CCC student here, I was told that I could TAG this round but then realized I wouldnt have my math class done until spring soooo…there goes that.
My UC GPA is 3.2 or 3.3 currently and I was planning on TAGing with Davis. Now that I can’t I was considering applying normally but I feel like my GPA is too low to get in without the guarantee.
my major is History and I have a really good grade improvement from my first years at CC if that makes any difference.
I don’t want to go to a CSU or riverside- should I just wait for next year?
Personally, I would apply, it doesn’t hurt trying! And worse comes to worse, if you don’t get accepted, you can stay the extra year to complete the math class so you can TAG.
I applied to several UC’s when I was transferring (Im a soc major at Cal right now) and I had a similar GPA to you. I’m sure history and sociology have different requirements, but unless history is impacted at Davis I think you have a good chance, especially if your transcript shows a grade improvement since you started at community college.
Surprisingly you hear about some folks getting into Berkeley with a 3.2 or thereabouts @naregian. Rare, but I’ve seen it up here a few times. Poster may be more like a 3.4. I assume extreme hardship is part of it, along with obvious potential.
@naregian I’m a sociology major, so my major wasn’t highly impacted. I also did have a significant amount of growth grade-wise over the course of my time at community college, my personal statements were really good and I had an internship at Stanford, so I’m sure that helped a bit. @lindyk8 you’re right i had a 3.4 when I was transferring.
I just don’t think it hurts trying, Cal was my reach obviously so you never know what will happen. So I wouldn’t get completely defeated yet.
@ksphar I’m a sociology major with the same GPA hoping to get into UCB so this kind of makes me feel better, although I don’t have an amazing internship but I work with homeless outreach in SF.
It kind of comes down to personal statements I think.
@ksphar If you don’t mind, could you explain what you think made your personal statements so strong/competitive? I’m applying to Cal with a 3.9 GPA and no extracurriculars, so I think I need to write really strong personal statements in order to get in. Any advice on writing it?
@Polemic Sure! I thought mine was really strong mainly because of the connection/example I used from my time as an exchange student which led me to my passion of sociology. I went into more specifics in the statement, but in short I talked about the difference in cultures between Germany and the U.S. and how this sparked my interests in the study of culture and different societies.
I also mentioned something along the lines that my educational goal was to attend the UC system, to attempt to show my dedication to them. But I don’t know if that specifically made the statement stronger…
My main advice would be to give yourself ample amount of time to write/edit/revise. And focus on clarity and structure, these admission people are reading hundreds of applications and they only spend so much time on each application. So if the personal statement isn’t clear and it’s difficult for them to read, I believe that would definitely be seen as a negative. So I kept that in the back of my mind when I was writing and editing.
Also try and get as many people to read your statements (e.g. professors, friends) since the more constructive criticism you receive the stronger they will become. Hopefully that helps a little! Good Luck!!!
