Just got an email asking to send in all unofficial transcripts to UC's

Hello guys. I am currently a sophomore at Indiana University originally from northern California. I applied as a transfer student to UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine, San Diego, Davis and Santa Barbara. I got an email today that states " Dear John, we have received your University of California Undergraduate Application for Admissions and Scholarships. Thank you for your interest in our campuses. Before we can complete our review and reach an admission decision we need you to please provide a copy of all unofficial transcripts. We must receive this information within five days of this message date, or processing of your application may be delayed or canceled. Sincerely, UC Berkeley Undergraduate Admission.

Do you guys think this is a good or bad sign? I have asked my friends who have also applied as transfers and they did not get said email…

Probably no sign at all. I’m guessing that your college has not yet sent the official transcript so they want you to send an unofficial one. Your friends may have asked the school to send transcripts earlier than you did.

But UC’s don’t require transcripts until after you are accepted right ?

It’s possible that admissions protocol prohibits the processing of incomplete applications. If you unintentionally omitted a section, they might simply be gathering that information, as required by admissions procedure.

However, with hundreds of thousands of applicants to the UC system every year, it seems unlikely to me that such a requirement exists.

If that’s the case all it really means is that your application didn’t warrant an immediate rejection. In other words, you are competitive; they are interested, but won’t necessarily be able to accept you.

This is likely a case where they want to verify class equivalency, or as @falltransfer1 pointed out, an unintentional omission on your application which they want to correct in your favor.

This can only help your case as it means additional eyes potential advocates read your application.