Chance Me for UCB, UCLA, USC, Harvey Mudd, etc. for CS

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! I’m a second-year CCC Computer Science student and was hoping you could help me gauge where I stand in terms of my chances for transferring into a good college. Thank you for reading this even if you don’t end up commenting!

Applying to (so far):

  • UCLA
  • UCB
  • UCI
  • UCR
  • UCSB
  • UCSD
  • UCSC
  • Cal Poly Pomona & SLO
  • Maybe USC but if I do I have to fill out Common App which seems like a really daunting process after the UC App (completed aside from essays).
  • If I do end up doing the Common App, Harvery Mudd though I don’t really expect to get it.
  • SJSU

GPA: 3.756 overall at the moment. By the end of this semester should be a 3.83 and afaik, this is GPA they end up looking at after the Transfer Academic Update in Jan.

Demographics: Asian, Male, California

Intended Major: Computer Science
Alternate Major: For most places, something like Computer Engineering. For UCLA, its Mathematics of Computation (L&S so TAP can help)

Awards:

  • AP + PLTW Student Achievement in Engineering
  • First Place in Undergraduate Research Conference that was hosted at my cc
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • Dean’s Honors List for every semester I’ve attended my school
  • Some sort of certificate for volunteering (not sure what to call it & probably not putting this on my apps)

Extracurriculars:

  • VP of Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society
  • Ambassador Program (work 6 hr/week)
  • Student Tutoring for Math/CS (work 6 hr/week)
  • Software Development / Android Programming internship at local mid-tier company during first semester of cc.
  • Honors/TAP Program
  • Pathways Program
  • CCCP Scholars Program
  • Set-up a program where students from my cc can go to a local middle school that has historically been academically inferior to all schools in the region, and is comprised mainly of minorities in order to tutor them for free.

Question:

  • Should I apply to more places? I really can’t afford to pay for out-of-state tuition but I’m open to applying to other California schools if you guys have any suggestions.

Other stuff:

  • I will have completed all prereqs by the end of the spring semester
  • I can get a few good letters of recommendation if I need to
  • I kind of get that some of my ecs aren’t exactly related to my major but I’m hoping that the internship I did early in my college career will kind of make up for that.
  • I’m a decent essayist and I can probably get a good amount of help on the essay to make it near perfect so I think I’m well-covered on that front

Sorry for the lousy formatting too. Let me know if any more info is necessary.

If you took the time to read this, thank you, I really appreciate it!!

2

Mudd is incredibly difficult to transfer into. Without having taken the core at Mudd, it would be difficult to succeed. They also only take a couple of transfers per year. I’d take it off your list.

3

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major should be helpful in assessing chances at UCs.

4

SJSU lists historical admission thresholds on pages linked from http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/ .

5

UC Transfer GPA admit range by major and campus should help you gauge your chances:

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major

I think you have a chance at all the schools. UCSD/UCB/UCLA and SLO will be tough admits by you are in the running.
You should have many options come Spring and I think you are good on the # of schools you are applying.

Best of luck.

6

@intparent Ok cool haha I was going to remove it anyway since even if I had gotten in it was more than likely I wouldnt have been to afford it

7

@Gumbymom Yeah I’ve seen the stats myself and for UC’s it feels like I’m right above 25th percentile which isnt where I’d like to be, ideally. I also heard that UC’s generally do not care about ECs or even the essay too much for engineering majors which is what I had originally hoped would make up for my GPA. Do you know how true this is? Thanks for reply btw, really appreciate it!

8

According to page 40 of the following document, only UCD/UCSC and UCR do not consider personal insight essays in the transfer applicant review.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/quick-reference-2017.pdf

Also regarding EC’s, I think the more competitive UC’s will consider EC’s to help differentiate applicants with similar GPA’s however GPA is still king…