<p>*EDIT: Oh, I meant "Questions FROM a UCB hopeful!" :P</p>
<p>Hello! I've been lurking on CC over the past 2 years, but I've only made an account now just to ask these questions:</p>
<p>1) Should the personal statements be written as traditional essays with theses, supporting paragraphs, and concluding paragraphs? I'm trying to rewrite mine to fit this structure, but it seems all too formulaic now, and at the same time I understand that they should be as concise as possible.</p>
<p>2) My goal is to become a technical artist, which is basically the middle man between artists and programmers in game design. I've always been interested in art, and I have decent experience in that, including receiving awards and employment/volunteering (somewhat). However, I am hoping to be a Computer Science B.A. major, in which I have little experience. I've only been introduced to it recently, and my current community college only has one programming class, which I'm taking now. Because of this, I'm not sure how to write my PS for the first prompt. Would it be okay to include the stuff about art and my career goals despite my lack in CS experience? Or will that draw away attention from my actual intended major?</p>
<p>3) My college doesn't offer several of the prereqs I need for my major. Will that greatly affect my chances of being accepted? Should I mention this in any part of my application, or do they know that my school doesn't have those classes?</p>
<p>4) Is it possible for transfers to get accepted in L&S but not for the actual major?</p>
<p>Sorry for the long read! I may add more questions in the future. Thank you for your time. :)</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes, and no… write whatever you want that fits you best.</li>
<li>Yes. Include art as your extracurricular activities and tell them how that influenced you to get the CS degree to move on to be a technical artist</li>
<li>Most schools don’t have the pre-reqs anyway. You need to have at least Calc1+2, Linear, DE. Having CS61B is a plus. Don’t have 61A,61C,70,EE42 is normal
If nearby schools have the equivalent classes, you should take them to improve your chance</li>
<li>You are admitted to L&S, not the major. You will declare your major after your first, or sometimes second semester at Cal. The reason for this is obvious: most, if not all, transfer students don’t have enough pre-reqs to go straight to a major at Cal, especially in CS
Btw, I’m applied as CS at Cal as well gluck.</li>
</ol>
<p>^^ Friends when it comes to test time next year :).</p>
<p>1) The format of the personal statement really is not a big deal. I had an intro paragraph, body paragraphs, and concluding one, but it’s much more about establishing your voice, telling your story, and how you go about telling it. Feel free to shoot me a PM about it with specific questions.</p>
<p>2) Art and graphic design have enough in common with CS. It’s definitely good to mention it.</p>
<p>3) Sparky nailed it. Just to add though, if the prereqs aren’t offered, you won’t be penalized for it whatsoever. However, if they’re offered at a nearby CCC, you should get onto doing those ASAP just to make yourself somewhat more competitive.</p>
<p>Hey emil, though Idk you, and perhaps you don’t know me too lol, I did read your thread “question for a Cal’s transfer student.” That was one heck of a thread, but I just wondered about the competition at Cal. Like, well, I heard some of my friends coming in as freshmen said that there are a lot of GPA sandbaggers in the CS61 series, and some Chinese/Indians study in groups and are very competitive. Basically, assumed I got accepted at Cal and I’m coming in alone, does that means I’m done for? Like, everyone has groups and I don’t :(</p>
<p>Note that many transfer students in CS attend Berkeley during the summer to take one or more of the CS courses that are hard to find at community colleges.</p>
<p>Laney has equivalents for CS 61A, CS 61B, and EE 42.
Diablo Valley has equivalents for CS 61B and CS 61C.</p>
<p>Someone who already knew the material yet still take the class, or failed Hilfinger and retook Clancy for example…
and most CS classes at Cal are grade on curves => those who have little to no programming exp suffer…</p>
<p>@ sparky: Wow lol that thread was from a long time ago. I’m glad you read and remember it! And as for knowing you, I’ve seen you post around on here. </p>
<p>As for the competition at Cal, it does depend on your major. The competition is the fiercest if you’re premed or at Haas. I say at Haas because now all of the upper div. courses are being curved (meaning 15% A’s). In terms of CS majors, I would not say the competition is that bad. There are -some- people who will want you to fail and derive pleasure out of that i.e. the ones who ask about your grade so they can gloat about their A. However, I would say this is really rare. </p>
<p>I think that as a transfer, you do have to be socially active to set up study groups and things like that, but everyone I’ve encountered is always down to study with me, even though I was new/transferred. Don’t worry too much about the competition; it’s really less existent than you think coming in.</p>
<p>@ sparky: Senior year is going really well! I’m only taking 13 units, so it’s pretty relaxing. I only need 12 more next semester to graduate. My classes aren’t the best I’ve ever had, but a couple of them are really interesting. I am stressed because I need to get close to or at a 4.0 this year so as to bring up my cumulative GPA. I failed 3 classes in CCC, and consequently my med school aspirations hang in the balance of a drastically improved GPA.</p>
<p>Aside from that, I’m applying to post-bacc programs starting in December, I’m enjoying living in my fraternity house, and feverishly updating my fantasy football team after injuries to both Peytons (Manning and Hillis) and Britt haha.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions! How’s your last year at CCC going?</p>
<p>It’s pretty good, I’m taking Mechanics, Linear Alg, Calc III, and some other random GEs to fill up IGETC I won’t be apply to UCLA b/c I will be missing 2 pre-reqs (Chem I and Physics: E&M) and missing 2 for CS majors = auto rejected :(. So Cal is my last hope as a “top-tier” university. If I couldn’t cut it, well, I’m happy at UC Santa Cruz then haha</p>
<p>Wow, that’s amazing, seems like you really enjoy your time at Cal. If I recall correctly, you are a philosophy major and a spring-admit right? Does that mean you will be graduate from Cal in just 3 semesters? O_o</p>
<p>sparkyboy: Sorry to butt into your conversation, but I just wanted to say that I’m considering Santa Cruz as well! Do you know anything about the CS program over there?</p>
<p>Haha I’m the one to say sorry since I hijack your thread lol. I had several friends taking CS over there and they said it was not bad. The school asked you to purchase the books that the professors teaching the class wrote - and they were published in, like 1998 or so lol. Aside from the fact that it is near Silicon Valley, there’s not much in Santa Cruz’s CS to be honest… </p>
<p>But I love the area and the school lying in the forest looks cool so it will always be a great choice if I can’t get into Cal :)</p>
<p>Awh, it’s a little disappointing to hear that there’s not much about UCSC’s CS program. I’m going to visit the campus soon, though, so hopefully that’ll change my mind about it! I hear it’s beautiful over there. :)</p>
gluck.</li>
How’s your senior year so far?</p>
I won’t be apply to UCLA b/c I will be missing 2 pre-reqs (Chem I and Physics: E&M) and missing 2 for CS majors = auto rejected :(. So Cal is my last hope as a “top-tier” university. If I couldn’t cut it, well, I’m happy at UC Santa Cruz then haha</p>