I wish to transfer out of my current school (UC Berkeley) for various personal and academic reasons. I don’t feel like I belong here, and I want to attend a (much) smaller school where I can interact with professors and be in smaller class sizes. Also, I am in the College of Letters and Science but I am interested engineering, and it is virtually impossible to transfer into the college of engineering at Cal. I want to design my own major, and I feel Cal isn’t conducive towards that.
High School Stats:
GPA: 4.67 W & 4.00 UW
Rank: 1/375
ACT: 34, or 35 if superscored
APs: World History, Calc AB, Calc BC, English Language, Chemistry, Biology, US History, English Literature, Gov, Physics 1, Environmental Science, Stats
Activities: President of NHS and Chess Club, VP of Key Club, Cross Country, Basketball, Volleyball, volunteered at 2 food shelters. I also worked at a museum and for a chess club in which I trained 85 students at chess.
College Stats:
Although I began as a freshman this past fall, I have taken community college classes prior to entering Cal.
Cumulative College GPA: 3.78
Community College GPA: 4.0 (28 units in economics, business, humanities)
Berkeley GPA: 3.3 (I know this is TERRIBLE, and I have no excuse for this. It’s all on me for messing it up. I’ve been dealing with crippling depression and am currently seeking help for it. Might take off spring semester to get myself the care I need.)
Activities: I have been interning for student government, where I was able to draft legislation to protect students affected by DACA. Also, I was able to initiate a program to help food-insecure students get access to free fruits and vegetables. Also, I am in Chess Club and the school’s solar club, where I help gain funds for the club by contacting businesses/industry folk.
Letters of Rec: Pretty good, but not outstanding.
Major: Interdisciplinary Studies (or whatever it’s called where I can design my own major) I want to take classes in CS and Industrial Engineering, but also take the required courses for Med School as I consider all options for the future.
Transfer Schools: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern, Swarthmore, Vanderbilt, Williams
I was accepted to Duke as a senior in high school and waitlisted to Brown. I did not apply to the others.
What are my chances of getting into these schools? Will being accepted to Duke in the past help in this round of admissions? What other schools should I consider transferring to?