I’m a first year at UC Davis and I want to transfer to Berkeley or LA as a math major. I am currently a EE major, and I don’t want to switch to math here at davis because the program isn’t too good. I’m really interested in maths and like reading mathematical fiction, so I really believe that I would enjoy being a math major – I thoroughly enjoy my math courses and do very well in them.
My question is I can’t really do any sort of mathematical research now because I’m only a freshman and it is beyond my current capabilities. What should I do right now to help my admissions into those schools
Get good grades at UC Davis. Look up the math major requirements for UCLA and UC Berkeley at assist.org. Gaining admission as a transfer is mostly about getting high grades, so research isn’t really necessary. Still, good ECs can help.
Consult with a counselor at UC Davis to and let them know of your plans. They’ll be in a better position to help you. Good luck!
@Cayton What would you say is a good GPA? I’m only a freshman, so my current GPA is not too indicative of my future gpa, but I currently have a 3.77, made the deans list, and got an A in Calculus C. I play on taking Advanced calculus and Linear Algebra next quarter.
This is from a couple of years ago, but should still be accurate enough. Math majors were, on average, accepted to UCLA with a 3.69 GPA. I’d imagine that for Berkeley, the number is about the same or a little higher. UCLA is generally welcoming of transfers from other UCs, but Berkeley is far more selective. When it comes to CC transfers, the gap is much narrower.
Apply to both if you wish, but your best bet is UCLA. In general, Berkeley doesn’t seem to like taking in transfers from other UCs. And congrats on your GPA at Davis. Keep it up and you should get accepted to UCLA in a year or two, whenever you apply. Good luck.
@8bagels That’s a bit of a faulty claim. Most people who apply as a transfer are community college students because you can’t graduate from community college where as you CAN graduate from another UC. Having greater number of community college students does also inflates the community college to UC transfer ratio. It still is correct though that CC students have easier admissions, but I don’t think you can claim it to be a 95 to 5 chance…
You can graduate from community college. Also, it is pretty difficult to transfer from UC to UC as community college transfers are given the highest priority and transfers from a different UC school are only really accepted based on how much space is available. So the admin rate on that is pretty low.
@boxandwhiskers Most CC’s dont offer bachelor’s degrees (esp in STEM), and in my comment i said that CC students do have an easier admissions… but I said that 95% to 5% CC to UC admittance ratio isn’t a reasonable estimate of how selective it is for UC students to transfer to another UC is.
With a 3.77 as a math major, transferring is very possible.
Understand that, while you are completely correct about “95% UC transfers are CCC students” not necessitating “it’s very hard for UC transfers to get admitted”, priority DOES generally go to CC transfers. If you complete UC reciprocity and all of the prereqs for the math major, all while keeping your GPA as high as it is, I think you have very good chances.
As stated earlier, UCLA views CC transfers and UC transfers either equally or near equally. Maintain your GPA and do all that is necessary, and you’d get into LA.
Berkeley is picky, but you would have a good chance for them as well.
@goldencub@Cayton I’m not sure if you read my post correctly, but I said that im an EE major at Davis… I don’t want to switch out of engineering to math at Davis because I don’t think the math program here is too good… rather I plan on just minoring in math at davis. However I will apply as a math major to berkeley and ucla because I think the math program there is very well reputed. You guys said my GPA is good/fine for my admissions as a math major, but just to clarify… you are saying this while taking into consideration that my major is actually Electrical Engineering right? Thank You.
@goldencub also, on assist it says ucd and ucla/berkeley dont have an articulation program so I cant see what classes I need to take here at davis to transfer there… should I just look at a CC’s articulation program and take approximately the equivalent?
@goldencub completing the requirements are easy… as an engineering major I will take most of the classes anyway. I might have to take one or 2 more classes if I want to take a special sort of math major (like financial mathematics at ucla)… But I was just making sure… they wont expect a higher or lower gpa because im an engineering major right?
@iamjack You will need to maintain a high GPA to realistically be considered. A 3.77 is very good, and places you into the acceptance ranges for the top UC’s. Keep it up, but definitely talk to a counselor.
You should also try to complete UC Reciprocity to ensure that you won’t have to finish GE’s after you transfer. It’s for your own benefit - not necessarily an acceptance requirement, but it’s good to do. Avoid taking upper div’s, or too many units.
Bottom line, talk to a counselor. They can give you better information pertaining to UCD than we can.