Really want to transfer, so many questions.. PLEASE HELP

Transfer Students
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<p>I just got into college. I was very mediocre in high school. I took some really hard courses but only proved that I couldn’t handle all those classes (I took six APs senior year and failed two of them). I wanted to show the colleges that I could handle all that but I guess it was a really bad strategy. my GPA suffered greatly as a result (3.4-3.5 unweighted), but I still had a weighted GPA of A_. I did ok-ish on the SAT 1 (~2100), and my SAT II’s are mediocre too (all above 650 though). So now I am stuck in this state university, which isn’t all that bad (actually in the Top 100) but really not good for me. So I want to transfer next year. I have tons of questions so guys, PLEASE bear patience…</p>

<li><p>Currently I am a bio major going pre-med, but I am not sure. I was automatically registered for Calculus for Life Sciences Major, which according to some people, is really a joke because it’s not “real” calculus and that elite colleges won’t take it seriously. Is it true? </p></li>
<li><p>because of my current concentration, I am only taking English and no other humanities, no language either. Do colleges still want you to be well-rounded academically? (I got a 5 on AP Euro and 4 on AP French, so I am not “bad” at the humanities but I kind of want to concentrate on my current work.)</p></li>
<li><p>THe classes i am taking now are English, Calc, Bio and Chem. It’s only 15 credits, but I want to take ~20 credits next semaster. would that be enough? Or shall I actually wait till after sophomore year?</p></li>
<li><p>Are the colleges still heavy on extra-curriculars or do they only care about academic performances now? Would a near 4.0 GPA be enough?</p></li>
<li><p>How do you get a good rec from a prof who has 700 students? (I am a shy person, so I am not good at getting attentions)</p></li>
<li><p>Would my current school’s reputation be a factor in the admission? I mean would it be easier to transfer to a top 10 if I were in a top 30 school instead of top 100? Or do the colleges only evaluate the individual? </p></li>
<li><p>I really like UC Berkeley since I am a bio major, but I saw that most people who transfered were in CC in Cali. I am from the east coast, and i am in a state university, shall I also apply? </p></li>
<li><p>How do you send the Sat scores? do you have to pay a huge amount of money to collegeboard again? also, do you need to go back to your high school to get the hs transcript? </p></li>
<li><p>I might be applying to the same schools that i applied before. will they ignore my old application? what do they do with it? </p></li>
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<p>If you can answer any of the questions, it would be fantastic. I desperately need some help. Thanks a million!</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>it's not that colleges won't take it seriously.. most schools won't accept it for transfer credit as a real calculus course.</p></li>
<li><p>do whatever you need to do.</p></li>
<li><p>20 credits? let's not get ahead of ourselves. just get the best gpa possible. 15-18 credits per semester is fine.</p></li>
<li><p>you should do SOMETHING that contributes to your campus. just do things that interest you.</p></li>
<li><p>go to office hours continuously.</p></li>
<li><p>it definitely helps to be coming from a top school, but your reasons for wanting to attend have to be greater.</p></li>
<li><p>don't even bother applying to berkeley.</p></li>
<li><p>you can send sat scores to collegeboard. i think it was around 30 or so dollars, but i forget. also, you can just call your hs up and ask them to send a transcript to the colleges you're applying to.</p></li>
<li><p>some schools keep them on file, some don't. i'd say that most don't.</p></li>
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<p>Thank you so much, the_aspirant! Your answers are really helpful, except for one thing: I don't really know much about Berkeley, so what do you mean"don't even bother applying to berkeley" ?</p>