Transferring to UC Berkeley

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>Hello, my name is Ashley and I'm new to this forum. I apologize if there are already UC Berkeley threads, but I feel I have a unique situation and would like some input.</p>

<p>I'm currently living in Japan with family attending school and working. I attend the University of Maryland University College on the military base here, but would like to transfer so I can receive a degree from a highly ranked state-side school (planning to go to law school). Due to serious medical issues, I graduated high school late. I attended college here in Japan and had a fairly decent 3.4GPA when I left, but took a year off to to get married. After spending a year in Indiana, I moved back here while my husband is deployed. Circumstances over the past year have helped motivate me to pursue a good education (I'm ashamed to admit, it wasn't my highest priority in the past). An advisor recently informed with a decent GPA, I could transfer into Berkeley. </p>

<p>I'm currently working to raise my GPA. I had a 4.0, but my last semester prior to moving to Indiana I got a few B's and C's due to lack to studying. Are there any other steps I should take? Any factors that could help or hinder my efforts? Does the fact I'm not a California resident hurt me?</p>

<p>I'd also like to know of any other highly ranked colleges that tend to take on more transfer students.</p>

<p>I really appreciate your help and thank you for time.</p>

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<p>Welcome to CC Ashley. There is a lot of information on transfer applications on the CC site “Transfer Students”. There is also a forum just for UCBerkeley, if you look under top universities, or state universities you will find it. Once there, take a look at the stats of accepted applicants to get an idea of how you stand.</p>

<p>Out of state applicants do need higher grades and scores, however you seem to have an upward trend in your GPA, so that will be helpful.</p>

<p>Try scouring the UCB website, look for the “Common Data Set”, it will show the statistics for transfer students admissions, and give you an idea of the acceptance rate for transfers. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Thank you Fauve, I appreciate you input! I will check out the other forums and UCB stats. :)</p>

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<p>You’re welcome Ashley. And please tell your husband thank you for his service to the country, and we wish him a safe deployment.</p>

5

<p>Ashley I went to UMUC while stationed in germany. So I am familiar with your situation. I do have to give you the heads up though because UMUC is technically a 4 year university most ALL UC schools have a unit cap for transferring students from a 4 yr. I only completed 19 units there and then went to CCC and did something like 76 units or something. UC’s have different rules but I barely squeezed through because the schools I applied to only allowed combination of only 90 total units and UC will only use a max of 70 CCC units so that brought my total to 89! Check into what UC you want to go to and there unit max from transferring students from 4 year schools. If Berkeley is the only UC you are applying to (I would recommend applying to more than just there) there rules are different in that as long as you are transferring from a CCC then there is no unit max. Some school dept. have different rules like College of Chemistry and Engineering and stuff but L&S follows only that rule. There is other forums on here that have links to help you out. They are here in the UC transfer pages. Hope that helps!!!</p>

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<p>Ashley, it’s really important that you focus on your grades and try to get a few good E.C.'s in there as well. You seem like you have a pretty compelling story too, so that should def help out somewhere in the personal statement. </p>

<p>I think I read in another one of your threads that you are a Psych major and Philosophy minor. I think that’s really interesting, because I am also a Psych major and am looking into minor-“ing” in Philosophy. I applied for fall 2010 admissions to Berkeley. Here’s the thing though.</p>

<p>I applied Psych to all campuses (UCLA, Davis, UCSC) except for Berkeley. Psych is impacted at UCB, and thus much more exclusive (roughly 28% acceptance rate I think). Philosophy at Cal, however, is not impacted and according to UC statfinder is the least exclusive major (roughly 45% acceptance rate). I figured that I had a solid shot at either major: 3.74 UC GPA, EC’s, good statments, and a huge upward trend.</p>

<p>I didn’t want to risk being rejected though. I’ll admit that in this instance I was a coward. Therefore, as you have probably already guessed, I applied as a Philosophy major. Generally if you have around a 3.58+ you have a good shot of being admitted. </p>

<p>However, I have very good news: As long as it’s within the same college (Letters and Sciences that is) one can switch majors pretty easily even if it is impacted during their first semester at UCB. SO, that means I have applied as a Phil major and will likely be switching into the Psych major in fall 2010. The only schools discluded, as far as I can think of, are Haas at UCB and engineering.</p>

<p>All this being said, I encourage you to do some introspection and have a strategy for the application in November. I wasn’t even going to apply to UCB because I thought my GPA was too low and that I didn’t meet prerequisite requirements. I did my research here on College Confidential, took a proactive stance towards my education, just as you are doing now, and because of it, I may very well be a bear in the fall.</p>

<p>Psych at UCB is top 5 (and sometimes considered top 3) in the nation. It’s completely worth taking the necessary classes and doing whatever it takes to do your best to get to UCB. </p>

<p>I hope to see you there…and myself there lol one day. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>You’re out of state, so that’s gonna hurt you a lot. Other than that, just apply and see.</p>