<p>I want to be a lawyer, so I am thinking of majoring in philosophy, since that is supposedly a good way of preparing for law school. I hear Berkeley has an excellent philosophy department, but my high school grades are below an acceptable level for Berkeley- 3.65, 2050. Good, but not Berkeley or UCLA good. I do, however, live within a close distance from Orange Coast College and Irvine Valley College- both community colleges have a high successful transfer rate. So I was just wondering, in order to be competitive in transferring to Berkeley for a philosophy major, what will I need, GPA-wise? I hear that since philosophy isn't impacted, you do not go through the process in which you and hundreds of other people who have 4.0 averages are vying for the same 80 spots.</p>
<p>Go to Orange Coast College. Join the Honors program, do all the prereqs, get a 3.7+, and apply. You should be fine. Orange Coast College’s Honors program has a high transfer rate to Cal. You can also do the UCLA TAP agreement through the Honors program. UCLA will give you priority consideration.</p>
<p>Thank you! looking at your post and then your name, your post seems a little self serving, XD but thank you! It’s nice seeing some solid numbers.</p>
<p>haha, trust me. Everyone I know in the Honors program with a high GPA got into UCLA or Cal. Orange Coast College is a great place to be if you want to transfer. With the Honors program recommendation, I got in Georgetown, and through the Honors program’s TAP agreement with UCLA, I got in UCLA, and just the fact that I was in OCC’s Honors program helped me get into Cal. Honestly, it’s a great CC. I absolutely loved my time at that school.</p>
<p>Thank you. I was actually wondering about the honors program and whether it would be worth my time and effort to go into it.</p>
<p>Bumping one more time to get another response, hopefully.</p>
<p>Adaro,</p>
<p>I was in the TAP program for UCLA and not for Berkeley. (Check your community college if your school provides it for Berkeley. It’s usually only for low-income family members.) </p>
<p>I was accepted to UCLA and not Berkeley with a 3.5 GPA. I had a lot of extra curriculum that dealt with human rights, which I thought went hand-in-hand with Cal’s liberalism. My essays were revised and commented by an attorney/psychology professor along with two graduate students, who were all brutally honest with my essays until the final draft that I sent in. They mostly dealt with my liberation from being a sheep in this society and becoming a decent human being by standing up for those unheard.</p>
<p>Hey First time poster on this forum…</p>
<p>So Tap for one is an amazing resource, but if I am not mistaken, it is invite only for UCBerkeley and not for UCLA.</p>
<p>Another thing is I have heard that UC berkeley prefers people whom have a reason to be in Berkeley ( such as work opportunities or family).</p>