Hi everyone! I applied to transfer from UCSB to UC Berkeley last fall, was accepted, and will be attending Berkeley this coming fall. Personally, I found the entire intercampus transfer process to be a bit tricky since there is a dearth of informational resources on the matter, so I am making myself available to answer any questions anyone interested may have!
hi! I’m considering doing the same, but transferring in a year since I have accumulated a ton of AP Credit as well as college credit. I’ll be a freshman at UCSB in the fall and UCB has always been my dream school. I am premed bound but might change. What are some tips you can offer me about the process and what are some pointers to keep in mind. Finally do you believe you would have been better off going to a CC first and then transferring or was UCSB fine?
Another question would be why did you decide to transfer?
hey! Sorry, just saw this. Apparently it is way trickier to transfer in one year, just as far as having all GE requirements and your prerec’s done in time–but maybe if you do have enough AP credit you could pull it off. I would definitely talk to Berkeley admissions early on in the process (possibly the major advisors there for your major as well) as they should help give you an idea of what to do to maximize your chances. You may want to do this now if you haven’t gone to orientation yet so you can plan your fall classes around your transfer–I didn’t decide I wanted to transfer until fall of my second year, which made me kind of scramble to get it figured out, but then again you are trying to pull it off after one year…
So your #1 priority while at UCSB should be completing the prerec’s you need and finishing your GE requirements. This is EXTREMELY important–complete not only required, but also all the recommended prerecs–and make sure you are completing the correct equivalents at UCSB. This is why you need to confirm with advisors that you are taking the right classes that will transfer over. (As for GE’s, if you finish UCSB’S GE requirements, Berkeley will automatically consider you having fulfilled their GE program–this is called ‘UC reciprocity.’) Work your ass off to get straight A’s as this is essential. #2 priority should be taking on some extracurriculars (since you’re premed, maybe some clubs/orgs related to your career interests, or join a premed frat or sorority) so you can include that on your application.
As for transferring from UCSB or a CC…when talking to Cal advisors, they may just say that transferring after one year at UCSB is not feasible. In that case, an option for you could be to do a year at UCSB, do a year at CC, and then transfer, in which case you still get the priority afforded to CC transfers and can avoid the unit cap. The downside to this, however, would be that classes at UCSB are harder than those at CC so this may hurt your GPA. If you don’t have your heart set on UCSB for the fall, and you’re CERTAIN that you want to go to Cal, then you might want to just go to CC in the fall, do 2 years there and then transfer. Compared to transfers from other UC’s. CC transfers have a waaaay easier time getting into Cal with way higher priority.
I would check out transfer admit rates for your major here to get a better idea of your chances. Remember that these % rates reflect mostly CC transfers, so for UC transfers it’s actually way lower.
http://admissions.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/docs/Transfer_Flier.pdf
Hope this helps! Also check out this site, Ask Ms. Sun, it was hugely helpful for me http://■■■■■■■■■■■■/home/
Why did you transfer?
Always wanted to go to Cal and their program for my major (Poli Sci) is much better. I’m confident that having a degree from Cal will help me achieve my future goals more than one from UCSB would. And life at UCSB is really fun, I’ll definitely miss it but I found it kind of intellectually stunting
How many years did you do at UCSB before you transferred and how was the transition? I’m an incoming freshman at UCI this fall with a Poli Sci major and want to transfer to UCB.