Transferring from Columbia to UCLA/UC Berkeley

Long story short, I am a Columbia sophomore and am extremely upset and frustrated over not being accepted by HYPSM. I have not gotten over this immense bitterness - I hate the school, students, administration, and city with a burning passion. My GPA is slightly above a 3.6. Consequently, I am looking to transfer to a school like UCLA or Berkeley - I understand that my GPA is too low to get into HYPSM.

Do CC students have higher transfer acceptance rates to UCLA/Berkeley compared to lower-Ivy students? Is there a decent population of non-CC transfers at these schools?

I have read your threads. You seem very unhappy and bitter. You may think you have valid reasons to feel that way, and that’s fine. We can all tell you how lucky you are and you shouldn’t feel like that, but you feel how you feel. I am wondering if you would be any happier at another school (UCLA or Berkeley). I know you have posted that you have no interest in seeing a counselor or talk to your advisor, but I think you may benefit from talking with a professional.

It’s not so easy to just transfer from any ole college. That’s not to say Columbia is any ole college— but you need certain requirements completed before you can successfully transfer to a UC and based on this post it sounds like you have no idea what those requirements are. This means a successful transfer would be highly unlikely.

I have no idea what HYPSM is but one of the traits of a leader is being able to assimilate setbacks with calmness and plan a course moving forward. As the previous poster noted, your ongoing bitterness and dwelling on the past is not benefitting you. Your extreme disregard for Columbia, one of the preeminent educational institutions in the world, doesn’t make you look overly grateful. Certainly the UCs would not look favorably on not being able to find any positive in your successful outcome. I agree with the previous poster it is unlikely you would be much happier wherever you go as this HYPSM thing is eating away at you. I’m sorry if this is harsh but your psychological attitude is not the best and I suspect will continue to be an impediment if not addressed. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

You can’t stand how intellectually inferior the students at Columbia are, and you want to go further down the ladder, to places full of people who couldn’t get into a top college straight out of HS? Wouldn’t .a top intellectual LAC such as Swarthmore have more people who are up to your level? Also, even though it’s not even “a lower Ivy”* UChicago does have a long history of some pretty serious intellectualism.

Sadly, the UCs do not break out the sources for their transfer students to the level of detail you are looking for, but I do know that last year UCLA’s transfer students were 85% from CA CCs, 4% from other UCs, 7% from CSUs, and 9% from out of state. UCB was similar.

Can you afford the UCS, and have you checked their transfer requirements? Thanks to the Core you should be ok on the Composition requirement, but you might want to check the major preparation requirements - some of them are oddly specific.

*pretty sure that “lower Ivy” isn’t really a category.

@collegemom3717

You don’t know the UC system very well if you think it’s easy to get into UCLA and Berkeley out of high school. Your comment is insulting to students who have worked their butts off to get to extremely selective UCs. You might be an ivy do or die but I would urge you to keep in mind how bashing other universities might sound to other applicants and alumni up here. ?

Harvard Princeton Yale Stanford MIT

HPYSM. @Ohm888

Thx @privatebanker !

Sarcasm, @Ohm888 (check out the OPs language in this & other posts). Absolutely no disrespect to the UCs, CCs (the unsung heros of the US third level system) or their students.

You can compare your GPA to the ranges shown at https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major to give you some idea of your chance of being admitted to a UC as a transfer applicant.

Some kids are just weak-minded and willing to throw away their future (or at a minimum, negatively impacted their future). You are so obsessed with getting into HYPSM that it clouds your decision-making. You going down a path where in 10-20 years you will regret your decision. You are throwing away your college life, some of the best and formative years.

I am guessing that you are super, socially awkward, right? Because of your awkwardness, you are placing undue importance on something superficial as “getting into Harvard.” You’re just hiding your insecurities. You need to face up to why “getting into Harvard” is so important to you.

If I were you, I would take a moment and start thinking about the future. Do well at Columbia, think about post-grad schools, AND above all: have a good social life. NYC is one of the best cities for it. You will not find another city like it. Meet people, get chicks, do the right thing! Transferring to HYPSM or UC systems will not solve your non-existing social skills. If you don’t face your demons now, you have no chance in the real world. College is easy, the real world is brutal.