I’m attending college for the first time this January and am majoring in psychology. I’d like to transfer to a top 10 university for psychology as soon as possible. In high school, I scored an 1870 on the sats, and didn’t take the ACT. I had a 4.2 GPA and top 5% rank + plenty of extra curriculars. I was wondering what I need to do these first 2 years (or possibly 1 year) of undergrad to set myself up for admission into top universities, besides getting high grades. I was thinking about retaking the SATS or taking the ACT for the first time (since they changed the format for the sat’s right after i graduated -__-) I’m pretty confident that with studying I can raise my score significantly. Also, considering that i’m starting college in the spring semester, would finding a summer internship be more challenging? Could anyone with circumstances similar to mine share their experiences and maybe give me some insight on what I need to do have a standout application? I’ve faced an extreme amount of adversity over the past couple of years, so i’ll definitely try to incorporate that into my app, but what else? thanks!!!
Top 10 universities in California or in the U.S.?
I am assuming that since this is the UC forum that you mean in California, but if you mean in the country, then it would be best to not even begin attending that university and start attending a community college. Transferring between universities to a top university as a psychology major is the definition of impossible. Psychology is impacted essentially everywhere and the Psych departments at universities such as UCB are ultimately impressed by nothing in terms of stats. It can be a shot in the dark for CC students. 4 year to 4 year transfers are challenge enough.
The top universities in California, however, includes a number of universities besides UCB and UCLA, which would be much more reasonable to shoot for. Still far more challenging then transferring from community college, but absolutely doable.
Are you a California resident? What university are you about to attend?