Made a mistake, help a potential transfer?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am a community college incoming sophomore from the east coast who is getting ready to apply to transfer to a variety of universities. </p>

<p>As indicated by my username, I am looking for a second chance after I was expelled from my previous university, which was a top 20 school for academic integrity violations. I was a first semester freshman who didn't even make it halfway through the first semester. I was under a lot of pressure and suffering from clinical depression. Although it was my first offense, the academic integrity violation was so egregious that expulsion was the only viable choice. </p>

<p>I have since recovered and began community college. I have 24 units under my belt, will get 18 by the end of fall semester, and another 18 for the spring semester (to meet the 60 unit req). I have a 4.0 and expect to keep this gpa throughout the fall. I have all of my pre-requisites completed. I have 3 questions in related to transferring:</p>

<p>1) Will the adcoms give my application an honest chance? I know that they has to sift through thousands of transfer applications every year. Would they even take a second look at my application after they see that I was expelled due to an academic integrity violation (especially since the UCB CS department has been dealing with a lot of cheating scandals lately)?</p>

<p>2) Their website says that I need 60 "transferable" credits. Does this mean that if I take classes that Berkeley doesn't accept, they don't count toward the 60 "transferable" credits? For example, if I took a required physical education requirement at my CC, would this class still count toward my 60 units?</p>

<p>3) What if I get an offer for spring transfer from another university before Berkeley replies by late-April? Can I transfer to the new college spring semester, take classes, and then transfer again to Berkeley for the next fall?</p>

<p>I know that I made a big mistake, but I know that I've become a stronger person as a result of the past year. I know that my gpa, scores, and extracurricular activities are above average for accepted candidates (based on what I see in this forum), and I know that I can make my passion for computer science shine through my essays. However, I can't shake the feeling that my past mistakes will make my recent accomplishments moot. What should I do to increase my chances of getting into UCB / convince the adcoms to give me another chance?</p>

2

<p>It’s difficult to transfer into another school after being expelled for cheating. Good luck though.</p>

3

<ol>
<li><p>No clue, sorry!</p></li>
<li><p>I think they tend to take it at face value. I did a year at a CC in Maryland, and they just counted all my credits from there… but I didn’t have anything questionable like PE. Would it transfer to your local state school? If not, you might need to worry. Also, remember that subject credit and unit count are two very different things. Whether they accept a course as transferable (do you get units for it) doesn’t mean the course articulates (gives you subject credit). If you’re worried about units, is summer session an option? It’d either let you spread out coursework more, or give you some buffer in case a course is non-transferable.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m not sure how they’d look at that. You’re already OOS, so you don’t need to worry about losing CCC priority. But you should be able to notify them of the change in January-ish, when TAU is due (submit fall grades, update spring schedule), just add the school and note the changes on your app then. If you’re planning to take 18 credits in Spring it may be easier to handle that at a CC level.</p></li>
<li><p>You’re in a different application pool than most transfers on here. A majority are California CC transfers, and they get priority in admissions. And even for CCC applicants, it’s pretty random. I got in with ~3.7 a couple years ago, but other students were rejected with a 4.0. There’s a lot of factors going into decisions, so it’s pretty hard to predict how things’ll work out.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>As for actual advice, the first step is to pick a major. Berkeley offers two different CS degrees, EECS (BS in CoE, admits to major, more science-y, super competitive admissions) and L&S CS (BA, declare after transfer, different pre-reqs, slightly less competitive admissions). Both are the same in the eyes of employers, but chances are one or the other will line up better with your current coursework, and they’re different when it comes to administration and GE as well. You can only apply to one major.</p>

<p>Make sure you’re on track with pre-reqs. Assist.org (pick a random CC and Berkeley) should give you an idea of what to take. You might be able to get 61B or EE40 to articulate. 61A (unless you’ve taken SICP), 61C, CS70, and EE20 are all very, very hard to find and you’ll probably have to take them after you transfer. You should still be taking whatever CS courses your CC offers, so you’ll be prepared after transfer or ready for the other schools you apply to.</p>

<p>Apart from that, keep your GPA up, do your pre-reqs, find some interesting ECs, and don’t miss the application deadlines (hint: they’re early).</p>

<p>Oh, and make sure you’ll be able to afford to come here. OOS tuition is pretty expensive, and I don’t think aid can cover the ~20,000 extra that OOS students pay.</p>