<p>My situation is that I haven't really participated in any college activities or volunteer work yet... save for the 40 hours of mandated Community Service for my High School (grad requirement, everybody did it, I wasn't a felon or anything). Part of question one says I have to talk about how my experience in my major (Psychology) has affected me... but I have none. I'm looking around for research opportunities and volunteer opportunities but I'm not finding a lot. The counseling center down the street from my house demands grad students only, an attempt to volunteer there got me turned away due to confidentiality issues. There aren't a lot of undergrad opportunities for me.. I'm attempting to volunteer at Sacred Heart and a local hospital but those aren't really major specific... So I'm a bit freaked out about what I'm supposed to do.. Since I know apps are coming up in just a few months so this is my one huuuuge weakness. Does anybody have any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>Edit: s***, I accidentally posted this outside of UC transfers.. blah.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Contact all your close relatives/friends that either own a business or is in management position at their business. Or someone who works at a laid back non-profit or private sector. Note: I don’t know how you will make this psychology-related but maybe someone you know works at psychiatrist’s office?</p></li>
<li><p>Beg for free internship or volunteering opportunity. Remember, if they are close with you, they will help you exaggerate your hours to put on your college app.</p></li>
<li><p>???</p></li>
<li><p>Profit</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^I don’t want to lie about my hours if I can help it… I’m possibly going to get to volunteer at Sacred Heart, they’ve replied… that will assist me in boosting hours. But it’s only… “sorta” a Psychology-related field… I’m also attending the APA Convention in the Fall… that can be padded into the app right? Since I’m an Undergrad, it’s unusual that I’d want to attend the convention… that shows intent and stuff.</p>
<p>Attending the APA convention is a good thing to put on your app.</p>
<p>What I would suggest, though I’m not sure how the question was worded, would be to talk about how you use the principles of psychology in your everyday life. Talk about the theory of the hardy personality, the different types of memory and how you study and things. You could spin it in a way that you have “experience” in your major every day. Like talk about how learning about psychology has enlightened you and enabled you to rationalize and get through stressful events in your life or something to that effect. It’s just a suggestion, as a last resort in case your internships don’t fall through. I would imagine it is kind of hard to get actual field experience in psychology as an undergrad.</p>
<p>^“What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the field developed and describe any experience you have had in the field — such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities — and what you have gained from your involvement.” <– That’s the question lol (probably a good idea for me to have posted that!!) </p>
<p>That’s a fantastic idea though m77, because I really do end up using Psychology quite a bit each day (to the point where it amuses me whenever I see one of the principles pop up). I’m gonna save your post so I can reference it later, thank you!</p>
<p>Sit and think about why you got into Psych to begin with.</p>
<p>I am a Poli Sci major and have never been able to do any internships or work related to my field- so how did I answer that question? I told them about I grow up in a country where being a politician is putting your life at risk and therefore people try not involve in them. On the other hand, people don’t involve in Politics here out of laziness and ignorance. So I wanted to be involved and I wanted to know more about it.</p>
<p>Applicants freak a lot about essays but trust me, it doesn’t have to be perfect. They’re looking to tie the pieces that they can’t from the info provided on your application- the essay is a compliment. Think about it that way and writing it should be easier.</p>
<p>^ That’s also a good idea, at first I took Psych 1 just because I needed a 6 classes (I thought) and mom said she always enjoyed Psychology… so I tried it and found out the class was really interesting to me. I’m just worried cause my ECs are nonexistant and my GPA is only around 3.5 and might only go up to 3.7 with TAP certification. I have a nice tie-in on mine, I just need to pad it slightly for the EC problem. Put more of myself into it… and then fix Question 2… which is frankly horrible… Buttttt I have until November to finish it so I’m making good time.</p>
<p>@Itachirumon: Are you sitting down? My roommate got into UCLA as History major with a 3.4 and no ECs. She just wrote a really good essay about how passionate she’s about History and that she wants to teach it in the future.</p>
<p>@iZychr: I talked about growing up in a conflicted country and how that made me want to isolate myself from my community. Then how I took a Poli Sci class and I realized that the only reason that I could make a difference, was through politics which made me want to be involved. That was actually backed up by the fact that after that Poli Sci class you see my involvement in all sorts of clubs and activities.</p>
<p>That makes me feel better too! I’ve been flipping out for weeks. I did my orientation for Sacred Heart today, I think it’s about as close as I could come to Psych as an Undergrad. Also, thank you to whomever moved this to UC Transfers thread, I meant to write it there and accidentally left it in regular transfer.</p>
<p>@ Itachirumom: I applied as a psych major too. Ya know, I’ll be honest, I did all of my volunteer work in my fall semester! 150 hours…on top of 6 classes. It was rough, but definitely worth it in the end. I highly recommend doing some over summer, and don’t procrastinate on it as much as I did lol.</p>
<p>I worked at an elderly assisted living center for ~100 hours, and I tutored kids for another 50. It worked for me as I applied as both psych and phil majors to the UC’s that are great for the majors (UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, and UCSC), and I was admitted to all of them. Definitely focus on the personal statements, and show them what you’re like and how passionate you are about the subject.</p>
<p>^Okay I gotta trust you lots, cause Philosophy was going to be my minor. I’ve got a nice little thing in question one involving LGBT rights but I just wasn’t sure how to spin the second half of the question about involvement. I was also worried they’d see my only volunteer work being over the last summer/fall (since they don’t accept anything past Oct. 31st or Nov 1st, do they?). With luck, Sacred Heart (they’re basically a group that provides assistance to the homeless/poor/needy, for those who don’t know) will let me work 8 hours a day and I’ll have a nice amount of hours by then… combined with the APA Convention in August and TAP certification I think I have a chance to get in… YAY ^_^.</p>
<p>Numerous people on this forum have told me that EC’s are, for the most part, useless if you have a solid GPA and completion of pre-reqs. I also haven’t done any ECs, but I figured my time was better spent boosting my GPA.</p>
<p>^I heard that too, but my “solid GPA” is only 3.5 and may only be about 3.6 or so after TAP… maybe it’ll be higher cause I’m counting all courses and not just my UC-Transferrable ones… and Question 1 asks Transfers how work/volunteering/internships/group activity related to their major has affected them. So that’s where I got creamed.</p>
<p>I have the solid gpa (4.0) but no pre reqs (but it’s philosophy so it’s near impossible)…but i’ll prob. have 3 or 4 phil. courses under my belt by the end of spring.</p>
<p>^Depends on the school, I took introductory ethics and logic (logic was actually like a Philosophy 200 course and somehow I took it Fall semester freshman year without the pre-req Phil 100 done, hillarity) at SBCC and World Philosophers of Death at West Valley… which is a great class. Two of those three were done online and I got an A (in the Phil200 class after bombing test 2 no less) and two Bs</p>