<p>Hi Everyone,
I just received all of my grades from Fall 2012. It didnt turn the way I like (I got 2 A's and 2 B's - I was hoping for 3 A's). Anyways, that gives me an exactly over all 3.5 GPA (only transferable courses). I know that my GPA is low compare to the ones that admitted in these schools. My question is do I still have a chance of getting into one of these schools? </p>
<p>Here's a little background about me:
I dont have any "C" or below that (including "W") on my transcript. All of my grades are A's and B's (including all the non-transferable courses). I'm taking 12+ units per semester (fulltime). I havent taken half of the required courses for my major (Majoring in Chemistry). Here are my major course grades so far:
GChem I - A
GChem II - B
OChem I - A
Calc I - B
(Intro Chem - B and Pre-Calc - B)
*By the way, my 3.5 GPA includes only all transferable course (GE) in my transcript.</p>
<p>I have two awards (certificate of excellence and scholarship). I have a part-time job. I have a major responsibilities in my family (only guy - my father died along time ago) like driving my mom and older sister to work and my younger sister to school.</p>
<p>Here are my plans that I think will boost up my chance:
I'm currently applying again,this time, for two scholarships. I am also applying for an internship (summer). I am also thinking of applying for a tutoring position (student level) in my community college.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I am thinking of staying one more year after taking all my required courses for my major because I want to take the Biology series and Stats (for med school requirements) and some GE courses (for UC breadth requirements) in my community college. Will this be a bad idea?</p>
<p>What do you think guys? Any suggestions or comments? Thanks..</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but how in the world did you take 3 courses in the same sequence in the same term??? Usually Gchem I is a pre-req for Gchem II, which is a pre-req to Ochem I. Most colleges require you to complete each pre-req before you’re allowed to enroll in the next course in the series. </p>
<p>As far as your chances, they’re fine and you’re on track to get admitted to either if you continue to complete your pre-reqs and if you bring up your GPA a little. The average admitted GPA to Chemistry at UCLA was 3.61 in 2012, so having a 3.5 after one term certainly puts you within range to continue to improve and get your GPA up around the average. For Berkeley, you’re probably going to want to try and get yourself above a 3.7+ to have a decent chance at getting admitted. The average transfer GPA admitted to Berkeley last year was 3.77 for all majors, so ideally you want to be in the 3.7-3.8 range. </p>
<p>As far as staying longer, you need to finish the breadth or IGETC requirements for Berkeley or else you won’t be admitted so that’s a must. Berkeley requires you to have finished your GE requirements by the end of your spring quarter when you transfer, so that needs to be done. As far as taking bio and stats I’ve heard that med schools prefer you to take the requirements at a four year university rather than a CC, so take that for what it’s worth. I think it would help you applying to Berkeley to have any extra courses completed, but it could hurt you when applying to med school if that’s the case. You should probably get in contact with a counselor or admission rep at one of the med schools you’re interested in to see what the best option is for completing their requirements.</p>
<p>Ohh!! I’m sorry if I have not mentioned it. I did not take those at the same time (those are not the 4 courses I took last Fall). Those are the only ones I just mentioned because they are my major’s preparatory courses.</p>
<p>It might be a bit late now to raise my GPA since I only have a few courses left (assume that I’ll get 2 A’s and 1 B per semester). I would guess that I can only raise my GPA about 3.6. I hope that this is somewhat competitive GPA for Berkeley. And I’ll just do bunch of internship during the break to help my chance (I hope that internships are really helpfull). I heard that there are some cases when Berkeley admitted students with below 3.5 GPA (min 3.0) and didnt admitted students with 3.5 GPA and above.</p>
<p>I really like to go to Berkeley not just because it’s one of the best, if not the best, public university in the world. It’s also the reason that they are in semester system where I can do a double major or 3 minors (or more).</p>
<p>I did not know that Berkeley requires you to finish either breadth or IGETC. All I know is that you need to finish all the major preparation courses. Anyways, I did take a foreign language (1 year coursework of Spanish) so that would be fine as well as the reading and compo requirements. And so far these are the only ones I have filled in:
- Arts & Literature: Filled
- Biological Science: Filled
- Historical Studies: Filled
- International Studies: Not yet
- Philosophy and Values: Filled
- Physical Science: Filled
- Social and Behavioral Science: Filled</p>
<p>I see. Again, I didnt know that taking all the prereqs in CC will hurt me in applying to med school. Anyway, I’m still in delemma about this issue (whether to finish everything in CC or in Uni). Here are my concerns:
- I want to finish as many courses as possible in CC so that I can focus more on my major in the University I’ll be transferring in (no more GE or any outside major coursework) and have much time to do extra curricular activities, volunteer work, internship and do double major and/or minors.
- On the other hand, taking everything in CC might lower my GPA and then my chance in being admitted to the university I want. In addition to that is the reason you gave me about prereq for med school.</p>
<p>“I really like to go to Berkeley not just because it’s one of the best, if not the best, public university in the world. It’s also the reason that they are in semester system where I can do a double major or 3 minors (or more).”</p>
<p>ok, no. go to Cal because you like the campus and you think you’d fit in. you obviously have good enough grades to get into any UC (as long as you prove you’re more than just a statistic, via a good personal statement essay/interesting extracurriculars/life achievements).</p>
<p>3.6 is fine for any school (perhaps besides applying to Haas, or some engineering schools). it really matters what you do outside of school, and how interesting you are as a person. anyone can study hard and get good grades… so the question is: what is else interesting about you?</p>
<p>also, take as many units as possible at your CC (70 units are the max transferrable to UC schools) as it is far cheaper than taking the equivalent at the university.</p>