Hello, I am separating from the Navy within 6 months, and I am applying for UC for fall 2016. I will be taking my ACT and SAT within the coming weeks. I would like some serious guidance and advice please.
While I was in the military I accumulated about 32 credits from classes from UMUC and also credits from military schools and training. I tried applying online to UC to find out that I am considered a sophomore level transfer (to me this doesn’t make sense but oh well). This would be fine and dandy if it wasn’t for the fact that by the status of Sophomore transfer I became limited strictly to UCLA, UC Irvine and UC Davis. I was a little bit frustrated to learn this which was only to be compounded further by discovering that the vast majority of majors from the available campuses were also cordoned off to me as a sophomore level transfer. Since this happened- I decided that I would scrap my credits and just apply as a freshman only to find out that I couldn’t do this because as a transferring veteran my joint service transcript would reveal all of my completed credits, and in the name of academic transparency (according to my phone conversation with UC admissions) I was required to apply as a Sophomore level transfer. Now initially I was extremely frustrated by this turn of events until I learned that UC Irvine still has a decent selection of majors that I was interested in (UCLA, and UC Davis have hardly anything available that I am interested in) so I am considering one of a few options in light of these circumstances.
1 apply to a Cal State or Junior college to get my associates and apply as a junior level transfer one year later to an appropriate UC
2. apply to University of Southern California.
3. (what I am considering the most) apply to UC Irvine either as Biology major with a focus on Genetics, or Biomedical engineering with Biophotonics and Micro/Nano engineering as it’s subcategories. I would like the most advice and guidance regarding #3 since I am not one hundred percent familiar with the implications of making a choice between these two degrees. also I would like some advice regarding my minor. UC Irvine has available Japanese Language and Literature or Korean Literature and Culture (It seems like only one of them is a language course) now normally I realize getting a degree in a language is a dead end, but I seriously want to work in Japan or Korea for the rest of my life after I graduate school, is it possible to take a language without necessarily minoring my whole study in it? if that is the case it could free up my minor for something more marketable and useful, so long as I am permitted to study the language as a part of my course work, that would be ideal. I highly appreciate any and all advice, thank you for your time, have a blessed day and I look forward to your correspondence and input.