<p>Hi all. I know that you're all feverishly working on your transfer application right now and I bet that you have a TON of questions. Having been in your shoes last year I understand how useful it can be to ask someone who has been through the same experience. Feel free to fire away below and I'll try and get back to you as soon as possible. </p>
<p>A little background about me: I'm a fall 2013 transfer (applied last year) at UC Berkeley (Go Bears!) majoring in economics. I applied to UC Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD, UCR, UCLA, and USC and was accepted to all of them except UCLA with a roughly 3.63 GPA. How'd I get into Cal with such a low-GPA? With a lot of luck and by pouring countless hours into my applications. I'll keep this brief as I'm sure that your questions will require me to go over anything I would include here in more detail anyways.</p>
<p>You said you poured countless hours into your application…
Is there anything to spend such long time besides writing the two essays ?
I mean the rest of the areas in application iare just basically about the true facts about you…like the annual income, grades, and things like your ethnicity??</p>
<p>Because i finished my uc app less than an hour except for the essay which imw riting for weeeeeeeks…haha, if there anything to put such efforts in other areas in uc app</p>
<p>I’m glad you asked this because many applicants tend to overlook the sections where they include their extracirriculars, awards/honors, involvement in any programs, etc. These sections are important because they are your only opportunity to discuss your involvement in activities that are not included in your personal statements. I would treat these sections much like a resume. You could honestly do a resume in a few hours, but why not take more time to frame your activities in the best possible light?</p>
<p>How much do you have to like Econ before majoring in it? I am taking CS classes right now but I took some Econ classes for IGETC and it’s safe to say I liked those classes more than my programming ones. </p>
<p>Also what are some extracurricular activities to do? There are some openings for econ tutoring at my CC but other than that I have no idea what else I could do to show my interest.</p>
<p>I think the most important aspect of your ECs should be consistency. If you’re not consistent then it may make you seem unorganized, uncertain, or as if you’re just joining things to slap on your resume. During my first year I was a low-level business council member for the student government, secretary of the political science club, and worked full-time. My second year I became the student rep. for two budgeting and accreditation committees for the school, pres. of the political science club, became a permanent member of AGS, and continued to work full-time.</p>
<p>@Hopsin</p>
<p>El Camino College. If you’re researching what CC to attend I would strongly advise that you check out assist.org to see what CCs have the most articulated classes for your major. </p>
<p>@m5698710</p>
<p>The most important thing to remember when writing your personal statements is that they are intended to give the adcoms insight into who you are beyond what’s on your transcript. What makes a good personal statement isn’t about the story you write, it about how you are able to demonstrate that it positively contributes to your as a person. A lot of people tell me that they have nothing to write about, and that’s perfectly okay. They’re not expecting you to have cured cancer or won a national competition. They’re looking to get a good feel of who you are. When I took Chem AP in HS I loated it. We did labs all the time and they were a pain in the ***. But what I thought was boring genuinely excited people. I’ve read poorly written essays on great topics and vice versa.</p>
<p>My first prompt discussed how my involvement in student government and working full-time contributed and solidified my interests in economics. My second prompt discussed why I moved out prior to enrolling at my CC and what I learned from it. I would recommend that 40% of your essay be discussing the event, EC, etc and 60% of it relating it to who you are and what you’ve learned.</p>
<p>I was fortunate enough to know what I wanted to major in before college so I never considered anything other than econ. That being said, whatever intro econ class that you are taking now is nothing like what you will be taking for your upper division courses. Upper division econ courses are very math intensive and you will be using a lot of calc and stats. If you are thinking about switching to econ I would make sure that it because you genuinely like the subject and not because it is easy. That being said, if you are genuinely interested in econ then go ahead and switch.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to have ECs that are directly related to econ. Most people that I’ve talked to (including myself) join business related ECs instead. I’m not going to re-type my ECs but you can take a look above at my previous post.</p>
<p>How do they calculate the prerequisite GPA for admission if you are a transfer? Do they take your grades from the CC classes or just the ones you take a Cal?</p>
<p>For instance, if I had a 2.75 in the prereqs (Cal 1 & 2, Econ 1 & 2), do those get mixed in with the classes I take at Berkeley (i.e. 100A/100B, Stats 21)? Or are they separate?</p>
<p>i want to transfer(uc to uc) UCB for math major and will get a C in one of the math class(well, the math is offered thru the computer science department, but it is still a math theory class) would that ruin my chance for UCB? My GPA will probably be around ~3.0 after the fall quarter. I just want to transfer to UCB to cut down on my expense to attend university because i am from the bay area. any advises?</p>
<p>If you’re struggling in your CC courses then I would not recommend coming here to be frank. The classes here are significantly harder here but they are certainly doable. The classes here are graded in a bell curve and once you’re here (or UCLA, UCSB, etc) you have to take your remaining prerequisites to get into the major. It makes your first semester classes extremely competitive. If you’re breaking through your CC courses and have solid study habits then you’ll be fine. I’ve know people in my study group that study 5-8 hours a day for Econ the week before the midterm. The same goes for the other UCs but the culture at Cal is just more competitive in general. </p>
<p>@godot1</p>
<p>You need a 3.0 GPA average in your transferable prereqs. The 2.7 GPA requirement to get into the major once you’re here are only for Cal classes. You’ll either take 100A or 100B here your first semester along with stats 20 or 21 (there are a few other choices for stats).</p>
<p>I’m applying now for fall 2014 as a sociology major from a CCC, my transferable gpa is a 3.64. I have average ECs (Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society, Work 2 1/2 years, Open Heart Kitchen), but my personal statement is very strong. Ive been through many hardships and I come from low income family & I’m a first gen student. I’ve also finished my pre-reqs and GE courses. Do you think I have much of a chance!? :O</p>
<p>@lexfav94, - _ - I know you’re asking OP but you should stop worrying about your chances for Berkeley! You need to bust out a 4.0 this semester in order to get the 3.64 you claim you already have. I’m going to give it to you straight. Sociology has 2 pre-reqs. You got a C in the most important one. Not saying you can’t get in or anything but I think you shouldn’t get too ahead of yourself.</p>
<p>@Snorlaz yes thank you for telling me that as I already know. I am hypothetically asking what my chances would be with the 3.64 I plan on getting. I am not going to stop worrying about Berkeley because it is the school I really want to go to. So I don’t understand why I am getting too ahead of myself when I am just trying to get other opinions on my situation. No need to be rude.</p>