p>I meant to add a little bit more to my post earlier but I waited too long so I could not edit. </p>
<p>I understand where you are coming from, but the kids at Santa Cruz are relatively the same as the ones who will attend UCSB. They are both labeled as 'party schools' but as we both know, they have their fair share of smart and studious students as well. If you plan to transfer from UCSB to Cal, its going to feel the same as if you would have transferred from UCSC to Cal. I have no intention of changing your mind about your decision, but I was just putting it out there for what it is worth.</p>
<p>First off, if you want to be in this program you were suppose to have applied when you submitted your application to Santa Cruz. You can talk to Alicia to get into the program but she will take into consideration your previous scores before she allows you into the program.
Somethings you might want to kno:
Graduations Rates for 3/2
enter fall 2001: 8 enter, 8 graduated in 4 semester
enter fall 2002: 9 enter, 3 graduate in 4 semester, 6 graduate in 5 semester
enter fall 2003: 14 enter, 13 graduate, 6 graduate in 4 semester, 7 graduate in 7 semesters
enter fall 2004: 6 enter, 5 graduate, 3 graduate in 4 semester, 2 in 5 semester, 1 not registered
enter fall 2005: 13 enter, 1 graduate in 4 semester</p>
<p>Last year: 9 applied, 5 got in, 2 appealed (something like that)
This year: 20ish or more (I think… there were ALOT)
You can only have an engineering major that UCSC does not have. You can no longer have bioengineering.</p>
<p>You CAN finish the program in 2years here instead of 3 years. It means you have to take summer school (best if you take 2 summers… summer sessions are cheaper and you are almost guaranteed to get into a class). If you try to do it in 2 years, you will HAVE to take 4 classes (a typical load is 3 classes) + labs. Alica does NOT recommend you finish the program in 2 years at UCSC.</p>
<p>Yes, I personally know of a few students who drop this program.</p>