I got a 3.67 this semester in engineering at UC Berkeley. I’m applying to transfer to Columbia and a few other schools of comparable selectivity. I want the real truth: is this GPA so low that I have no chance at schools this hard to transfer to? Assuming everything else is stellar (4.0 in high school, ACT’s 34+, incredible EC’s, essays, etc.) I’m thinking now that these schools aren’t worth the money to even apply after such a low GPA. Please, any help is appreciated.
Why do you want to transfer out of Berkeley?
Berkeley Engineering is really good and probably better than Columbia Engineering.
@rdeng2614 I want to transfer into Econ/PolySci. You’re right though, engineering is excellent here but I no longer want to do that. Thinking a smaller school is a better fit, I’m not super happy at Berkeley. Also I’m URM if that makes a big difference, idk
GPA of 3.67 is not bad. However, you need compelling reasons to transfer to any Ivy League schools.
Come on now, Berkeley is #5 and #6 for poly sci and econ.
You can apply anywhere, but I would focus on getting into the major you like and settling in at Berkeley. The first semester of college is always an adjustment, and you may need to take more initiative to meet your kind of people.
Your grades seem to indicate that you are thriving academically.
Are you a California resident getting in-state tuition ? Would you consider a small liberal arts school or one of the Consortium schools ? The Ivy Leagues accept almost no one as transfers, and likely the few that get in are no ordinary mortals. You won’t improve prestige or program, but you could try for a better fit …
But work on getting Berkeley to fit you.
Cornell takes a few transfers (transfer rate is 20.59%). See http://admissions.cornell.edu/apply/transfer-applicants
The first thing to do is separate out the school from the subject you want to study. Right now you aren’t happy with either. If you study econ and poly sci at Berkeley next semester, you may discover that you like your coursework more and it gives you additional time to get adjusted. One semester is really too soon to decide something is a bad fit, especially when you already know you don’t like your intended major. Could be that changing directions solves your problem.
If after switching your area of study and giving yourself more time to settle in, you are still unhappy with the school, then consider transferring at that point. Your GPA may be higher by then as well.
The other important consideration is cost. Are you able to pay the full cost of tuition at a school like Columbia, even if you could get in? If not, how much can you pay?
Cost is another thing to consider. You can always transfer within Berkeley to major in Poli Sci or Econ.
3.67 GPA in Berkeley Engineering is not nearly as bad as you think, but to transfer, you need a good reason on how Columbia has the resources that Berkeley lacks for your ambitions.
Cornell has state colleges as part of the U with transfer agreements with NY CCs. You can’t just look at the transfer numbers.
Great advice everyone. Also @PickOne1 I don’t care about rankings, those are to a large degree rubbish for undergrad and mostly reflect strength in the graduate programs. I’m more concerned with the culture of the program, the learning intimacy, environment, etc. Fit of course. I came to Berkeley for the ranking of it’s EECS program, and while it is very strong, has many faults with it too.
I’m getting in-state right now but we can afford a more expensive school if need be.
I will consider some small LAC’s. I’m still formatting a list of schools but I figured I may as well post here to see where I’d be competitive, because if Columbia and the like is such a shot in the dark for even 4.0 students, why would I want to try to go toe to toe with a 3.67? I am very competitive other than that GPA (very unique activities that I can’t go into detail to keep myself anonymous) but it appears it’s a luck draw
Also very important: you’re going to need to find smart, meaningful ways in which the Columbia (or wherever) poli-sci department suits your interests better than Berkeley’s. That won’t be easy since UCB is a large school with extremely broad course offerings, but if you do good research you can probably find some Columbia (or wherever) professors whose research interests and teaching more perfectly match your specific interests and experience.
While I agree the rankings aren’t great, most people don’t find big differences between programs in freshman year. You can’t judge Berkeley over issues in engineering if you are going to transfer, but I don’t see that you have even explored the economics and poly sci program at Berkeley (seems like you should switch majors now, plan a good spring schedule, and see how that is).
I would guess there will be a lot more learning intimacy when you get out of 500 person chemistry, physics and calculus lectures and into some liberal arts classes. And the culture of economics and poly sci will likely be very different, both will have serious students, but the econ and poly sci majors will be much more interactive, less … well … geeky, less focused on getting through a difficult problem set and more interested in discussing their topic for their papers.
I am basing this mostly on my experience in engineering vs my electives (junior level language, english, other courses) at a not as prestigious flagship.
If you don’t care about rankings … how do you pick Columbia ?
Not sure how Cornell would be a better choice than Berkeley …
In general, the only way to find a better program is to figure out exactly what Berkeley has to offer, specifically in terms of coursework, research, faculty interest, etc … and then compare it to school X.
Transfering to a LAC from a big state U would change the culture and class sizes … there are also some smaller research universities with small economics and poly sci departments.
Question - did you find nothing about engineering appealing ? Just curious … and remember that freshman classes in engineering are nothing at all like the real program, they are just foundational courses in huge lecture format to give you the background to start solving problems and understanding technology beyond where the on-switch is.