<p>Hello. I'm curretly attending Santa Monica College and I'm applying to UCs this fall.
I'm planning to apply to UC Berkeley as a philosophy major but to UCLA and UCSD as a
political science major :) My GPA so far is 3.8 and I don't think it will change dramatically 'till I apply this fall. So, basically I'm applying to those schools with 3.8 GPA.
(I know for UCs we only can write one essay even though we apply to different UCs with different major..but I think I can handle it..)</p>
<p>My question here is, none of the pre-reqs for Berkeley's philosophy major is offered @ my college. Would that mean I don't have to take any of philosophy classes? I mean..if I was going to apply to UCLA as a philosophy major as well, then I would've taken like 3-4 courses in philosophy, but so far I only completed UCLA's political science pre-reqs.</p>
<p>So..I'm planning to take 2 philosophy classes in fall and 1 in winter and another 1 in spring, so it will become total of 4 classes of philosophy courses. Would that be ENOUGH for Berkeley's philosophy major? PLEASE HELP! :) ANY HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED!</p>
<p>And do you think I would have chances of getting into Berkeley as a philosophy major
and UCLA as a political science major? (I'm a California resident)</p>
<p>Excuse me for my bad English grammar..haha. I'm not a native English speaker.
PLEASE HELP ME OUT HERE :)</p>
<p>Whooo! First post in a long time. I’m back lol. Okay so I was just admitted to Cal as a phil major. Essentially, hardly any phil prereqs are offered at any of the CCC’s. You definitely should take 2+ phil courses though. This is because the UC’s care about demonstrated interest in the major. Even though they won’t count for prereqs, the phil courses taken can’t hurt. </p>
<p>With a 3.8+, you will get into Berkeley phil, and have a pretty strong chance at UCLA for poli sci. However, you’ll need to do a good job of incorporating both majors into your personal statements. I applied to Cal as a phil major, and UCLA as a psych major. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be admitted to both with a 3.75, and ultimately chose Berkeley. If you write strong essays, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Oh, and I only had 2 phil courses under my belt by the time I left my CCC, so you don’t really need 4 phil courses unless you truly want to take them.</p>
<p>^ Thank you so much emilsinclair9! (:
it definitely helped. so…u think taking 2 philosophy classes in fall will be okay?
I’m just worried that it might be too late to start taking courses in philosophy.
When did you take your philosophy classes?
and also…my GPA is kinda exactly 3.80…will I still have chances to get into those schools? sorry to keep bothering ): But I would appreciate your help!!</p>
<p>and how did you incorporate both majors into your personal statement…?
It seems harder to incorporate psych. and phil together than to incorporate phil. and pol-sci!
any suggestions? Thank you again! (:</p>
<p>2 in the fall will be fine :). I took one of mine in the fall. Definitely take Intro to Phil (pretty much a necessity), and then take one more phil to be safe if it works with your schedule. No more than 2 will be necessary though. I didn’t take 1 in the spring, and I was worried for months that 2 wouldn’t be enough. Fortunately, 2 was fine though.</p>
<p>I will warn you though - get A’s in those phil courses. If you think about it, if you were to get B’s in both, then you’d have (assuming the same amount of units), a 3.0 in your major…which isn’t great. Definitely do your best to get A’s in both. </p>
<p>With a 3.80, you should be fine for Berkeley phil. I’ll admit, though, I had a 3.75 and am a spring admit. In other words, try to keep that GPA at 3.80!..that is, unless you want to be a spring admit lol. I have a hunch that the lower the admitted GPA, the greater likelihood of being a spring admit…although Berkeley would never admit to this. If I remember correctly, the average phil admit this year to Cal had a 3.70.</p>
<p>Sorry I just reread that - sort of confusing lol. Everybody applies at the same time, but some people are chosen to be spring admits (instead of fall). Anyway, with a 3.80, you should be fine for philosophy. It’s a really difficult major…just giving you forewarning lol. It was easy at my CCC, but apparently it’s one of the most difficult majors at Berkeley. It’s also one of Cal’s most distinguished.</p>
<p>Take those 2 classes this fall, and see if you do enjoy it. I’m assuming from your original post that you haven’t taken one yet. Make sure it’s something that you’d want to really study for 2 more years at UCB, as the analysis and reading skyrockets here. I’m actually reading (yes, this far in advance lol) for my phil class in the fall (if I can get into it) or spring. </p>
<p>Oh, and as for my personal statements, I wrote about how I plan on double majoring in phil and psych (which is true), and how my passions developed from my life experiences and volunteerism at an elderly assisted living center. I think my app was pretty cohesive because I tied my EC’s/volunteer work/life experiences to both my personal statements.</p>
<p>For example, I wrote about the level of disclosure between the elderly and myself at the assisted living center, and how I learned from them and how it’s furthered my passion for learning about others, etc. The essays were generally more about psychology (as it’s my primary major), but the essays themselves (in terms of their writing and style) were more philosophical. Somehow I made it work lol.</p>
<p>I think I did a fairly good job of synthesizing everything together, and showing a true passion for the subjects. That’s what really matters. I actually can’t emphasize this enough…work hard on those personal statements. I spent 2 months writing mine for a couple days per week. Since you’re a double major, I recommend brainstorming some ideas soon.</p>