<p>Since you will have a 3.5+ before you apply, I’m sure you have a great shot getting into these 4 UC schools.</p>
<p>There’s a bit of misinformation in this thread, so I’ll try my best to clear things up. Given your “predicted” GPA and the pre-reqs you’ll have completed I think you’re in at EVERY UC you listed. The “ideal” situation is that you finish all of your pre-reqs so that you’re the MOST competitive you can possibly be for admission, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible or even difficult to get in without missing a few pre-reqs, the keyword being “few”. The UCs not named UCLA or Berkeley tend to be forgiving for pre-reqs (sometimes surprisingly so) for non-impacted majors, so if you have the majority of your pre-reqs completed you should be fine. Admission officers just want to make sure that you will have fulfilled a sufficient amount of pre-reqs so that you’re in a position to graduate in about two years. If you’ve done well in most of your pre-req classes and you have most of them completed, they’ll let you finish the rest after you enroll. I think you’ll have absolutely no issues getting into any of the four UCs you listed missing the physics sequence. I got into UCSC and UCD last year missing the full physics sequence as a Biology major with around the same GPA (3.43), so I wouldn’t see why you couldn’t. If you go back and look through the acceptance threads, you’ll be surprised to see just how many people get in missing a few pre-reqs, some people even get admitted with half or less, although they typically have high GPAs 3.7+. </p>
<p>My advice would be to try and complete as many pre-reqs as you possibly can, but don’t overwork yourself and risk lowering your GPA if you can’t. If you can manage going to two different CCs to finish everything and still maintain your GPA then do it, it will improve your chances of getting accepted. But if you can’t or if it’s going to be extremely difficult for you don’t sweat it and focus on doing well at the classes you’ll be enrolled in. Completing 3/4th of your pre-reqs for a non-impacted major specifically at those UCs should be ok. Also, it’s just my personal opinion, but I would prioritize Calculus over Physics. Calculus is a pre-req for the physics sequences so, it’s kind of important you get that finished. </p>
<p>Regarding your concern about units, if you’ve only taken courses at community colleges your unit total is irrelevant as long you meet the 60 unit requirement. You can apply with 2000 CC units and not be at any disadvantage. There’s only an issue if you’ve attended a four-year university and transferred back to a CC, in which case you have a unit cap of around 80-95 units (depending on the UC) before you reach senior standing and are ineligible to transfer. I will have completed 92 units by the end of this spring and this year I got into every UC, save Berkeley. </p>
<p>Also just my personal advice, but I would TAG to UCSD as UCSD is the most difficult of the four your listed to TAG into or just get admitted to. I think if those that meet the UCSD TAG conditions, generally have a very favorable chance of getting into UCSB, UCD, UCI, etc. Also in regards to UCSB, UCSB is very particular about completing the English and Math requirements by the end of the Fall (after Fall 2013 in your case). So if you can be sure to complete your two English comp classes and at least one transferable math class by the end of this Fall. There were a few cases of people with relatively high GPAs getting rejected to UCSB for trying to complete those requirements in spring, so it’s in your best interest to have them done early. </p>
<p>Also regarding ECs, personal statements, etc. none of the UCs you mentioned currently use those sections of the application for evaluation. The only UCs that do holistic reviews (meaning they factor in everything on your app) are UCI, UCLA, and Berkeley. The other UCs may see those sections of your application, but they aren’t used as selection criteria, which is actually just your GPA, pre-req completion, IGETC, etc. For freshman applicants all the UCs do holistic reviews, but it’s only been fairly recently that mid-tier UCs like UCI (2011) started doing it for transfers and currently it’s just the aforementioned three. Also as someone said, your ethnicity is irrelevant. Affirmative action in California public institutions ended in the early 90s so UCs aren’t allowed to give you an advantage based on your race. If you were to mention something related to race and how you overcame some disadvantage or discrimination because of it in your personal statement, then that may help for the UCs that do holistic reviews. However, any race you check off on the demographic portion of the UC app isn’t going to matter in terms of admission, just scholarship consideration. </p>
<p>Touching on the CSU admission freeze, it’s just my personal opinion, but I don’t think it’ll affect UC admissions all that much. Since 9 out of 10 UCs only allow you to apply for Fall quarter, those CSU applicants that are going to be looking to apply in spring would still have to wait a whole half-year to apply to a UC, which would also be the same amount of time as waiting for Fall admission to a CSU. Also the CSU applicant pool generally is less competitive, so there shouldn’t be many people that were only considering a CSU that are going to displace already competitive UC applicants. I think the people that should be worried are those with low GPAs, <3.0-3.2, because they’re going to have competition from similar students that may have only applied to a CSU if the freeze wasn’t going to happen.</p>
<p>@dilapidatedmind</p>
<p>Wow! thank you very much! Those were the answers I was looking for haha
As for my 2 eng and 1 math class I have them already completed.
I’m glad you pointed out that the Calc courses are pre reqs to physics so i think
i’m just going to focus on having those done and the important bio and chem courses.
I Feel so much more relieved.</p>
<p>You said you got accepted without your physics coursed completed before transfer at Davis right.
How does that effect you taking classes? Is it dramatic enough to make you stay another year or are you able to manage getting your degree done within your two years there?</p>
<p>^That was actually my situation last year applying for Fall 2011 admission, I actually did stay back in CC for another year, not because of the physics pre-reqs, but because I knew UC Davis wasn’t the right fit for me. So basically I reapplied this year, brought my GPA up to a 3.67 by the end of Fall, and finished all my pre-reqs (except Calc 3 for UCSD). This year after re-applying as a Molecular Biology major, I got admitted to UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCSB, and UCD (again), and the only UC I was rejected to was Berkeley. </p>
<p>If I had chosen to accept Davis’ offer, as a Biology major I can’t imagine that not having the physics sequence would’ve prolonged getting my degree all that much because physics generally isn’t a prerequisite for any of the upper division Biology courses. If you’re concerned about not having the Physics sequence done, I suggest you find the equivalent courses using assist.org and then find the upper division requirements for your intended major at the UC you hope to transfer and use their course schedule to see what upper division courses actually list physics as a pre-req. For Psychology/Biopsychology, I don’t imagine there are that many.</p>
<p>However, I know for a fact that transferring without the physics sequence would be much quicker than trying to finish it at a CC if your CC is on the semester system. At the UCs the physics sequence is 3 quarter courses that require a year to finish, whereas, at least at my CC, it is 3 semester courses which takes 1.5 years to finish.</p>
<p>So what school did you choose & major? What was it about UCD that you didn’t find appealing for you personally? Just interested.</p>
<p>I’m a Molecular Biology major and I haven’t decided yet, I’m still choosing between UCLA and UCSD. </p>
<p>Personally, I’m just not a huge fan of Davis or the bay area. I actually have family that lives in Davis and the majority of my extended family is dispersed all throughout the bay area, so I’m very familiar with the area and it just isn’t for me. I grew up in socal and just prefer living here, so I wanted to attend a UC down here. Also Davis is a great school for life science majors, but I just knew I could do better. I had straight As for my major coursework and my GPA was only a 3.43 because I didn’t take some of my IGETC courses seriously. So I knew if I stayed back and applied myself that I could get straight As in the pre-reqs I had left and bring up my GPA a decent amount. Davis has a very respectable Biology department, but as a whole just doesn’t have the resources or the reputation of UCLA/UCSD’s. Those two reasons coupled together made the decision to re-apply an easy one and I’m glad I did because it certainly worked out for me.</p>
<p>BTW, I edited the end of my last post after you posted to answer about transferring without physics, so not sure if you saw that.</p>
<p>Yea i saw it! thanks! But that’s great to hear! UCSD has always been my dream school because they can do a lot more for me than all the other schools but i feel the UCSD has become so competitive that it may be out of my reach. I also read with tag they guarantee you into the school but not the major?(not to sure about this statement). </p>
<p>Also, can you fill me in about the TAG process. for example, what do you do? what do you fill out’? what do you do after?</p>
<p>You shouldn’t be discouraged, I actually think you have a great chance at UCSD as a psychology major if you’re able to maintain your GPA, and especially if you’re able to raise it and maintain it for TAG. You’re correct about TAG, UCSD’s TAG guarantees you admission to the school, not your major. However, generally unless your major is impacted (Bio or engineering related at UCSD) and you’ve completed most of pre-reqs you should get admitted into your major. Psychology isn’t impacted at UCSD so I’m 99.9% certain if you TAG, you’ll get admitted directly as a psychology major. Also, even if you missed out on TAG for whatever reason I think you still have a decent chance as a non-TAG applicant. If you check the UCSD acceptance thread, you’ll see there were quite a few people that got into your major with around the same GPA (some with even lower), so I think you have a realistic chance. Also, I would encourage you to apply to UCLA if it’s somewhere you wouldn’t mind attending. You may think it’s out of your reach, but someone did get into their impacted psychology major with a 3.5 this year so it’s worth a shot. </p>
<p>As far as TAG you can find all the information here on UCSD’s website, it’s very straightforward and straight from the source so there’s no need typing everything I know about TAG.
[Transfer</a> Admission Guarantee: Fall 2013](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/prospective-students/transfers/prep-programs/tag.html]Transfer”>http://www.ucsd.edu/prospective-students/transfers/prep-programs/tag.html)</p>
<p>Also here’s the link to the TAG application site, which you can’t submit until September (deadline is Sept 31st).
<a href=“https://uctag.universityofcalifornia.edu/index.cfm[/url]”>https://uctag.universityofcalifornia.edu/index.cfm</a></p>
<p>Yea, but i’m not necessarily persuing a degree in psychology. If i want to go to UCSD i would like to major in Biology: Physiology and Neuroscience B.S, how would my odds turn out then?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information so far! Its been very very helpful!</p>
<p>The biology department is heavily impacted at UCSD and for biology majors TAG is going to pretty much be irrelevant. If you TAG as a biology major you have to be admitted directly by the department (it’s the same for a non-TAG applicant), but if you’re not accepted to the department then TAG allows you to be admitted to the school either as your alternate major (must be non-impacted, so not another bio major) or as an undeclared major. If you’re admitted as undeclared you can declare a non-impacted major later. If you don’t get admitted to a Biology major directly, after you enroll you can apply to switch majors, but you’re placed on a list whose priority is determined by your UCSD GPA (not CC GPA). Generally it’s supposed to be pretty difficult switching into the Biology department. Once you’re admitted to the department, you’re free to switch majors within the department. So if you wanted to go from Neuroscience to Human Bio or Microbio, that’s allowed.</p>
<p>UCSD sets an enrollment goal of about 200 enrollees for the entire department per year, so that’s a cumulative 200 enrollees dispersed over 8 biology majors (so NOT 200 per major for a total of 1600, but 200 for the whole department). It’s very competitive, so I’d recommend you complete all of the pre-reqs you can and get your GPA as high as you can. I got rejected with a 3.4 last year and admitted with a 3.67 this year, so I’d say if you want to be accepted stay on the higher side of a 3.6. I also had all but one lower division requirement completed, so I’d suggest you complete everything you can on this list:
[Physiology</a> and Neuroscience](<a href=“http://biology.ucsd.edu/undergrad/majors/physiology-and-neuroscience.html]Physiology”>http://biology.ucsd.edu/undergrad/majors/physiology-and-neuroscience.html)</p>
<p>You’re going to really need those Calc courses completed and as many physics courses as you can. It also helps to have ochem finished. I think you can get away with missing a few lower division requirements maybe 2 or 3 at the most to get admitted. I was missing one lower division requirement, but I think having ochem completed compensated of that because it was considered upper division. I think you HAVE to complete your math courses , at least Calc 1 and 2 and take at least 1 physics courses. If you do that and bring your GPA maybe to a high 3.5 you’ll have a 50% chance of admission. If you don’t complete at least those I think it’s unlikely. UCSD’s neuroscience is probably the most highly regarded of all their Biology majors so it’s very competitive, the grad department ranks higher than UCLA’s and is close to Berkeley.</p>
<p>I’m going to have to push for excellence then. I did my calculations just now and if i pull of straight A’s during fall semester (which i am trying to pull off) i will have a UC transferable gpa of 3.98, would that make me even more competitive although i wont have physics done. Also, what would be my possiblitites if i decided to apply for UCLA and UCB in a bio based majors?
My goal is to be best prepared to take my mcat and get into a med school</p>
<p>If you’re able to bring your GPA up to a 3.98 (really anything above 3.8) by the end of next Fall, you’re going to have very favorable chances at any UC as a biology related major. I’d imagine your chances would be very high for UCSD and even more so for UCLA. Be aware though that UCLA and Berkeley both require you to complete Calculus, Organic Chemistry (one semester for UCLA/two for Cal) and Physics (just for Cal). You should strive for this, but just be aware it takes an incredibly focused student to get straights As taking any full-time combination of chem, biology, calculus, ochem, and calc-based physics at the same time. Also, Berkeley puts heavy emphasis on your personal statement and extra-curriculars, so do what you need to make yourself stand out in those areas.</p>
<p>Other than getting in what College has the best location/environment?</p>