Ccc to UC - chance me for Fall 2018? THANKS!

Hi everybody,

I plan to transfer to a UC in Fall 2018 and I’m just hoping for your 2 cents on what schools I can expect to get into.

Age: 22
Sex: M
Race: Caucasian (born in Kazakhstan and speak fluent Russian, but I’ve lived in CA entire life)
School: College of San Mateo
GPA: 3.55
IGETC: yes

Fall 2013:
Media law/ethics , B-
Hist. of graphic design, C
English 1, C
Conceptual physics, W
(9 units, 2.23 gpa)

Spring 2014:
Interpersonal comm., B-
Macroeconomics, D
Algebra, F
(3 units, 2.70 gpa)

Spring 2015:
English 2, D+
US History 2, C
Algebra, W
(3 units, 2.0 gpa)

Spring 2016:
English 2 (retake), A-
Algebra (retake), A
US Politics, A
(11 units, 3.90 gpa, deans list) + president of democrats club

Summer 2016:
Intro to life sciences, A
(3 units, 4.0 gpa)

Fall 2016:
Gen. Chem 1, A
Trigonometry, A
Gen. Psych, A
Macroeconomics (retake), A
(15 units, 4.0 gpa, deans list) + vp and treasurer of democrats club, ICC representative for botany club

Spring 2017:
Gen. Chem 2, A
Gen. Zoology, A
Calc 1 (for engineers), A-
(15 units, 3.90 gpa, deans list)

Summer 2017:
Calc 2 (for engineers), A
(5 units, 4.0 gpa)

Planned coursework:

Fall 2017:
Org. Chem 1
Botany
Stats
Yoga 1
(15 units)

Spring 2018:
Org. Chem 2
Intro to cell bio
Gen. Microbio
Yoga 2
(15 units)

So I know my grades were horrible at first and I have a couple large gaps in education. I don’t want to go into detail too much but my family was going through a lot- my parents got a divorce and I was living with my grandma who I had to take care of (I still live with her and am her caretaker). I’m also a part-time legal guardian for my little cousin who doesn’t have a father- the four of us (aunt, grandma, cousin, me) all live together.

In 2014 I worked full time for a valet company for about 6 months, in 2015 I worked at Safeway for about 3 months until I found a job at a gym where I worked for 1 year until summer 2016.

I’m applying for Fall 2018 TAG to UCSB this semester as well as just the regular Fall 2018 admission to all UCs. My dream schools are UCB and UCLA.

Side note: I plan on joining our schools honor society this semester which will provide me with volunteer opportunities. I have a lot of random volunteer hours but they are all unrecorded.

Also I don’t really know if I need gen microbio or yoga 1/2- it’s just so I finish at CSM with associates in science. If that doesn’t really matter, maybe I should drop those classes and spend extra time volunteering? Or I can retake conceptual physics.

Anyway, if you actually read/skimmed through this, thank you. Let me know what you think.

Oops btw I forgot to mention I’m a biology major, but I’m fine with any bio related major or I was even thinking about doing chemistry or biochemistry.

Oh and also if you’re wondering what happened to precalc - I took the placement test after trig and got to skip it.

You’ll be fine (:
My first year in CC, I had a 1.2 GPA and was on academic probation. I’m going to UC Berkeley, studying economics in about 2 weeks. I think UCs like to see an improving academic trend (which is something you definitely have). There’s also a section where you’re able to explain the hardships you’ve encounted and why you did poorly initially. Honestly, I was worried about all of this last year, but I got into all the schools I applied to (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UC Berkeley) except CSULB which to this day, I don’t understand why they rejected me… I don’t know if this was much of a help, but I hope it eases your stress a little. My GPA at the end of last semester was a 3.6. Also, UCB looks at applications holistically much more than UCLA. Let me know if you have any other questions! Best of luck!

Privet! Kak dela…? Okay, there goes my limited Russia.

I am not sure about UCB numbers but I can give you a hand for UCLA’s. As a biology major, you’re going to want to boost your GPA to at least 3.6 to 3.7. The 25% percentile that got admitted into UCLA as transfers for the fall 2016 academic calendar was at 3.62, the 75% percentile was 3.87.

https://www.admission.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof16_mjr.htm

Do not lay all your eggs in one basket(Or two). Both UCLA and UCB are highly competitive when it comes to Bio majors. You should look into other UC’s as well, UCSD, UCI, UCSB, UC and Davis, they’re all fine UC’s. I am not saying you won’t get into UCLA or Berkeley but it would be wise to apply to other universities just to play it safe.

I see you’re trying to complete about 30 units in two semesters. You’re perhaps going to stretch yourself a bit thin there. If you can, my advice will wait another year before applying and limit your course units per semester. With this, you can perhaps get the A’s you’re going to need, which will boost your GPA and then you can give yourself a better shot at UCLA and Cal. You do not want to burden yourself by having so much course work that your grades may slip. But the ball is in your court.

Udachi.

Hey thanks for the response!
For some reason I’m actually really confident I’ll get all A’s in my last 2 semesters, but since that doesn’t matter when it comes to applying for Fall 2018 admission I guess waiting another year would be the smart thing to do in order to get into cal/ucla. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s an option for me because my dads on my *** about getting done with school so I can pay bills so I’m trying to figure out what I can do to be a competitive applicant with my low 3.55 gpa- might need to do a bunch of volunteering this coming semester with my 15 units. _