<p>Hey all, first post although I've looked here a bit before.</p>
<p>After this upcoming semester I will have enough units to transfer so I'm going to be doing applications in the Fall. I'm currently in a community college doing general ed requirements, and I want to transfer to a state 4-year university. I also highly prefer it to be local (Bay Area), which limits things a bit. My planned major is Linguistics, I want to focus more on the language analysis/grammar/semantics portion than on multiple languages (something I'm asked all the time). I currently have a 3.60 GPA, and with the easy classes I have set up for the next year it should be slightly better by transfer time. I have little doubt that I can get another 20-25 units of straight A's, although some of those won't be applicable to UC.</p>
<p>I would love to go to UC Berkeley, but am highly doubtful my grades are high enough. My advisor says I'm in their recommended range (although towards the bottom) and because I live in the local area he says I have higher chances. A lot of my classmates from last semester had stories of getting in with GPAs as low as 3.40. But I'm still very skeptical because of the competitiveness of that school.</p>
<p>My second choice would probably be SJSU. From the look of their program, it might be a better fit, but I'm outside of their 'local area' for CC transfers, and it's also outside of my commuting range. Still, I like the school and the area. It would be nice to get in. I haven't looked much into how competitive their Linguistics program is, but I'm guessing it's not a walk in the park.</p>
<p>So what do you all think? Is my advisor crazy? Do I have a chance at either of those schools?</p>
<p>how about you call the admissions officers at the institutions you hope to be applying to and ask them how well you line up with meeting their requirements. your counselor knows but so much and you cannot rely on him/her for all of your questions. everyone has a chance at anything they set their mind to. if you want it badly and show the admissions officers that you want it badly then you have a fair shot.</p>
<p>theopportunist is wrong about chatting up admin officers having much of anything to do with getting into the California publics.</p>
<p>The CSUs look at only the GPA. In fact, there are no places on the app to list ECs, no personal essay and no LORs. They rank students based on GPA and location (locals first, then state-wide, then OOS) and fill up until full. Calling a place like SJSU to schmooz with an admissions officer would be a waste of time–the school has 25,000+ students and very little personalization in the admissions process.</p>
<p>UCs do look at ECs, essays and LORs, but they are still primarily driven by GPA. Many of the UCs post details of the transfer GPA thresholds for prior years on their websites, so that is your best bet for insight. The admissions officers don’t have time over the phone to handhold a student and show them that info and I doubt you’ll locate one via phone or person–you’ll be talking primarily to office staff.</p>
<p>The plan to apply to UCs and CSUs is not crazy–it is a lotto shot at about $50 per campus, so go for it.</p>
<p>I have checked the prior-GPAs in the past and seem to be low in the bracket, but I could still pass. I guess my best bet would be to ace the personal essay for UC then, and hope the local thing boosts me a bit.</p>
<p>Either way, still worth the shot no matter the chances. Never know until you try, right?</p>
<p>I have plenty of friends within the 3.6-3.7 range who gained admission to UC Berkeley. I have a question, though. Are you dead-set on commuting? I don’t think you should limit yourself to just two campuses. You may enjoy UCLA or UC San Diego. </p>
<p>Applying to CSU’s is strictly a number’s game like the above poster said. Cal Poly SLO has a bit more to their application because they’re the flagship campus of the CSU’s, the next being the other Cal Poly. Admissions is highly competitive there, but I don’t think your particular program would be impacted there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! That makes me feel a bit better about my situation.</p>
<p>I’m much more inclined to commute because I currently have an apartment that costs me zippo. The house I grew up in (my parent’s house) has a complete (and separate from the main house) apartment in which I am currently living, so it saves me quite a ton of money. Plus I’m not huge on southern CA; I’ve lived in the Bay Area for the vast majority of my life and like it here. I really don’t like temperatures above 80 =P</p>
<p>But, like you say, I really shouldn’t limit myself to just those two so there’s a good chance I’ll apply to those campuses as well. Are you enrolled in one of those schools?</p>
<p>I did some number crunching and thought I’d post an update.</p>
<p>With straight A’s this semester (something that is very doable with the classes I have), I’ll have a 3.636. With straight A’s in both Fall and Spring (last two semesters I have before transferring) I’ll have 3.718. Sounds a bit more like what they’re looking for, right?</p>
<p>Also, my boss is a retired professor for UC Berkeley, and was valedictorian of her class when she went there. She said she’ll write me a letter of recommendation (and also thinks I have a fairly reasonable chance to get in). </p>
<p>I’m feeling a little more confident now. Even without the spring semester grades bumping me up, I think I’m a bit more in the range of what’s typical, yes?</p>