<p>GPA: 3.57 UC GPA (3.6 overall)
Major: Psych (UCLA), and Phil (Cal), Tag's at UCSD and Davis
EC's: 130 hours volunteering at elderly assisted living center. 20 hours tutoring kids.
Essays: 8/10....maybe 9
Projects: 2 sociological research projects, but they aren't done yet :(.
Great upward trend: 1.0 - 3.3 - 3.3 - 3.75 - 4.0 (semester by semester comparison)
From Norcal.</p>
<p>I would love to go to Cal ideally, but I also love Davis, so I won't be devastated if I don't get in to Cal. I also really like UCLA, so yeah. </p>
<p>I spoke with a counselor from CAL, they said certain L&S Majors including Philosophy, Poli-sci, Economics, and English were getting 50% cuts in admissions this year. I also heard HAAS was getting a 25% cut in admissions. Have you guys heard this too? Hope I still get in for Econ…</p>
<p>^never heard of it. and that smells like BS to me. in either case, there’s no reason to speculate. no one will know for sure what their intentions are until april</p>
<p>I’ve definitely never heard of that. That sounds ridiculous now that I think about it. 50% cuts? That’s extremely drastic and doesn’t make any sense.</p>
<p>but philosophy isn’t impacted! So, as I understand, philosophy majors aren’t competing against other philosophy majors for philosophy spots, but against all non poli-sci, non-english, etc for L&S spots.</p>
<p>@movingunit- it really depends what your goals are. It’s totally plausible to major in philosophy as an “easy major,” because there aren’t too many required classes, and most of them are general “3 units of any ethics class” type requirements. And if you went to a school that was more experimental, less structured, less logic oriented, you could get away with less work if you’re creative. But if you’re really into philosophy, it can be very frustrating at times, especially if you’re more into analytical philosophy. And if you wind up in a very logic oriented, very analytical department, you’ll be surprised at how your work feels more like math than literature.</p>
<p>@ CantabilenApathy: Right, philosophy majors are admitted into the department and not directly into the major, but I’m confused about the last part that you wrote.</p>
<p>“philosophy majors aren’t competing against other philosophy majors for philosophy spots, but against all non poli-sci, non-english, etc for L&S spots.”</p>
<p>I’m confused about who we’re competing against then. You say we’re not competing against other phil majors, and not against poli-sci and english majors. So are you saying that we are competing against all L&S majors discluding phil, poli-sci, and english? I don’t understand why it would be that way.</p>
<p>What I meant is that if 100 people applied to L&S, 10 for philosophy, a philosophy app wouldn’t be held against just the other 9 phil apps, but the 99 L&S apps. So theoretically, those 10 apps could all suck and be rejected, or be great and all accepted. For poli-sci and english, they’re all competing against each other for a specific amount of spots available. Hypothetical: I have an average app- 3.4-3.5, alright ECs, alright essay, and I did the 3 phil prereqs. Someone else has a 3.8, good ECs, good essay, and did the poli-sci prereqs, and then another class or 2 in poli-sci or history. I could very well get accepted to LS, and the other person rejected if the poli-sci competition was particularly stiff.</p>
<p>Of course, I could be off. But if they are targetting philosophy admissions, it sounds like they’re making it an impacted major.</p>
<p>I don’t think that philosophy will become impacted. I mean it was the major that had the highest acceptance rate last year to UCB according to UC statfinder. I believe it was around 51%! Now obviously, those numbers will continue to change and it will become more selective, and indeed, it may some day become impacted, but I don’t see that happening for quite a while.</p>
<p>As for the example you gave, I understand it now. Thanks for that. Yeah I suppose that as a phil major I am competing against those other L&S majors.</p>
<p>it definitely seems like there are a lot morephilosophy majors on the board this year compared to last. I think there is approx 60% acceptance rate last year at UCLA so I hope it doesnt become too much harder for us phil majors this year. Average gpa last year was 3.49</p>
<p>:( unfortunately I’m a psych major at UCLA…meaning 3.7 average GPA. lol I’m more worried about the Cal philosophy. I’m hoping it doesn’t become that much more selective. Also, I really don’t think there are that many phil majors on here. I mean it’s the same select few of us lol.</p>
<p>Me, you, CalBearGuy, Cantabilen (applying next year I believe), and maybe 2 or 3 others.</p>
<p>Yeah we all have high GPA’s too. Ive seen some more just not ones who comment frequently. Ive never been up to berkeley. Im eager to see the campus</p>
<p>“I spoke with a counselor from CAL, they said certain L&S Majors including Philosophy, Poli-sci, Economics, and English were getting 50% cuts in admissions this year. I also heard HAAS was getting a 25% cut in admissions. Have you guys heard this too? Hope I still get in for Econ…”</p>
<p>■■■■■ detected. If this was real, I am glad I picked UCSC as my back up: 2.0 GPA requirement.</p>
<p>In other news, 3/4 hobos at Berkeley were philosophy majors. </p>
<p>hahaha if only that were true! I don’t even know how I would react. </p>
<p>Eshug I live about 30 mins from Cal and believe it or not, I’ve never visited during the school year. I’m also excited to see the campus and get a feel for the environment.</p>
<p>the campus is so pretty! but those hills are a *****- I’m from Sacramento where it’s completely flat and everyone drives, this place is totally wearing me out hahah</p>
<p>i went thru there once, it was pretty run down, but i like it a lot lol, ill have to sign up for one of those tour things and check the whole thing out.</p>
<p>I plan on visiting sometime during march. Maybe a couple of us will visit on the same day. I’m hoping that Cal is everything I’ve expected it to be (realistic expectations, of course).</p>