<p>Hello everyone. I'm a junior in high school with a 4.16 something GPA and some good ECs. However, the ECs are mostly clubs (officer in three out of seven), and I don't have any long term activities. I played violin from sixth through ninth grades but stopped taking lessons at that time.</p>
<p>Now, my point: say I want to go to a California community college and transfer to UC Berkeley after sophomore year. Besides getting involved in campus activities/clubs at the CC, should I start working on anything now or planning for some kind of community involvement? I'm an active Interact member, so I'm familiar with Rotary, but I don't really know how to get involved in the community in other ways. </p>
<p>In general, I don't know how important ECs are to Berkeley transfer apps and how I should go about planning/working on them over the next 3 1/2 years. If anyone could give some advice, it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>If you are planning to go to CCC then I dont see any point in keeping your hs transcript over a 4.0 unless you change your mind. But what i would HIGHLY recommend is for you to do concurrent enrollment with your CCC so you are taking hs and college classes at the same time. That way you are getting done with some of your GE's. BTW, what major do you want to be admitted to?</p>
<p>Obviously I can't really predict anything for sure, but a career as a history professor seems intriguing. That would entail a history doctorate, but I'm not sure which specific field I would choose. I just like humanities in general, so that could go anywhere, and apparently Berkeley is ranked very high. I should look into some smaller colleges too.</p>
<p>Money. It seems that undergrads pay an average of 34k a year...my household makes 30-40k at best. I've looked at Cal, Pell grants and things like that, but I don't think those will be enough. I might apply anyway...though I haven't taken the SAT yet so I'm not sure how qualified I'll be in the end. I got a 4 on the AP Chem. test as a sophomore and took Trig. at a CC last summer...those might help.</p>
<p>Excellent. Thanks for that link. Still, I'm a little worried about: "A minimum level of assistance would be guaranteed for those whose families earn less than the state household median of $60,000 per year."</p>
<p>On a side note, Stanford giving free tuition to people under 100K??...wow.</p>
<p>For your ECs I would try to find something that shows interest in the field you're trying to study. When you select your ECs just keep in mind that they will be looking at a ton of applications with cookie cutter ECs in them. The trick is to try and demonstrate that you've been actively trying to pursue this interest. For history ECs where I would personally look (im in SoCal) is with any of the tons of Native American tribes out here and see if they have internships in a museum or cultural preservation society. Or maybe think of a historical project of your own; if you have a camera, make a short documentary about some subject local to your community. There's a bunch of military bases in SoCal, maybe a little documentary with wounded veterans recovering in San Diego or a new recruit in your high school: what are the motivations for a high school student to enlist in the middle of war? It doesn't have to be a work of genius, it just has to show passion. </p>
<p>I will admit that my own personal ECs suck, I was active duty for a large portion of my CC experience but I'm working on that now. My spiel is just how I would approach your situation.</p>
<p>my advice is do concurrent enrollment with your CC. the reason i say this is because you wont be able to transfer to a sophomore (or if you were able to, it's a long shot). hence, you can get a head-start and get some of the 60 semester units needed to transfer done. plus it's free so that will help you save money and you wont have to spend two years at a CC. </p>
<p>im assuming you are taking AP classes? if so, that's good. try to get as many units as possible.</p>
<p>"my advice is do concurrent enrollment with your CC. the reason i say this is because you wont be able to transfer to a sophomore (or if you were able to, it's a long shot)."</p>
<p>I assumed transfer after sophomore (junior and senior years at UC). Is there a problem with this? I haven't noticed that the Berkeley acceptance rate is especially low for junior transfers.</p>
<p>And yeah, I've taken AP Chem., Bio., taking Econ. now.</p>
<p>he thought you meant you wanted to transfer for sophmore year meaning that you would be a lower division transfer which is significantly more difficult than a junior level transfer.</p>
<p>If you really make as little as you say then you should have no problem getting tons of financial aid. I suggest you apply as a freshman and fill out the fasfa before the deadline. Many of my friends are at berkeley and have financial aid pay for virtually everything. Also, you can try applying to scholarships.</p>
<p>yeah i was referring to if you wanted to transfer as a sophmore (which is really hard to do). but if you want to transfer as a junior but only spend 1 year at a CC and also not pay that much, do concurrent enrollment. </p>
<p>but if you want to do 2 years then 2 years at a UC, there really isnt much except for focus on your AP's (cause those are the only ones that matter) and have fun with high school while it lasts.</p>