Sort of need advice

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>I've been a long time reader and first time poster, and was hoping to look for some advice.
Anyways I finished my first year at a community college and my grades aren't great, currently my GPA sitting at a 2.6 due to some financial stress. My personal goal is to get into UCB, or UCLA majoring in finances and/or economics. Basically this question has been bugging me for a while.</p>

<p>I do have 27 units but very little EC, however I do have a lot planned for this semester. Should I apply to UCB and UCLA anyways considering that my application probably won't be that great?
(please note that, my finances are fairly loose and no longer have anything side tracking me. So I'm confident I could get a 4.0GPA this semester with 15 units worth of classes. Also I'm planning to run for positions in office at my CC, as well as trying to get into TAP.)</p>

<p>Following the question above, I do feel like it may be better for me to stay an extra year and loosen up my class schedule giving me more time for EC. I would also like to mention that in my first year of college I sort of took advantage of my time in ensuring that I get multiple licenses in the field I want to get into, such as my appraiser license, real estate, etc.
Since my CC doesn't use a + or - system, it seems it would be impossible for me to get anything higher than a 3.5 at 60-70 units. Although there are two letter grades I'm still trying to dispute. </p>

<p>In shorter terms, I'm sort of clueless here. I felt like I shot myself in the foot, by letting something so minor get in the way of my goals. In one stance I do feel like getting my licenses is pretty good EC, on another it doesn't exactly benefit anyone else but me so I could view it as not a solid EC. It sort of goes back to my first question, should I bother applying anyways? </p>

<p>Also I forgot to mention that a 8 of the 27 units are prerequisites for the breaths required to apply to UCB and UCLA. So I don't if those count towards my GPA when applying, because without those 8 units I'm at around a 2.8 or possibly a 3.0. And another thing I would like to include is that there is an F on my transcript, but technically I'm allowed to retake that class so I don't know if that counts heavily too.</p>

2

<p>The final GPA they look at when considering admission is Fall semester of the previous year before transfer. You said you were done with a year at 27 units and 2.6 GPA, not very good but not impossible to bring up. If I were you I would stay an extra year because if you overload yourself to try and bring up your GPA it wont work. If you apply this year (which you still can) you won’t get into either school as a business major because that particular major is highly selective, same goes for Econ. However, if you stay an extra year, raise your GPA, do your EC’s (but dont let them hurt your GPA because grades are the MOST important aspect), and retake the F, you should do fine. Keep in mind 3.5 is very good for transfer students depending on major but it’s not the final GPA that counts to adcoms it’s the FALL gpa the year before that counts. They dont even look at spring unless your grades dropped significantly during that time in which they can rescind your admission. </p>

<p>Also remember that prereq grades do count, infact they count more than non pre req’s, but I think you were referring to breadth requirements. Those count, but not as much as major pre requirements. So if your getting D’s in MAJOR prereq’s I would retake them. Also, on the plus side, grade trends look very good to all UC’s especially UCB, so if you improve your grades significantly it will impact your acceptance far more than any EC could do. My advice is don’t be in a hurry. UCB and UCLA will still be there a year from now, and an extra year is not that long when you have a specific goal in mind. Pick your major and stick with it, retake all F’s and D’s, improve your grades and get at least a 3.25 if you want to go to UCLA or UCB, but if you want to go as a business or Econ major, raise it to 3.5 or higher. Otherwise pick a new major.</p>