<p>My major is mechanical engineering and currently my goal is to transfer to either cal poly slo or UCB, my school gives me guaranteed transfer to UC davis so I am using that as my last resort. I live in California and my GPA is currently 3.39 after my first year. I am trying to switch as soon as possible but with my schedule it appears as if I won't be able to transfer until I have finished 3 years there. Does this hurt my standing? Is there anything that I can do to make the transfer process easier?</p>
<p>Raise your GPA. That is the best thing you can do. While I am not intimately familiar with SLO or UCB’s transfer policies, I know that most other good engineering schools want better than 3.39 for transfers in most cases.</p>
<p>Going 3 years won’t hurt you. It will actually help you because you’ll have all the lower division stuff done. But for Cal Poly and UCB you’re gonna need to raise the gpa. I got wait listed and then denied from Cal Poly with a 3.45 for aerospace and ended up transferring to UCSB. My roommate actually got denied with a 4.0, no clue how, but he did. I had another friend who got in with a 3.9. I think it was crazy hard to get in this year with the budget cuts. But yeah, it’s very common to go 3 years at a CC for engineering since they’re on the semester system while UC’s are on the quarter system.</p>
<p>For both UCB and Cal Poly SLO it is almost worthless to apply unless you have completed all the prereqs. Go on assist.org and figure out what prereqs you need to complete for your major. GPA and having the prereqs completed are the two most significant factors to the admissions committee. Definitely raise the GPA. For UCB it is unlikely you will get admitted unless you raise your GPA to above 3.7</p>