<p>Alright Guys and Girls here's my situation:</p>
<p>School: UCLA</p>
<p>Estimated Overall CCC GPA: 3.55 (By End of this fall semester)</p>
<p>Estimated Overall UC-Transferrable GPA: 3.43 (By End of this fall semester)</p>
<p>Estimated Overall Major GPA: 3.7 (Pre-Reqs)</p>
<p>ExtraCurriculars : 2 semesters of Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society - 40+ hours of community service (Started this fall semester as a member and will also continue my membership in spring 2010), Apart of the Reading to Kids organization(non profit/community service), apart of the Midnight mission organization(also non profit/community service), Active Econ Club member for two semesters(this semester and spring 2010)</p>
<p>Intended Major: Economics (All Pre-req's finished by Spring 2010 - Getting a B in Calculus 1</p>
<p>TAP Certified: YES (Principles of Economics I - Honors, Principles of Economics II - Honors....Aced both)</p>
<p>Alternate Major: Mathematics/Economics (Will have only finished Calculus 2 by Spring 2010)</p>
<p>IGETC Certified: YES</p>
<p>..................So, here's the question: Based off my record would it be smarter to major in mathematics/econ FIRST and have an alternate major in something else, considering the incredible competitiveness in the standard impacted economics major? (whose average GPA of transfers last year was 3.8) </p>
<p>Do I have a chance at the regular econ major at UCLA? I'm currently working on my personal statements, knowing that these statements may make or break whether I get in or not.......</p>
<p>I’d say that you are a weak applicant at best (but hey crazier things have happened).</p>
<p>That 3.43 will hurt, EC’s really aren’t as important as the personal statement (and much less important than the oGPA), but TAP will be a plus. </p>
<p>There is no “regular econ major at UCLA” there is pre econ and bis econ which you will most likely get rejected from (both accept GPA’s at an average of 3.8 and will probably be higher this year). TAP will allow the admissions officer to consider you for the alternative major but math econ’s accepted GPA last year was a 3.6, you are below the GPA of applicants which was a 3.5 (expect these numbers to increase too). </p>
<p>If the admissions officer doesn’t think you’re a good fit for pre or bis econ and if they think that they should look at your choice of alternative major and if they think that you’re a good fit for that major they might entertain the idea of giving you a spot at UCLA. (that’s a lot of if’s)</p>
<p>Mind you that the speculation of UCLA’s admissions process is that two individual admissions officers assess the application and decide to admit or not. If there is a discrepancy between the two admission officers a third makes the choice. So in my humble opinion, your stars will have to align perfectly to be accepted at UCLA.</p>
<p>if only you had a different major. You seem like a great candidate, they will probably feel bad for you because for any other “non impacted” major you would have a really good shot at getting in, but no…you choose econ. There is zero percent chance you will get into econ because that is the most competitive major at UCLA. People with 4.0’s are turned away for that major. I really really suggest you change your major. It’s not like your major has anything to do with your career anyway. Just get in, thats the main part, then after you are in and you graduate…then grad school is where you can major in something to do with your career.</p>
<p>I believe you should apply for Econ and leave Math/Econ as your alternative.</p>
<p>Your GPA+the fact that you’re TAP certified pretty much guarantees you admission for Math/Econ. If you get denied for Econ they will consider you for Math/Econ. (TAP guarantees you will be considered for your alternative major in the event you are turned down for your primary)</p>
<p>If you’re passion truly lies in Econ, but you get into Math/Econ, don’t fret! </p>
<p>Some people claim that as a Math/Econ major you’re not allowed to take as many Econ classes as a BizEcon or Pure Econ major. That’s BS.</p>
<p>Completing your major requirements won’t be enough to graduate (min units to graduate: 180. 60 of which need to be upper div). You will still need to take a bunch of upper division elective units; all of which can be Econ if you want. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the Departmental Scholars in Economics have always been Math/Econ majors or some sort of Econ major with a Math minor. The math background will benefit you outside of school as well. Employers LOVE students with strong quantitative skills.</p>
<p>As I stated earlier, I think you should list Econ as your primary and Math/Econ as your alternative. If you get into Econ, yay! (and you could always be a Math minor if you wanted to take math classes). But in the event that you don’t get into Econ, I think you have a good chance for Math-Econ. Just write a compelling personal statement, and maintain good grades.</p>