<p>Hey guys, I know this late in the game making a chancing thread is kinda pointless but I have applied to UCLA, Berk and SD and have yet to hear ANYTHING from anyone and its driving me crazy. Any feed back would be appreciated since it will give me something other than the decision threads to check haha. I have spent more time on those than i'd like to admit. </p>
<p>I TAG'd SD and TAP'd LA, but Berkeley is what I am worried about. Long story short I am a Poli Sci major with a 3.5 GPA (3.6 UCLA GPA) which is a result of a very bad second semester due to personal problems. Other than that My grades have been awesome, I have all pre req's complete and a 4.0 major GPA (if that counts for anything). I'd give my personal statement an 8 or 9 out of 10 since I got excellent feed back from various profs/counselors. It talked about my experiences having to go from a ghetto public high school in Atlanta, GA to a rich snobby private international school in Asia, how I adapted to the rigors of the IB diploma and how it made me a better person. Also how I worked at the American Embassy there and I tied that into my interest in my major. EC's are pretty strong but the best of them are from before CC and a Berkeley rep said they like the stuff you do AFTER high school better. Still, I am honors student and an athlete at my CC and I have volunteered so its not like i have been sitting on my butt. </p>
<p>Anyway, the thing that really worries me is my low GPA. My honors counselor told me not to worry too much since a quick look at my transcripts makes it really obvious that one bad, isolated semester really pulled down my otherwise really good grades. Still, a 3.5 seems pretty low. Do you guys think I have any chance? Feel free to shoot me down!</p>
<p>I think you have a great shot as well. The extra stuff on your app really makes up for the 3.5, especially if you’re saying your essays are solid.</p>
<p>That guy is trolling, he was trolling on a different thread too so ignore him!
I think you have a decent shot. Especially for UCLA because of tap, but I even think you have a good shot for Berkeley too. Good luck!</p>
<p>Your TAP + 3.6 makes you a strongly competitive applicant for UCLA. A positive aspect of Cal admissions is that they tend to be more holistic vs. UCLA’s numbers game. You sound like a well-rounded person with your experiences overseas in relation to your major. I predict that your personal statement will be the slight push you need to get accepted. Nevertheless, you have a guaranteed spot at UCSD, so relax. </p>
<p>Well even though I already took 2 years of IB french in highschool and finished with a B (as long as you finish with a C or better your language requirements are already met for UC transfer) I ended up taking French 1-3 anyway because I wanted to perfect my french and work on grammer/basics that I had not properly mastered in highschool. What I didnt know is that the prof teaching it at my school was a total b**** and did not give A’s out no matter what. Even though I had perfect attendance, turned in all of the hw and studied really hard for all of the exams she the highest i would ever have was an 88. I stupidly kept taking it thinking i just had to deal with it and get an A eventually but I recieved B’s in all three french classes. to make matters worse, each class was FIVE units rather than the usual 3 so I had 15 units of 3.0 in my GPA -.- I panicked and contacted the UC’s asking if they would factor any of my french classes out of my GPA since my language requirements were already complete. UCLA said french 1 and 2 would not be factored in while Berk and SD said they would factor all of the classes. Taking away those 10 units of B made my GPA go up to a 3.6. Kinda annoying because I never had to take ANY of those classes and it was a lot of toil only to cause more trouble.</p>
<p>Hi! Current UCLA Political Science major here </p>
<p>Your case is a bit hard to evaluate because of the low-ish GPA but other strong factors. I got into both Cal and UCLA and I have to say that I think you have a much better shot at Cal. I think Cal weighs those other factors more than UCLA does. </p>
<p>The cold hard figures: At UCLA, the average GPA for admitted transfer students in 2012 was 3.78 (Out of 1,153 applicants they accepted 345!) and another thing that is working against you is that the major is highly impacted. I know two other people who had GPAs similar to yours when I was transferring and they both got turned down by UCLA. The fact that the major is impacted means that you will see less variation in the GPAs of those admitted. For instance in the Philosophy department, the average GPA admitted was 3.6, but there are people admitted far below the average (I know one person who got in with a 3.3). </p>
<p>So in the end I guess what I am trying to say is that, UCLA is more numbers based and Cal is much more holistic.</p>
<p>We have similar stats! I’m a polisci major with a lower than admitted GPA due to four college courses I took senior year -_- had assumed id just transfer the units rather than go to CC for transfer. But anyways I think you have a probable chance especially with TAP! And your work at the American embassy sounds awesome have you tried the tricks for LA? Those might help but yeah I agree with the others in that you have a better chance at berk since your EC > GPA</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the lowest gpa for Poli Sci that has been admitted to UCLA? I ask since the avg is 3.75 I think so hold hope because that means they have accepted people above and below that number!</p>
<p>@crazycollegedays I remember I looked through the results of last years (or was it last last…) and there were scattered 4.0 gpas with no ECs and 3.5-3.7s!</p>
is my GPA a deal breaker?</p>
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