I am a prospective 1 year transfer student looking to apply to Cal and UCLA in fall. This will be my first year at community college out of high school, so I assume they can only see my summer, fall, and maybe winter quarter grades? I am wondering if I should take major related classes first, or finish up my igetc ge classes first in the summer and fall quarters?
I heard if I show strong grades in my major classes from assist.org it’ll boost my chances of 1 year transfer, in that case I’ll take mainly major related classes in summer and fall, and push my igetc courses to winter and spring. But would they also want to see my GE classes’ grades?
For example, should I take Econ 1 or English 1a in summer?
Best practice: take a couple GE summer. You can do major prep, but it will be more condensed and harder. Most seem to do ok with just GE.
Fall: do a lot of major prep. They will want to see it. Not all major prep, but a good chunk with maybe 1 GE. (They always prefer seeing a real class over AP.)
They will be basing their decisions only on summer and fall grades. They do not calculate winter session into GPA, although they may or may not take it into consideration during evaluation. They do this to make it fair to all applicants.
So you need to have about seven courses completed by fall, with a healthy dose of major prep.
If you are not aware, you cannot use two AP for the English requirement. One course will need to be at CCC. Get it done by fall.
These classes, in addition to the Intro to Business course that I took from another community college last summer (A), would be 7 transferable classes in total.
Also, I have 5 on AP Stats, and I am not sure if I should retake Stats since it is on assist.org for some of the majors I might be interested in applying under and my AP score can clear it.
Also see if you can qualify for TAP as a one year transfer.
Econ is pretty impacted, and sociology is mildly-impacted. You might want something more than tutoring/jazz band, especially if you are looking at Haas for UCB.
Plus, there is no rush. Many students take 2+years to transfer.
I don’t mean to be so pessimistic, or to scare you, I just know that CC can trap some people, and its good to know your B plan if your A plan is a no go.
I like option 1, as the fall schedule looks a bit more manageable.
If you are a one year transfer, ECs are not too important as they know you’re killing yourself with classes. A lot of one years don’t have many (or really any) as noted over at one year transfer. I would focus more on GPA, than ECs in your situation. (Also, your junior/senior are only last year, so are fine.)
However-- I just saw you might add Haas. They will want ECs. The other majors not so much in your circumstance.
Why would you retake stats if you have a 5? Unless it’s not accepted somewhere?
Hey there, I got in as one year transfer to Cal as an Econ major with a similar plan to yours.
I need to echo @luckie1367 in that your summer and fall (and winter if needed) grades need to be stellar to overcome the disadvantage of having only one year of ECs for Berkeley. I know a handful of people that tried a one year plan that otherwise would have had a better shot at getting in if they opted for two years over one.
Regarding the classes, I don’t recommend fast-tracking the major courses (Econ, Calc, or Stats) during either summer or winter as it kind of sets you up for failure then you get to their intermediate versions. Converse to that, you should aim to have all your major preps complete prior to Spring. Econ is not guaranteed at UCB, even for Econ admits, so not having a final grade in a major prep class during your admissions review will make you a significantly “riskier” admit in the eyes of the adcom.
If you intend to go through with a one year plan, and given your choices, I think Option B sets you up better however you definitely want to take Microecon in the fall for reasons stated above. If that is not possible, and given your other interest is sociology, you might want to consider the Cal Political Economy program over Economics which is not as impacted and would allow you greater leeway when it comes to the admissions review.
