<p>I'm an international student currently studying at De Anza College. I'm planning to transfer on Fall`15. Below are all of my stats, so please kindly chance me and give me some tips to boost my chances :D
Female Asian international student
Majors intended: Economics (UC Berkeley), Business Economics (UCLA), Business Administration (UC Irvine), Managerial Economics (UC Davis)
GPA: 3.97
Courses:
Winter13:</li>
<li>Calculus (1A): A</li>
<li>Concept of Physics: A</li>
<li>American Government and Politics: P
Spring13:
Calculus (1B): A
Prep Physics: A
Advanced Listening and Speaking (some kind of ESL classes): A
Fall13:</li>
<li>Form and Function of the Biology World: W</li>
<li>Principles of Macroeconomics: A+</li>
<li>Composition and Reading (English 1A): A</li>
<li>Elementary Statistics and Probability: A
Winter14:
Calculus (1C): W
Creative Reading, Writing and Thinking: A-
Creative Minds (Humanity class): A
Financial Accounting (ACCT 1A): A+
Spring14:</li>
<li>Financial Accounting (ACCT 1B): A+</li>
<li>Environmental Biology: A</li>
<li>Knowledge and Reality (Philosophy class): A
Registered courses for Fall14:</li>
<li>Calculus 1C</li>
<li>Managerial Accounting (ACCT1C)</li>
<li>Principles of Microeconomics</li>
<li>Federal Income Tax</li>
<li>Extracurricular activities: Barely nothing. I was a member of a club in my college, but had to quit due to schedule conflict. However I've been working as an accounting assistant in my school for almost a year, not sure if that counts.</li>
<li>Another weakness beside the lack of extracurricular activities is that my courses somehow look unorganized (at least to me), because at first I planned to major in Biology but later realized that it's not for me. I also have 2 W's and a P.</li>
</ul>
<p>Please chance me and give me some advice, so maybe someday we can meet in any school listed above :)
Thanks so much.</p>
<p>IMO, Your lack of EC might affect your chances at UCB and UCLA, unless you can explain it through your personal statements. Are you in either of the TAP programs? W’s and P won’t affect you at all.</p>
<p>I don’t remember Calculus 1C being needed for Econ/Biz majors. Also for Davis’s Managerial Economics, don’t you need a programming class?</p>
<p>I don’t know the major pre-reqs well, so Loyshi probably knows better there, however from a broad view you look like a competitive candidate. Being an accountant assistant is definitely a good EC, so be sure to highlight it. Your gpa is solid and you’re in the running here. You still have all of Fall to boost your EC’s, just jump into some clubs and do some volunteer work somewhere and you’re golden.</p>
<p>If you could add a leadership position at your CC , either start a club or get on the associated students board. My daughter was on the board for two years and it was like 1 hour a month. Big whoop.</p>
<p>I don’t care what anyone says to contradict me, because I know I am right: after the recent shootings they will look more closely at ECs to assure applicants are not loners and have inter-personal skills. I have been on school foundation boards. I know how the systems work. They don’t want more tragedies and interaction with community and peers is one way to check for that.</p>
<p>You’re a female, so less likely for concern, but still it wouldn’t hurt to add something. Working at the humane society is 3 hours a week your choice of day or time. Anyone can find the time for something. It wouldn’t hurt. Plus, giving back to the community shows a strong character, which they are big on.</p>
<p>Your GPA is strong but ppl have been rejected with those numbers for who knows what reasons, so never count on anything as a sure bet. Therein lies the fall.</p>
<p>@Loyshi My school, unfortunately, doesn’t offer the TAP programs with UCLA.
I take Calculus 1C because (my counselor told me that) as stated in assist.org, students need to have 2 semesters ( = 3 quarters) of Calculus. I’d probably take the programming class in winter, after completing Calculus.</p>
<p>@lindyk8 Thanks a lot for your advice. I’d try my best to get socially involved the next quarter. By the way, I get to meet and help people a lot while working in the accounting office (instruct people with the paper works, take money in, sell discounted tickets and special offers for students, etc), so would it improve my chances if I state that in my personal statement? </p>
<p>Your transcript alongside your activities is really close to what I had while in community college, so hopefully my insight will help you out a bit. </p>
<p>I was admitted to Cornell University, and every UC with the exception of Merced, and Davis - I didn’t apply to those, but as for you, I think that you’re solid to get into UCI and UCD, but CAL and UCLA will require you to put more effort outside of school. I had a 3.94 GPA overall and a 4.0 UC Transferable GPA and you have a solid 3.97, which is great! I worked full-time as a Manager at a swim school and also 10-15 hours a week as a Cost Accountant for a local supermarket chain and I think that you being in a similar accounting position is good, but it won’t mean much if you aren’t able to convey to the admissions rep’s of how the position allowed you to demonstrate leadership - with whatever else you want it to reflect, and the position should also tie into the bigger picture of why you want to be an economics major at UCLA or UCB. </p>
<p>I personally had nothing else besides my two jobs on the EC portion, but I explained in my essays as to why I couldn’t pursue student club’s, or organizations in order to work, and if you are in a similar situation than use this to your advantage. In other words, it’s all about Quality rather than Quantity. </p>
<p>Lastly, look into the UC Berkeley TAP program. I know that De Anza used to be in the program, but I’m not sure anymore. This program did wonders for me with workshops designed to help you with the application process. Lastly, I’m purely speculating here, but I think that being apart of the TAP program expedited my application, and put some considerable weight on a positive note to my application. </p>
<p>Feel free to ask me anything! I was exactly in your position last year, totally understand the anxiety! </p>
<p>I was a TAP participant myself and agree with what @Ajaaax said about Berkeley’s TAP program. Being a TAP participant, you get a special code for application readers to distinguish TAP and normal applicants. But I think it might be too late for that, since Personal Statement workshop is like in Sept and you need to be in it like ASAP to get in.</p>
<p>@Loyshi I was able to get into TAP last year around October, so I was very late. I was told via email that its late, but when the UC Berkeley admissions rep came to our school, I made sure to see her and ask her information regarding the program, and in doing so asked if I could be allowed to join. She did tell me that it was late, but exceptions can be made, and allowed me in. </p>
<p>@Ajaaax not saying it’s impossible, but it’s hard. The rep doesn’t choose just anyone unless they think they have a real shot. I found out after my admission from my rep that each rep are actually graded/reviewed on percentage of students of their own that actually got in. So in a sense, they really hand pick students they accept.</p>
<p>The major you chose has a really big effect on your chance of getting into UCLA or Cal. Are you planning on going back to your home country after graduating? If so you might be better off applying for an easier major like Humanities because high GPA + intl student equals great chance of being accepted into a major with a 40%+ acceptance rate whereas economics is one of the most difficult majors and your lack of ECs will hurt your chances. If you plan on applying for economics try to get as many ECs as you can. </p>
<p>You’ll probably get in for everything if you can write a good essay. Honestly, the hardest of them all might be UC Irvine, for some reason their acceptance rate for Business Admin is really low and the program isn’t even that great. </p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole thread but caught something about joining TAP late. I just wanted to mention it is not too late for UCLA, and I verified this just a few days ago. In fact, I told them I needed more time to decide and they were just fine with it I don’t have to join TAP until Fall classes begin.</p>
<p>Good to know fullload. I wonder what the stats are for her major, TAP vs regular. So many ppl have gotten into it without, my daughter into an impacted major. So at this late date aren’t there a minimum of classes that need to be honors? My gut is she will do fine without it, but I have no real concept of her major.</p>
<p>Are you doing TAP fullload or still on the fence? </p>
<p>TAP does vary from CC to CC, so you just need to contact your TAP counselor on the CC campus. Mine is being flexible with me because I have a 4.0 and this particular campus gets little to no TAP students. </p>
<p>Lindy, not sure yet, meeting her next week to discuss again. At this point, there’s no reason I wouldn’t be accepted in to UCLA without TAP, so I’m going to see if she’ll back off some of the needs for TAP, but I doubt it. I just don’t need it to get in, but of course I want to hedge my bets so I’m going to look it over again with her.</p>
<p>@kvn394 and anybody else, I just want to clarify that the TAP that I was referring to in my previous post is Berkeley’s Transfer Alliance Program, not UCLA. </p>