Ok, so I’m currently a freshman at UC Berkeley. Back in May I had the decision between Davis and Berkeley and chose Berkeley because of its reputation/prestige. I’m starting to think that was a big mistake. I chose prestige over my passion (agriculture) and want to follow my dreams. I’ll have 30 semester units after this semester and am wondering my probability of being able to transfer in to Davis’ ag program for sophomore year. I don’t know if I can take another year of this school and the goal is to transfer out after this year, not for my junior year. I was previously accepted into Davis’ ag program.
Every thread I’ve read with the words “Berkeley” and “Davis” has been about transferring from Davis to Berkeley, but I want to do the opposite. Is there less competition to transfer to Davis? Will transferring FROM the best UC help my cause? Please, any insight will help me so much!
You need to be junior-standing to transfer. So your option is to stay for another year or transfer to a CCC.
BUT…
I will actually say that possibly there is an exception with agriculture. I know there are a couple majors that sometimes have room for sophomores (it’s rare), and now that I think about it, ag at UCD might be one - I can’t recall. You need to reach out to UCD and ask them.
What are you planning to do with your agriculture studies?
If the plan is to attend graduate school, then I would highly discourage pursuing a undergraduate degree in it. The vast majority of schools do not offer agriculture bachelors degrees, which means that the vast majority of students in agriculture graduate programs will not have bachelors degrees in agriculture either. You are not going to be at a disadvantage for not having such a specific degree when apply to grad programs. It is FAR better to start with a broad bachelor degree and move on to a specific graduate degree than to start with a specific bachelors degree. It is no different than how Journalism bachelors degrees are often discouraged. Most grad programs wants students who are going to bring a more broad degree of knowledge than what they already plan on teaching them.
I don’t know what you are majoring in now, but I would recommend pursuing something in UCB natural resources college. Maybe double majoring in something that could also compliment those studies if you have multiple interests. And then you can really dedicate yourself purely to agriculture for a masters or PhD.
@ggumgum May I ask why you want to transfer? Ag is my passion too and Berkeley’s Food Institute and Geography departments (check out their Human Geography courses, many relates to Ag) seemed pretty legit.
Although it is not comparable to the size of Davis’ Ag program, maybe you could do Ag internships over the summer. Also, if you double major as Interdisciplinary studies you can take grad courses, some of which are Ag focused. There is also the Food Systems minor (but I’m sure you know that). Although some of this is not farming-specific, you can get a lot of hands on training over the summer and maybe that will help you get to junior year w/o feeling stifled.