<p>Hello! I am supremely confused about many aspects of my transfer, but I'm willing to bet that you kind folks here will be able to straighten a few things out.</p>
<p>I am currently a first-year student at Duke, and want to transfer to Cal as an incoming junior, as you might suspect. No, there isn't anything wrong with Duke. I don't want to discourage anyone from applying here. If you'd like to know why I'm transferring, I'd be happy to explain later, but I don't want to make this message longer than it already will be.</p>
<p>I believe I have enough AP credit to add with my first year of Duke classes, but I can't help but worry until someone verifies this. I passed 15 AP tests--but when I say I passed, I mean just barely passed. I did very little work in high school, and have ten 3s. I also have six silly transferable units from LACC. But...I have no idea how much "credit" I'll get from my Duke classes. The credit system at Duke is very...erm...unique, and every class is worth only one unit or less. I called Cal to ask if I should try to convert the units, and was told not to--but I can't imagine what the admissions officers will think when they see that I only took five units in my first semester (which is over the limit, by the way--I had to get special permission to take that many units!). Am I in the clear, credit-wise, or not even close?</p>
<p>I'm also wondering if I should bother applying to Haas, or go for some other school to which I'll have a better chance of getting in. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>In short, I am just very worried about my applicant situation. I mean, I practically have no GPA of which to speak right now! I was accepted to Berkeley (L&S) last year, but I don't know if pointing that out in my application will do any good when I don't have my high school feats on which to fall back. Should I devote my application essays to qualifying my situation? Should I try to get in contact with an admissions person who'll get to know me and look upon me fondly when he sees my application (if there is a way to get in contact with such a person, let me know!)? Do I have any chance of getting in?</p>
<p>I'll appreciate all responses! And I'm sorry for posting this in multiple areas (I didn't really know where its hould go). Thank you.</p>
<p>I transferred into Cal this year after one year at community college by using AP credit, so I think I can help here. Maybe. Anyways. What you need to do is verify that your AP credit is accepted both at UC Berkeley and at Duke. If Duke does not accept 3's on APs for credit, you wont get credit at Berkeley either. But if they do, youre in the clear because Berkeley will give you units for pretty much every AP. </p>
<p>Now, concern number 2. APs may count as units, but they do NOT cover your breadth requirements. You can count them towards your 60 unit minimum, but (for example) AP Biology will not cover your biological sciences breadth requirement. So you need to be sure you take the approximate equivalent of as many of those courses as you can at Duke for better chances. </p>
<p>3: As a transfer applicant, you will be admitted to a major. You will need to take as many of the major lower division prereqs as possible at Duke for better chances of getting in. I think it would be really hard to do breadth and major prereqs in one year. The only reason I could do it is because I satisfied IGETC (which is only available through CA Community Colleges) and its a totally different system. Haas is a very difficult program and in order to get in you need to complete all the prereqs while you are at Duke. They are listed here: <a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/transfer_prereq.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/transfer_prereq.html</a>. If you pretty much just want to get into Berkeley, I would not recommend applying to Haas because it would lower your chances for sure. But if business is your thing, it might be worth it. </p>
<p>4: I wouldnt convert the units. They will catch on. In fact, I think there is a way to signify that your school has a different way of counting units than semester or quarter. </p>
<p>5: I would not mention that you got into Berkeley last year. That will either make them wonder why you didnt come there to begin with or just be irrelevant. Unfortunately, there is really no way to get in touch with anyone here or form a relationship that will help you in admissions. As far as your essays go, I would answer them in the way that best conveys something about you. As a transfer applicant from out of state and with only one year behind you, you wil need some really good reasons for wanting to transfer. I might be wrong, but Ive been lurking/posting sporadically on these boards a long time and I think I remember seeing you before. Are you the girl whose boyfriend and several friends go to Berkeley but you went to Duke because of your mom and money or something like that? Like I said, I might be mistaking you for someone else, but if thats the case you need to come up with a much better reason to transfer. Social unhappiness is usually not a good reason. It needs to be something academic. Something Berkeley offers that Duke doesnt. </p>
<p>There you go...my novel-like response. Phew.</p>
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If Duke does not accept 3's on APs for credit, you wont get credit at Berkeley either.
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<p>Golly...why ever not? Duke most certainly doesn't accept 3s. This certainly puts a damper on things.</p>
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<li><p>Even if it would be helpful to get as many of the breadth requirements done, I am only required to fulfill the Reading and Composition, Quantitative Reasoning, and Foreign Language requirements (that can be done with AP credit)...right? The application has a section that asks if I'll do two english courses, a math course, and four other breadth-ish courses prior to transfer. I don't think I'll fulfill the english requirement--Duke doesn't even have true english composition courses! I believe the app asks these questions to determine if I meet the minimum admission requirements, but I thought my having met them in high school already covered this. Now I'm worried...</p></li>
<li><p>I won't apply to Haas...but I do not know in what I'd like to major. That's an issue, all right.
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<li><p>I am that girl who wanted to transfer because of the boyfriend/mom hating boyfriend issue. That is not a good reason to transfer, obviously. I'm sure I could come up with a better one for application purposes, but perhaps you are saying that I should rethink the idea of transferring if that's my only reason. It may just be because I'm crazy, but I feel that it is a decent reason for me personally to transfer. I also don't think filling out an application means I have made the ultimate decision about my transferring or not. In fact, I may not want to leave Duke after being here for a year.</p></li>
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<p>In any case, You said that I "need some really good reasons for wanting to transfer." I was thinking I could put those reasons in the "Is there anything you would like us to know about you or your academic record that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in this application?" question. I wanted to explain how Berkeley was my dream school, how there were financial problems even after I'd gotten in and how I was so close to being a Cal kid--but not quite--sob story type of thing. It seems more dramatic to mention that I was so sure I was going to go last year, but was shot down at the last second for other reasons. I don't know. </p>
<p>I'm just babbling now, and need to go to class. But I have one more question: am I considered an out-of-state applicant, even if I'm a California resident? Thanks for all your help!</p>