<p>SO im sure everyone is looking around at other people's stats wondering why the hell a 3.4 GPA got accepted and their 3.95 was rejected?</p>
<p>well here you could list the reasons why you think you got accepted and others didnt.</p>
<p>this might help future UCLA transfers. </p>
<p>my stats</p>
<p>major: psychology
GPA: 3.77
prereqs: will be done this spring
IGETC: all done and plus some extras
EC: started a club, volunteer for FPAC, joined 3 clubs for the duration of my CC experience.
essay: i wrote about something different. i wrote about how my cat changed me. you might think it is dumb. but UCLA didnt.
work: 20-34hrs/week
no tap</p>
<p>i think some of the rejected where declined because they didnt have enough or good EC. or they were missing prereqs. and if they had everything done, their essay must have not appealed to UCLA. just my opinions.</p>
<p>Is creating a club sufficient??</p>
<p>I think the top-tier UC schools look to transfer students to increase the diversity at their school. Most kids who enter as freshman essentially come from the same mold, overachieving highschool superstars. Transfers on the other hand tend to come from many different backgrounds. They generally come from community colleges which accept everyone, which is the key to creating diversity. I, for example, did OK in high school (i.e. I graduated). About halfway through my junior year I decided that I didn’t want to go to college. I graduated from high school with a 2.something gpa, no ECs, and only graduated on time because a sympathetic teacher gave me a D for a class in the last semester of my senior year, even though I had a 35%. I took community college classes for two semesters afterward, getting a couple Ds, a couple Fs, a few Ws, and a couple As because of some super easy classes. I quit going, moved out of my parents house and got a job working 9-5 for about 3 years before returning to school. I still worked 20+ hours a week to pay rent and support myself, and managed to pull a 3.64gpa. A 3.64 seems to be slightly lower than the average admitted UCLA transfer, but I think I appealed to them because I had some real world experience between high school and UCLA.</p>
<p>My background is fairly typical of many transfers, some people have some crazy stories. I think UCLA wants to augment their undergraduate student body with people who have experienced failure, as opposed to the admitted freshman who for the most part, have only experienced success.
Another thing I think interests the applicant reviewers is the fact that people simply went to community college. When I was in high school, I remember people DREADING going to the local CC. To them it was the WORST possible scenario, and everyone who was going to ANY ****ty university looked down their noses at the people who weren’t. It takes some humility to swallow your pride and do something people tend to look down on.</p>
<p>for me it was TAP single handedly…geography alternate major using TAP and a 3.0-3.1 gpa got me in for that lol not too hard</p>
<p>I think for me, it was the simple fact that I wasn’t the type of Asian that most people expected. I was never academic material in high school. And I did mention that in my personal statement. I wrote that I had to suffer humiliation as I watched friends go to the college of their choice while I stayed behind.</p>
<p>“I think UCLA wants to augment their undergraduate student body with people who have experienced failure, as opposed to the admitted freshman who for the most part, have only experienced success.
Another thing I think interests the applicant reviewers is the fact that people simply went to community college. When I was in high school, I remember people DREADING going to the local CC. To them it was the WORST possible scenario, and everyone who was going to ANY ****ty university looked down their noses at the people who weren’t. It takes some humility to swallow your pride and do something people tend to look down on.”</p>
<p>I totally agree…very similar background. Graduated HS with a 2.7 GPA…went to CC forever not knowing what I wanted to be and my grades were pretty low during that point of confusion. Put work and fun first, then realized what I needed to do and drastically turned everything around when I discovered my path. Got into a private school in the process and had to turn down admission due to financial problems. Took the trauma from that experience and used it as motivation to change everything and make things happen anyway. Pulled my GPA up to a 3.3 and the rest is history.</p>
<p>But I agree about wanting to add some flair to their student body, people with diverse experience, values, and aspirations. Also people that have an underlying passion behind their choice to attend UCLA. Interest in your major through NON-required sources also really helps. They want students that will one day be at the forefront of changing our world through their vision of the larger picture. I definitely wrote about what I wanted from my time at UCLA and what I hoped to achieve through that process in the short and long term.</p>
<p>well…i don’t think my major is very impacted? (women’s studies)</p>
<p>im out-of-state too but i come from a top 20 university, Vanderbilt, with a great GPA so i think that helped too…</p>
<p>I got in with a 3.60, 63 units, no tap.
EC’s: I won the 2008 California Community College Debate Champs, and by essays were really really well written and edited.</p>
<p>Debate + honor society + reasonably high GPA = UCLA Admissions!!</p>
<p>I got in w/ a 3.75 in Psychology. I think my essay and upward grade trend helped the most (B’s in 1st semester, 4.0 through the rest)</p>
<p>I get into UCLA coz I have been working my ***. lol</p>
<p>amen on the working hard thing. I think for me, it showed that i really got my act together. I wrote an essay about how i used to be selfish and expected everything to come to me…and that it wasnt until i was rejected from every college i applied to out of high school (which was last year) that i realized you needed to go beyond average work in order to succeed. i made this essay humorous by including a narrative of how i learned to be selfless and was motivated to succeed from my niece and all the crazy things i had to do for her (ex: like change her diapers). </p>
<p>but you are right - it appears that UCLA wants students that are motivated and have tasted what failing is like. most of the freshmen admits havent failed at anything yet so when the time comes, it’s going to be huge. </p>
<p>i also think TAP helped a lot, lol.</p>
<p>I hate freshman admits…wearing their Cal/UCLA shirts 7 days a week and nothing else…crying on moving day when they will live an hour away from home…sitting in the dining hall alone, waiting for someone to talk to them…joining a club, paying for the lifetime membership fee and never showing up…trying alcohol for the first time and well…you know [YouTube</a> - Family Guy - Lemonade Stand](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPI_Q2w56vw]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPI_Q2w56vw)</p>
<p>Nahh, who am I kidding…i love freshman</p>
<p>eh man, im practically going to be a freshman, lol!</p>
<p>o crap i realized i made a typo. “some of the rejected where declined” should be were. sorrry guys.</p>
<p>also what i think helped me was that i showed improvement. from my 1st semester to my last</p>
<p>to any future UCLA applicant i recommend doing a Transfer Alliance Program (TAP). This can make a huge difference</p>
<p>I believe the Essays contributed mostly to the decision of our acceptance/denial. I worked day any night to write my essay, and wow, now that I look back and read it, nothing sounds more accomplishing and inspiring to me as a reflection of my life. Truly my own personal masterpiece!</p>
<p>I agree with GlennRyan about doing TAP. I think it helped me out a great deal. I had a 3.71 from Orange Coast College and a 3.54 from CSU Chico, which I attended my first semester after high school in Fall 2007. That averages out to about a 3.65.</p>
<p>I didn’t have any amazing life stories to tell. I am grateful that I haven’t had a very tramatic life. However, after reading many essays I was worried I had nothing that would stand out.</p>
<p>I think having a job that relates to your major also helps. I’m a poli sci major and work at a company that moves military shipments for the government. I deal with companies overseas everyday and I was able to incorporate that into my essay. </p>
<p>Honor societies also look good on an applications.</p>
<p>I think when it comes to gpa it all depends on your major as well. Impacted majors tend to have higher gpas where other majors you don’t need a high gpa to be admitted.</p>
<p>improvement didn’t help me much. here’s what my grades look like.
fall 04
F, F
spring 05
W, W
Fall 05
BBCD
Spring06
BBBCD
Summer
A
Fall 06 - EMT at another school 8 units B
Spring 07
AAABB
Summer
A
Fall 07
AAAAA
Spring 08
AAAABB
Summer
A
Fall 08
AAA
Spring 09
IP</p>
<p>I just have a solid GPA, 3.86. I didn’t apply to the highly impacted majors like communications and biz. econ either. No TAP and no ECs, but I was in the Army, so that might have showed some leadership experience on my application.</p>
<p>I’m almost positive it was solely my TAP and GPA that got me in. My ECs and essay were nothing special, and I definitely don’t offer diversity from the freshmen applicants. I’d only been in college for three months when I applied in November, so most of my application had to reflect my high school accomplishments (AP tests, leadership roles, and community service). I have to agree with one of the above posts and say the reason I got into UCLA is because I worked my freaking brains out.</p>