<p>I was a pretty average, underachieving student in high school.</p>
<p>Because of that, I couldn't get into any honors classes at my community college during my freshman year.</p>
<p>However, I've gradually began getting rid of my apathy and have been doing relatively well.</p>
<p>UC's I'm interested in transferring to are LA, Berkeley (longshot), Irvine, SB, and possibly SD.</p>
<p>Anyway... In short, I asked my friend about UCLA's TAP program, and she said that in order to be certified, one needs to take 6 Honors classes before transferring.</p>
<p>Is this the case? Or is it different for every community college?</p>
<p>Also, I need input. Should I even attempt to be certified and get admitted into UCLA with these stats?:</p>
<p>Political Science 101 - B
Communications 100 - A
Economics 120 - C
Anthropology - B
Math 219 (Statistics) - W (had to drop it due to time conflict; re-took it the next semester and got an A)</p>
<p>Sociology 100 - A</p>
<p>English 101 - A
Biology 109 - B
Math 219 (Statistics) - A
Astronomy 109 - C</p>
<p>Biology 109L - A
History 102 - A</p>
<p>Cumulative GPA after first year: 3.36
Probable GPA after third semester: 3.5</p>
<p>My major is most likely going to be either English or Poli Sci</p>
<p>You still have a lot of time / courses to take and to raise your GPA. </p>
<p>You can sign guaranteed admission agreements for all UCs except LA and Cal.</p>
<p>You can be semi-competative for Cal with a 3.5+</p>
<p>You have a chance at UCLA with your current gpa but clearly a higher gpa would be better.</p>
<p>How about the rest of your application? </p>
<p>IGETC?
Major Prep?
Work/EC ?
Family circumstances? </p>
<p>For example if you have work + unique family situatuion and keep your gpa around 3.4 you would still be very competative for UCLA... they like to see you overcome adversity and the like</p>
<p>The decision will be based on the GPA you have after the update which will be after fall. </p>
<p>If you manage a 3.5 Transfer GPA after fall grades I would say that</p>
<p>Berkeley is still a Reach for you and UCLA w/TAP would be a match/reach depending on major as UCLA accepts by major. You will get the option of an alternate major so if you are set on UCLA you can try an easier alternate major.</p>
<p>UCLA will like to see that you work, you should mention your employment and maybe add it into some portion of the essay and about being first generation, not focus on it but briefly mention somewhere. Maybe even talk about having to work due to being from a first generation low income family- i did that but it was a big focus of my essay and it involved my actual career and major and i was employed full time, i dont know if you plan on pursing a pharmacy career or something different but that might work for you if you can tie everything together.</p>
<p>I think you have a good shot as long as you keep that GPA up. My community college required 8 honors courses so I guess it just depends on the school. It is definitely not a waste though because honors courses can still fulfill portions of your IGETC requirements if you choose strategically. I would definitely encourage you to do it. </p>
<p>Just remember, Berkeley and UCLA are very hardcore about students finishing all their pre-reqs for their major. Don't bother to do the TAP program if you are not planning on doing this. Therefore, you need to pick a major and start fulfilling those pre-reqs ASAP. :)</p>
<p>just wondering for those who did finish TAP...did you guys see yourselves taking classes that generally didn't fulfill IGETC for honors credit? </p>
<p>the reason why i ask is because i'm still in high school and i'll have completed a lot of general classes that could be taken for honors credit by the time i graduate so i worry that there really won't be any courses left for me to take for honors that could also fulfill IGETC for when i do enroll full-time</p>
<p>i think you should not take honors classes unless you are absolutely certain that you will do well in them. because your gpa is not that high and tap does not guarantee you automatic acceptance into ucla. i know a lot of people who got tap but didn't get into ucla. i think you getting a high gpa is better than tap.</p>
<p>It seems like you barely asked your friend about TAP and finished your first year.
If that's the case you have to bust your butt and do 3x TAP classes fall + spring, because most CC's dont offer them in summer / winter intersessions.</p>
<p>The smart choice would be to take 3x 4 Unit Honors classes and 2x 3 Unit honor courses.
Try to somehow get your counselor to fix you up with some extra bs lab to attach onto like a course such as geography.
That's what my counselor did for me my last semester, they are usually lenient about that stuff and exhaust every possible option for you to finish it.</p>
<p>btw if you are applying for something like biz/econ and want to get into la or berk, you're already screwed if you can't retake those c's
Instead apply for something directed towards economics at ucla like Global Studies! or I dunno that's just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>i definitely would not apply for a different major in hopes of transferring into the one you want, because it is nearly impossible at a UC and most other schools too. since once you get there they sketch out your courses based on the major you were accepted to and leave little room for taking classes that are for a different major. and for bus.econ or econ in general you cannot do that. the dept clearly states that you must apply on your transfer application and cannot transfer into it later on.</p>
<p>vazman89- you can pursue a different major however it would be really difficult because you need to do the require classes for the college you were accepted into and the classes that are require for the college you want to transfer into. and internally transferring also depends on if the major has room, which is difficult because every UC is kind of downsizing because of budget issues. there are certain majors that you cannot transfer into after you have transfer to cal, like Haas. look at assist.org at the majors you are thinking of transferring into and see if it states whether there is a restriction on whether you can transfer into it after you transfer to cal.</p>
<p>i am looking at applying for EEP and changing to PEIS. so im not sure how competitive it is. but at junior college level, i will have the prereqs done for both majors.</p>
<p>and where does it say on assist.org whther u can transfer to a mjor or not?</p>
<p>vazman89 - i look on assist.org for cal agreement with my CC for your interested majors (environ. econ policy and the political econ of industrial society). it doesn't state that you cannot transfer into them when you are in cal, so you should be fine. and i think L&S are pretty flexible in terms of major changes just make sure you talk to the dept you want to transfer into and see what they advise. because space is definitely a major issue at cal because of how many students they take in each year. </p>
<p>i think PEIS sounds very interesting. and both majors might be competitive because i think most other UCs do not offer these majors. so the people who want to study either of those fields of study will be competiting with you for a spot.</p>