Hey folks,
I’m a non-traditional student hoping to transfer to UC Berkeley and am curios about my chances of being accepted.
Here’s my deal:
I tried community college after HS and did poorly. A semester of W’s and one F. I basically up and left the country and didn’t drop my classes. After frolicking around Europe for four years I came home and tried again and got a C and a B. I then got married and had kids.
Ten years later and I’m now back at the same CC getting straight A’s. I applied for academic renewal and am awaiting a result.
If AR is granted, I believe I will have a 3.7 gpa on application. My major will be history. I don’t have a lot of time for EC’s (being a parent of 2) but I have been volunteering at a large art museum. I’m confident in my writing abilities for the essay.
So, is 3.7 high enough for Berkeley?
Does being a non-trad help or hinder one’s chances?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major says that for fall 2017, transfers to history at UCB had a 27% admission rate, with admitted students having a 25th-75th percentile college GPA of 3.73-4.00.
You’ll hear both sides of the fence. One of my advisors at CCC suggested that being a non-traditional student would hinder my chances of being accepted to any UC, and that maybe I should try my luck at the low-tier UCs or just stick to the CSU system. Since I’ve got accepted to all the UCs I’ve applied to, included Cal (non-trad, international student), I’m biased to think that being a non-trad does not hinder one’s chances at all. However, I think it’s important that you fill out the reason/circumstances of the gap in your education and write about your personal growth and your motivations to attend UC Berkeley. GPA is important (mine was 3.95), few ECs due to being married with a kid as well. But I heard that people in admissions have a “holistic approach,” perhaps to ensure diversity. If that’s true, my advice would be to work hard in your essays and to try maintaining your GPA is in the range (what ^^ ucbalumnus posted). Good luck!
contact Cal and ask.
Also see http://reentry.berkeley.edu/
Non-trad here, similar story but a bit further out.
I had two semesters my first time, 6 Fs and 4Ws. When I went back (to a new CC) 18 years later, I pulled a 4.0 over 80 semester units including the full math and physics sets. The old school wouldn’t let me do AR without taking units at their school, and I couldn’t manage that due to distance and the nature of the classes I was taking. So, I retook as many of the Fs as I could and just rolled the dice.
I’m starting as an Aerospace Engineering major at UCLA in a few weeks. I didn’t apply to Cal (they don’t have a BS for AE), so I can’t say how they’d approach the same issue. But most of the UCs seem to like non-trads.
Honestly, I talked to one counselor before applying who used to work at UCLA admissions. She said that “for old enough credits” they won’t even care. What’s important is your recent work. Don’t lie about anything - include it all - but in your essays and supplemental notes, explain what happened, why it didn’t work before, and what’s changed now. The EC’s aren’t an issue, especially if you’ve been working. Those are there for high school students to show that they’ve got some non-classroom interests and experiences; non-trads almost universally have that by default.