<p>So I met one of the Berkeley reps at an Honors luncheon at my CC last week.
She has been extremely helpful so far, and even suggested adding me to her Berkeley transfer email list. I filled out a 1 page info sheet for her to be added, and one of the q's was "Graduation date of high school", which was 2004. The rep was curious why I had a 4 year gap between the CC and my HS grad date, and I told her I had attended a 4-year school back in my home country (Ukraine). I didn't get a BA because I did only 3 years out of 4 (due to moving to the US). When I was applying to my CC in 2008, I told them that I had taken many courses back home, but they were firm on the fact that none of the courses taken at my ACCREDITED university could be transferred for just one simple reason - they hadn't been taught in English.
So I took 48 units already at the CC, and will be taking 12 more this fall to apply for UC transfer admission this coming fall.</p>
<p>The rep told me that I may have too many units for Berkeley College of Letters & Science.
OMG. I'm so freaking out right now!
How can it be possible?
Has anyone been in the same situation?</p>
<p>Any piece of advice (knowledgeable please) will be appreciated!</p>
<p>thank you for the reply, anonymousername.
I talked to many counselors, but she’s not a CC counselor, she works for Berkeley. Sometimes, I start thinking that our CC counselors don’t know anything! They had also told me that “when it says ‘no course articulated’ you don’t need to take the course for the major prep” which turned out to be a big big lie when I went up to Cal and talked to the admissions </p>
<p>Keep calling UC Berkeley admissions and see what they say. If one of them tells you that you’re fine, write down this person’s name and be sure to keep that somewhere handy (might need it if you have to appeal). Sometimes UCs do have a very basic agreement with foreign universities (mostly for EAP purposes) and that might work against you.</p>
<p>Regardless of the excessive units issue, they still want me to list the foreign education.</p>
<p>Now another question - they require all applicants to list the courses and list grades received, too.
Well, first of all, my grades are not GPA compatible - they’re in 1,2,3,4,5 system.
Second, I have a couple of C’s - I was SO not interested in the Major (Translation, Foreign Languages), that I didn’t try much. This is the main reason why I just moved out here to do what I want, not what my family wanted me to.
Will those grades affect my admission chances?</p>
<p>I think any transferable units, regardless of whether they are for your major or not, are considered. Do you have a major that has a unit cap? Some majors don’t. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be discouraged if I were you. If your major doesn’t have a cap and you show a focus toward a particular area of study, I think that could help you.</p>
<p>right, but they specifically have some issue with 4 years or more gap between high school graduation and college admission. I graduated from my high school in 2004, and started going to a community college in 2008. For some reason, they have a specific question about a 4yr+ gap. Does anyone know what it means, and if it affects admission chances/financial aid package in any way?</p>
<p>smartpants, you have to report ALL credits–the university is very clear about this. </p>
<p>Just like ksForBerkeley, I know several people who transferred with credits from other univeristies–one of them had over 40 units from UCSD and 60 credits from community college. </p>
<p>just explain to them your situation in the personal statement–that’s what the personal statement is for. they’ll look at your situation holistically.</p>
<p>not reporting all grades is a HUGE risk because if they EVER find out, they will expel you from all the UC campuses. if they find out after you graduate, they can actually take away your diploma.
just apply, be honest, and it seems like you have a good story to begin with–so just discus that.</p>
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