<p>Hi all, I've been getting a bit worried about my personal statements. I had initially turned in my application thinking that I would be able to re-edit them up until the deadline (this was back in November), but I of course found out that this was not at all the case. The statements I had given out were pretty weak, I would rate them a 6/10 (disorganized, not very strong in conveying my best self). After realizing that I could not get back into the application, I contacted the campuses and was able to send UCLA new revised statements, but Cal would not accept them. How badly do you think this will impact my chances of admission there?</p>
<p>Stats:
Major: Philosophy at UCB
GPA: 3.95
IGETC: yes
TAP: no
EC's: Founder and president of a philosophy club, work experience for 1.5 years, childrens music instructor, involved in the running of a music festival, awarded a few production credits for community college music events, received a few merit scholarships, presidents list, deans list, ptk board, blah blah blah</p>
<p>To be very honest, personal statements don’t generally make or break one’s chances of getting into UC Berkeley as a transfer. They only ever help you. As long as your personal statement isn’t complete crap(Despite what you think, your personal statement is, in all likelihood, at least OK, as long as you tried), you should be fine. Your GPA is phenomenal and so are your extracurriculars. Berkeley puts more emphasis on extracurriculars in its application review process than any other UCs, so being the <em>founder and president of a philosophy club at your community college</em>, combined with your excellent GPA should almost guarantee your acceptance to UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>Your personal statement is more like icing on the cake compared to GPA, pre-req completion(Which doesn’t matter for philosophy majors trying to transfer to Berkeley since most CCs don’t offer the necessary pre-reqs, lol), and your extracurriculars.</p>
<p>I’d actually be very shocked if you didn’t get in. You’re in great shape as a transfer applicant.</p>
<p>I’d have to read it to give you an honest opinion. Personal statements do play a BIG role in admissions process. Think of it this way. an EC is a short sentence, a personal statement is 500 words about a (or that) subject. </p>
<p>If you were a freshman applicant I would say you serious hurt your chances but as a transfer student they give much more slack to so-so personal statements. With a 3.95 GPA and your ECs your PS would have to be very bad to cause a rejection. </p>
<p>@freetofly112 - I agree with @bomerr at UCB the Personal Statement actually means a lot, much more than other UC’s but with that GPA if you wrote a PS that is at least a 4/10 you’re golden.</p>
<p>UCLA and UCB tend to like students the same in terms of GPA or I would assume so, and for UCLA average admitted for your major is 3.61</p>