<p>I've been reading for about the last hour here and didn't see anything like my situation.</p>
<p>I'm a history major at a CCC, applying to UCB, UCLA, UCI, and UCSB for Fall 08. </p>
<p>I'm currently enrolled in my school's TAP program ("high intensity transfer enrichment"). My school has transfer alliance agreements with: </p>
<p>-Chapman University
-Pomona College
-UC Irvine
-UCLA
-UC Riverside
-UC Santa Cruz</p>
<p>I really want to go to Cal (obviously not listed under my school's TAP). I have a 3.8 GPA, excellent extra curriculars/work experience, and what I believe is a very strong personal statement.</p>
<p>I joined TAP this semester (Fall 07) and was told I have to have all 18 TAP units done by the end of this Fall to be certified. I'm currently enrolled in 17 units and with finals bearing down and all I'm starting to feel a lot of pressure trying to ensure I have all of my TAP done, but also maintain a 4.0 with my original 17 units. (an instructor from last semester is letting me do a project to get TAP credit which pushes me past the 18 units needed). So because of this, I'm considering just ditching the idea of completing TAP.</p>
<p>The only thing I'm thinking about is the eternal college application question:</p>
<p>All things being equal between me and another Cal applicant, will the one with TAP win out over the one w/out TAP? Or will Cal not even look at that because it has absolutely nothing to do with them?</p>
<p>The answer seems obvious to me (wouldn't matter) but I believe that when you do TAP for a class, you get an honors "H" for it on your transcript next to the corresponding class.</p>
<p>I'm trying to cover all bases so I wanted to ask here in case I have a glaring blindspot on something that I'm just not seeing.</p>
<p>I have read that Berkeley does take into consideration the fact that you completed the honors program, so yea it would give you a boost over an identical applicant. Also, since your applying to UCI as well, if you have completed the honors program at your CC you get priority admission into UCI's honors program, which i think is pretty neat.</p>
<p>Thats unfortunate your CC requires 18 units of honors to become TAP certified, seeing as how most schools only require 15 units.</p>
<p>There is no "H" connotation in the transcript. I completed all 18 HITE units, yet my transcript never had "H" shown next to the classes I did my work. This maybe could be a mistake on the school's part but don't really count on it.</p>
<p>Mind telling us what your major is? Your GPA is obviously high for any major so I would not think completing your HITE will matter that much to you, but if you plan to major in any of the Econ department majors, then please do make sure that your GPA doesn't go below 3.8 without the HITE. Last year, there 3.8 seemed to be a cut-off gpa for Econ department majors and anyone who had below 3.8 GPA without TAP got rejected, so I don't want you to be a victim of that.</p>
<p>Regarding Cal, I wouldn't think Cal will look much into it. If there are two identical candidates with superior stats, I'd assume Cal would admit both of them. You said you had excellent ECs and Work Experience, and have super personal statement. You also have high GPA. Don't sweat to complete your HITE. You don't need priority to get accepted. You are well above the average for both Cal and UCLA; just concentrate on your GPA and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>Note: If you joined HITE this year, then you won't be able to finish it by Spring because it requires you to complete at least 8 hours of on-campus community service EACH semester for 4 semesters (it doesn't carry over), so the earliest you'll be able to finish it is by this summer (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer), which be then you'll already haev received your decision and completing HITE won't do you jack ****. lol.</p>
<p>I'm a History major and have had all A's with two B's (one B from a 4 unit chem class over five weeks last summer...ARGH!!)</p>
<p>What you say makes perfect sense. Cal isn't even listed on COC's HITE program. I would just hate for next April/May to roll around and for me to look back and think "what could I have done different for a more favorable outcome?" But anyway...I'm not focusing on that and don't plan on ever having those thoughts go through my mind. :)</p>
<p>I hadn't heard about the 8 hours of on-campus community service thing for HITE. I wonder if they've removed that component? What I'm sure you do need currently is 15 hours of community service per semester for each semester you're in HITE. And the hours do spread across Phi Theta Kappa and Alpha Gamma Sigma too, so i did my 15 hours already (won my own personal parking spot at COC for the entire semester while doing it) and the hours apply to all 3 organizations.</p>
<p>Anyway, I did shoot an email to a UC Berkeley admissions rep about this whole thing so I'll see what they say, but thanks for giving me peace of mind.</p>
<p>When I was in COC, there were 15 hours of community services too, but 8 hours were required on-campus and the excess hours could not be carried to the next semester, whereas the other 7 hours could be spent on off-campus services and the excess actually could be carried to the next semester. So whether you had 8 hours or 50 hours of on-campus community service done in one semester, only 8 hours will be counted, and the remaining 42 hours will be counted toward the off-campus hours, and you'll still have to complete 8 hours of on-campus community service for the next three semesters until you reach 32 on-campus community service and 28 off-campus community service, total of 60 hours. </p>
<p>So I figured you won't be able to finish those hour requirement by this Spring since you need at least 2 years (4 semesters) to complete the community service portion of the requirement. </p>
<p>I transferred to UCLA as BizEcon btw, and it's hard here. g'luck.</p>
<p>Ah I see. Well, it's very safe to say that COC's HITE program no longer requires that. </p>
<p>You do 15 hours of community service total per semester, of any kind, and it applies to HITE, PTK, and AGS all at the same time. So it's 15 hours and you're good to go...not 15 hours for each of the three. And there is no minimum amount of semesters you must be in HITE. As long as you're done with your 18 honors units the Fall prior to your transfer.</p>