Qualifications: Transferring from Community College to a UC

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>Hi Everyone,
I'm a newbie here. I need advice and help to gather some info for my future plans. As you can see, I am planning to transfer to one of the UC's. Of course, I have preferred university if I'll be given the chance. I'll give you some significant background of me and my future plan for you to have better understanding of and evaluation for me.</p>

<p>I am pursuing Chemistry. I am currently in community college completing my required courses for my major. I am an immigrant. So, I started at the lowest possible placement courses for English and Math. I'm almost done with my English writing (I only need one more) (OH!! by the way, I am not under ESL program/courses) and I am in Pre-calculus now this summer (this might be my first time to get a final grade of C in math). My GPA is about 3.4 (only the transferable courses - GE courses and General Chem series) if rounded 3.5. I have no letter grade of C in my transcript YET (all A's and B's). I am currently working part time in the library while taking 12-13 units per semester (this is considered as full-time). I'll be a tutor next semester in math and chem. I have a couple of awards (one is certificate of recognition and one is scholarship) and planning to earn more. I am planning to get some intership experience next summer. My plans for the future after undergraduate is to pursue a PhD in Chemistry and Veterinary Med. </p>

<p>I already have planned my future courses. I made my own educational plan. As far as I know, I have good understanding about transferring and such. However, my knowledge is limited and I want to make a concrete plans (including back-ups). I already made some manipulation in my GPA. Even if I get all A's on my remaining courses, my GPA will only boost up to 3.7 max (this includes GE courses). (GPA 3.9 - only preparatory courses for chemistry without GE's).</p>

<p>It may sound ridiculous but I am considering and hoping for UC Berkeley as the place to get my degree. However, I have some back-up universities such as (decreasing order of ranking based on chem major): LA, San Diego, Irvine, Santa Barbara, and Davis. Berkeley being out of question, I am hoping for LA.</p>

<p>Now, I have questions to ask.
1.) How is my chance of getting into Berkeley? How about LA? </p>

<p>2.) How do people in admissions consider your chance of getting in? Will having extra curricular activities such as intership and work experience balance my GPA and such?</p>

<p>3.) Will my grades in GE courses matter when they evaluate my application?</p>

<p>4.) (Same in #1) Is my chance lower since I am an immigrant and started at the bottom?</p>

<p>5.) Will having a letter grade of C affect your application (considering you take this class during summer while having a job, etc) (I am taking pre-calc right now) Do you think I should drop the class and retake it on fall?</p>

<p>6.) (Same in #2) Let say you have almost perfect scores in all of your courses. Do evaluators look at your transcript and see if you took that class with something else? I asked this question because most people I know have perfect scores in their transcript but they're only taking one to two courses per semester.</p>

<p>I have still have some questions in mind. But I will stop here because I do not want you to be overwhelmed. In advance, Thanks for the comment.</p>

2

<p>The average admitted GPA for UCLA Chemistry students applying in Fall 2012 was a 3.63. That means if you have a 3.5+, you have a pretty good chance of getting in. Obviously the higher your GPA though, the better your chances. </p>

<p>I can’t speak for Berkeley as I don’t know if the release detailed info by major like UCLA does.</p>

<p>[Profile</a> of Admitted Transfer Students by Major, Fall 2011 - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof11_mjr.htm]Profile”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof11_mjr.htm)</p>

3

<p>Alright I will take a stab at this:</p>

<p>First let me give you some background information on myself. I’m a CC transfer and was accepted to 5 UCs for Fall '12 transfer, including Berkeley. I applied as a bio major to all schools.</p>

<p>Stats:
cGPA: 3.7
mGPA: 4.0
Completed IGETC/Pre-reqs except one year physics.
Not many EC’s except club involvement and lots of TA’ing.</p>

<p>1) Assuming you finish all of your Pre-reqs/IGETC, and round off your cGPA to a 3.7, your chances are good.</p>

<p>2) Yes, everything is considered: GPA, Completion of IGETC/Pre-reqs, EC’s, Personal statement, Course load (academic rigor), GPA trends.</p>

<p>3) Yes, all of your grades will matter.</p>

<p>4) Both universities are known for their diverse student body (especially Cal). I don’t think being a international student will hurt your chances.</p>

<p>5) This is more of a personal choice. Regardless of whether you receive a W or a C, I would definitely explain the grade in your UC application.</p>

<p>6) Yes. I think academic rigor is very important. When someone says that they have 4.0 GPA it really doesn’t mean anything without context. Being a hard science major I don’t think that this will be an issue for you since you will most likely be taking 12-17 units per semester (if you want to transfer in 2-3 years).</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the comment guys…</p>

<p>kamelred:
WOW!! Congrats. Your GPA is really awesome. How did you manage that? I really want to know how people like you earn straight A’s. I really want to be an A student. Believe me, I really do. I’m not one of those people who just talk to impress their audience. I enjoy my classes (both math and science). I have no C in my transcript. I probably enjoy too much and forget that I have to earn a better grade. I’ll be taking OChem, Calculus (if I pass precal this summer), and Philosophy next semester. Is this set of classes resonable and passable? I’m asking you since you have already finished all these courses, I assume. </p>

<p>For # 4, what I meant is that I started at the bottom courses of both math and English. I started from arithmetic and climbed up. Same goes to English writing.</p>

<p>Let me give you a glimpse of my acedemic plan that I made starting Spring 2011 to Spring 2015. I didnt included my previous years’ schedule. I change their names into the general names with units and letter grades.</p>

<p>Spring 2011:<br>
Intermediate Algebra (5) A<br>
Sociology(3) B<br>
Political Science (3) A </p>

<p>Summer 2011:
Intro Chem (4) B</p>

<p>Fall 2011:
College Geometry (5) B
Gen Chem (5) A</p>

<p>Spring 2012:<br>
Trigonometry (5) B<br>
Gen Chem 2 (5) B<br>
Infectious Disease (3) A<br>
Summer 2012:
Pre-Calc (5)</p>

<p>Fall 2012:
Calculus 1 (5)
Org Chem (5)
Philosophy (3)</p>

<p>Spring 2013:
Calculus 2 (5)
Org Chem (5)
Sociology (3)</p>

<p>Summer 2013:
Internship</p>

<p>Fall 2013:
Calculus 3 (5)
Cell Biology (5)
Humanities (3)</p>

<p>Spring 2014:
Physics 1 Calc-Based (4)
Botany (5)
Differential Equation (4)</p>

<p>Summer 2014:
Internship</p>

<p>Fall 2014:
Physics 2 Calc-Based (4)
Zoology (5)
Linear Algebra (3)</p>

<p>Spring 2015:
Physics 3 Calc-Based (4)
Statistics (4)
English Adv Comp (3)</p>

<p>I have other transferable courses in my transcript that I didnt mention. I want to know your opinion and suggestion. Again thanks.</p>

5

<p>Well there are numerous threads on here that discuss tips on getting A’s. Off the top of my head I would say:</p>

<p>1) Research your course/professor.
By this I mean know all the basics about the class such as important dates, semester schedule, reviews on the professor, is there extra credit opportunities, etc… Course syllabi are usually posted before the semester starts and I always do a quick google search of my professor to find their class website to get the syllabi and other handouts.</p>

<p>2) Keep up with the lecture/homework.
This is pretty obvious but one thing to consider that a lot of students don’t is that each semester is different. Professors are people with personal lives as well and things can happen. When things do happen test dates and other important details tend to get changed around. If you are keeping up with the class then these changes will not affect you. </p>

<p>3) Always go to office hours, even if you don’t have a question.
I find it kind of sad that I even have to mention this to people but the truth is only about 15-20% of my classmates went to office hours before exams…and only about 10% went regularly. This is such an important part of your class. Getting to know your professor and having a chance to pick their brains is such a great opportunity at CC’s that you won’t really get at a university. I would go even if I didn’t have a question because I enjoyed hearing other people’s questions.</p>

<p>For your #4 I don’t think it will matter that you started with the “lowest” classes. It should be a good review for you and help you succeed in the higher level classes.</p>

<p>Your plan seems fine although you should aim for full-time status every semester. At my CC that was 12 sem. units. Most semesters it seems you will be taking 13 units which should be full-time. I took around 13-17 every semester consisting of a chem, bio, math and GE class. </p>

<p>Good luck on your college career. Stay motivated and you should be fine. </p>

<p>Go Bears :)</p>