Need help, EECS transfer to UC Berkeley.

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>Hi guys, I'm a high school senior and going to San Diego Miramar community college this fall for 2 years then (hopefully) transfer to UC Berkeley.</p>

<p>I just have a few questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What is the most important thing I should be focusing on? Should I be looking for internships or should I just focus entirely on my GPA?</p></li>
<li><p>Is it necessary to have some kind of internship? I'm looking for a computer science internship somewhere in San Diego and I'm having trouble finding one. Would it look bad if I just have community service hours and no internship?</p></li>
<li><p>What sort of GPA range am I looking to aim for for EECS transfer?</p></li>
<li><p>Should I take summer classes so I can make sure I get all of the pre-reqs done? What is your opinion on this?</p></li>
<li><p>What other important things should I be focused on that are not listed here?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you very much :)</p>

2

<p>Ill help…</p>

<p>1) GPA, GPA, GPA… You can do some stuff on the side but dont stress if its not a big internship… GET GOOD GRADES.</p>

<p>2) No</p>

<p>3) 3.8+</p>

<p>4) Yes, take summer classes. Get those prereqs done… just as long as you dont sacrifice GPA.</p>

<p>5) Get into Berkeley TAP if your school offers it. Go to the transfer center or a counselor and ask about it.</p>

<p>You are welcome</p>

3

<p>I was going to answer this but Billionaire is pretty much spot on.</p>

<p>Also I think Berkeley TAP is invitation-only and it’s only for minorities or first generation college students. EECS is tough so good luck!</p>

4

<p>I completely agree with Billionaire.</p>

<p>I’ll just add that the UC’s do like to see -something- that makes you unique aside from the quantitative things like GPA and prereqs. Basically, sometime within ur 2 years, try to do some volunteer work, maybe an internship, or something along those lines. But as Billionaire said, it isn’t the main thing to be focusing on. GPA and prereqs all the way for now.</p>

5

<p>Also I forgot to add, because you’re an EECS transfer, there’s a chance you won’t transfer within 2 years due to the overcrowding/slashed budgets in community colleges. EECS requires a lot of prereqs and the colleges expect you to get it done before transferring.</p>

6

<p>assist.org is your friend when planning which courses to take. For example, [here[/url</a>] you can find the reports for UC Berkeley EECS (select your community college).</p>

<p>UC Berkeley EECS has a lot of prerequisites. You should be able to find the usual math (calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations), physics (mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism), additional science (two courses from modern physics, chemistry, biology, etc.), English reading and composition (two semesters), additional humanities and social studies (two or three courses) at most community colleges.</p>

<p>However, some specific prerequisites may be hard to find:</p>

<p>Computer Science 61A, 61B, 61C: 61A and 61C are almost impossible to find at community colleges (only one offers a 61A articulated course, and it is not near San Diego). 61B is found at some, but not at San Diego Miramar. It is found at San Diego Mesa, San Diego City, and Palomar, so you may have to go there to take that course.</p>

<p>Electrical Engineering 20N and 40: It looks like no community college in your area has a course that articulates to either of these courses.</p>

<p>Computer Science 70 or Math 55: It looks like this course is available at San Diego Miramar and others in your area.</p>

<p>If you do transfer to UC Berkeley EECS, you will likely have to take CS 61A, EE 20N, and EE 40 as soon as you can (perhaps even a summer session at UC Berkeley) in order to meet prerequisites for junior and senior level EE and CS courses. CS 61C would then follow the next semester (assuming you took a CS 61B course at a community college).</p>

<p>You may want to read the [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/Notes/]UC”&gt;Information for Current Undergraduate Students | EECS at UC Berkeley]UC</a> Berkeley EECS undergraduate notes](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST). Page 31 and 35 of the 2010-2011 version contain information of particular interest to transfer students.</p>

7

<p>Note that if your interests are more in the CS than EE side of things, UC Berkeley also offers a Computer Science major in its College of Letters and Science.</p>

<p>[Exploring</a> Majors](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)</p>

8

<p>@ucbalumnus: How are you able to locate CCCs that offer specific articulated courses?</p>

<p>I am exploring going to a CCC to prep for transfer to the UCB BioEngineering program but I am struggling to find any CCC that offers classes that articulate to some of the engineering courses:
COMPSCI 61A
COMPSCI 61B
ENGIN 10
ENGIN 45</p>

<p>I have poked around on assist.org a lot but the only way I have found is to manually go through every CCC in the state one at a time just to see if they have an articulated course for those.</p>

<p>I want to increase my chances of acceptance at UCB as much as possible but it’s difficult to stand out when all the CCCs offer the same set of articulated courses and have the same holes in the lower division coursework.</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>Go to [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) .
Click the “Explore Majors” button.
Click the “UC” or “CSU” button.
Click the UC or CSU campus on the state map.
Click the desired major.
Select a community college in your area.
You then get a list of community colleges in the area. You have to click “Major Prep” for each one to see if they have the courses that articulate to the major requirements.</p>

<p>There appears to be only one CCC (Laney) that offers a CS 61A course. The other three courses are more available, but not universally.</p>

10

<p>Ah, so you still have to go through every area? I am relocating so I can go anywhere in CA and a big deciding factor is which CCC gives me the best transfer chance to UCB. Unfortunately even that route would take me days of non-stop looking at courses to find out which CCCs offered the full suite of UCB Bioengineering articulation.</p>

11

<p>Yes, but it is faster to go through the CCCs by area since all of the Major Prep links are there on the one page.</p>

<p>Laney College in Oakland offers courses that articulate to CS 61A, CS 61B, E 7, and E 45, but not E 10 or EE 40. However, you can go to Chabot College in Hayward for E 10 and EE 40.</p>

<p>What is the reason for bioengineering over other engineering?</p>

12

<p>I am an adult student (30 this summer) returning to school after getting bored of a career in software engineering (self taught, no degree). I have spent a lot of time looking for something that I find interesting to do with my life and I landed on Synthetic Biology. Because it’s such a new field of science there are very few Universities with Synthetic Biology programs and UC Berkeley and MIT are the only two I have found doing research along the lines of my interest… and UC Berkeley has nicer weather. :D</p>

<p>My goal is to excel at 2 years of CC doing as much hard science/math/physics as I can and shoot for UC Berkeley. If I can’t get in I can fall back on one of the other UCs and shoot for UC Berkeley for my PhD, hopefully working with Dr. Anderson. I’ll probably apply to MIT at the same time as UC Berkeley, but I’m guessing my chances there are much lower since they don’t have an articulation agreement with the CCCs.</p>

<p>I am currently planning on CCC in Sacramento because the cost of living there isn’t too bad compared to the rest of CA (I lived in Orange County for a while, so I am familiar with CA cost of living) and unlike other cheap places like Riverside and Bakersfield, Sacramento’s weather is closer to the comfortable coastal weather I have grown to love. :smiley: My main concern, as I mentioned before, is not being able to take any of the “nice to have” classes for transfer due to them not being offered in Sacramento except ENGIN 45. If I am lucky UC Berkeley will let my lack of CS courses at CCC slide due to working as a software engineer for many years.</p>

13

<p>Good that you are going into bioengineering for the right reasons. Lots of students go into bioengineering because they want to do pre-med and think that they have to do bio-something to do pre-med and that engineering automatically means job, not realizing that bioengineering job and career prospects are not that great at the bachelor’s degree level if they do not get into medical school, which does not require them do a bio-something major.</p>

<p>In the Sacramento area, American River College offers a course that articulates to CS 61B, although if you are a self educated software developer, you probably know most of the content already. It does not look like any of the CCCs in the Sacramento area offer a course that articulates to E 7, E 10, EE 40, or CS 61A.</p>

<p>Sacramento weather is not as mild as the coast (bay area).</p>

<p>One other possibility if you are not adverse to moving is to spend a year plus in Sacramento if the cost of living there is cheaper, then move closer to Oakland and Hayward to take the last few courses at Laney and Chabot. Though check with UC Berkeley transfer admissions to make sure that applying with courses scattered around three or four CCCs is no problem.</p>

<p>One other thing to note at UC Berkeley engineering: six humanities and social studies courses are required, including two English composition (listed in the Major Prep lists). Of the remaining four, two must be upper division, but the other two can be taken at CCCs. You may want to take at the CCC two of them in subjects that you are interested in enough to want to take upper division courses in, and/or which fulfill the American Cultures requirement (you can find that on assist.org).</p>

<p>Here is some information about [MIT</a> transfer admissions](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/admissions/transfer/]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/admissions/transfer/).</p>