<p>^According to ASSIST, neither of those CCC’s have articulated courses for philosophy pre reqs.</p>
<p>^For UCLA? Well I dunno about transfer but they both can get you AAs in Phil.</p>
<p>[ASSIST</a> Report: WVC 09-10 UCLA Articulation Agreement by Major](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST) <– That one gets West Valley.</p>
<p>[ASSIST</a> Report: SBCC 09-10 UCLA Articulation Agreement by Major](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST) <— That one gets SBCC</p>
<p>Some are no course articulated but I’m not sure how many are required so maybe it’s necessary to goto two CCCs to get them and then cross-evaluate.</p>
<p>@Itachirumon and @Lucyc66: Glad to help guys. Just connect the dots- it’s easier when you think about it.</p>
<p>Before I started writing my essay, I too was worried because I knew lots of people at my school that had internships in Washington and here with Feinstein while I had nothing. But when I asked myself questions like “Why do I like politics?” “How is my life affected by politics?” “How can I affect other people’s lives with politics?” and came up with the answers… I realized that politics to me was more than just a box I need to check as a major- and I know UCLA saw that too.</p>
<p>Ask yourself the right questions and you’ll realize that you wrote your essay a long time ago.</p>
<p>^Zen way of looking at it, and very good advice</p>
<p>lol I like matchcutto’s way of putting it. Well said, man. </p>
<p>Anyway, EC’s are (generally speaking) the least important part of your application. It varies slightly by school, but for UCLA and UCB, it goes: </p>
<ul>
<li>GPA/grade trend, prereqs, personal statements.</li>
</ul>
<p>I also had a 3.5 going into last fall’s semester. You can definitely do it. If you crack down and ensure a 3.8-4.0, you’ll have a nice trend and the UC’s will notice that. I started off at CCC terribly…2 F’s and 1 D. I’m telling you that these grade trends are important. I got a 4.0 in 18 units during fall 09, and I swear that was a major factor in my admissions decision. </p>
<p>I think the Sacred Heart idea (esp at 8 hours a day) is fantastic. I did a pretty similar strategy (24 hours a week during fall semester lol), and it helped me accumulate 150 hours by the time I sent off my application. </p>
<p>As for the APA…join. I joined before I was admitted, and that may have helped me too lol. Glad to be talking to a (possible) future APA member!! I’m a part of it, and am just beginning to understand how to become more active and am considering research ideas. However, it’s a little different for me because I’m doing summer school there now, and am also a spring admit trying to get into fall classes lol. </p>
<p>Anyway, the point is, you’re doing the right things at the right time from what I can tell! Keep it up, and you’ll be at Berkeley or UCLA :).</p>
<p>^That 3.5 is an estimate, right now my GPA is weird and up in the air, I have a 3.0 from SBCC counting the retakes and about 3.46 from WVC counting the retakes, it’s lower if you count both retakes and the original bad grades. Combined together it’s in the ballpark of 3.24 but it might jump when only UC-transferrable courses are what get counted. I don’t know if even getting all As in the next 9-10 classes I take can bring my average up to 3.8… although 3.7 seems likely hehe. I have a weird trend, where I’m all over the place but usually get at least one bad grade a semester and make it up the next semester (with the exception of Stats that for bizzare reasons, I’ve only taken in the Fall). I wonder how that affects my grade trend.</p>
<p>As for the APA, I have joined lol, last November. I’m already in Div 44 and more recently, 40. I’m interested in joining Div 30 but I have no patience for printing out that sheet on their website and faxing it right now lmao my only challenge is affording getting to the APA convention midway through August because I think going would look good (plus there’s some cool Prop 8 lectures I want to hear)</p>
<p>Going to the APA convention could only help you. I definitely recommend that. As for your GPA, the UC-transferrable GPA is all that matters. Let’s say you have a 3.4 right now. Even if you take a ton of units and get a 4.0 the next 2 semesters, you may only be able to raise it to ~ 3.65-3.7. However, the key here, is that your grade trend will be great! Seriously, the overall GPA only tells so much. The trend contains the most important info about how you’ve improved or declined over time.</p>
<p>Just as some suggestions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Use ratemyprofessor when possible.</li>
<li>Try to avoid electives that sound fun but are hard. I took one this past spring semester that I thought I’d love (abnormal psych), and I hated it. I ended up with a B…despite 2 double all-nighters and working like a dog for weeks.</li>
</ul>
<p>I got through abnormal psych this last semester actually lol. It might depend on the professor, yeah. I just started using ratemyprofessors a few months ago and found out my last English professor was supposed to be a complete other-word-for-a-female-dog in person, but she always seemed to be nice over the internet. It’s good to know I don’t have to worry too much about random Ds as long as I fix them (and I always fix them n_n).</p>
<p>I used Academic Renewal instead of retaking courses because I didn’t want to stay an extra year lol. Have you ever considered that?</p>
<p>^It would only get rid of 2 Fs from SBCC (during the semester it’d be best applied at, and at the cost of 2 Bs), but it’s in Spanish and US History and I’m retaking Spanish now (well, in the fall) and got an A in US History 017B at West Valley (which may or may not 86 the US History class, if not I need to take 17A too)… so it wouldn’t help too much lol. Plus my extra year is to just clear up a pre-req (or two) and my last two IGETC courses and to TAP.</p>