<p>First off, I know how hard it is to get into these schools (UCLA and UC Berkley) as a transfer applicant. I also know it is even harder to get in as an out of state transfer applicant. I get it, but that is not what I'm here for. I'm not looking for "chance me" answers. I am not going to focus on the negatives. I just want advice from those who have done it, or would have an idea of what plan would work given my situation. </p>
<p>I am currently a high school senior who will most likely attend the University of Colorado Boulder (in state, affordable, close to home). It was always my dream to go to UCLA and I applied, but I'm not sure how realistic living that dream is at the moment. One of the options I'm looking at is attending CU Boulder for 2 years, then transferring to either UCLA or UC Berkley. Obviously, I'm not sure if I will still want to transfer 2 years from now, but assuming I do, what can I do to give myself the best chance to successfully do this? Any advice from those who have successfully transferred into a UC school from out of state? I'm open to ideas, this whole process still overwhelms me, so having sensible advice would help a lot. Thanks!</p>
<p>First of all, could you afford even two years? Need based financial aid will be $22,000 per year short (that is the amount of the non-resident tuition surcharge).</p>
<p>I was instate by the time I transferred to UCB, but one thing to keep in mind is pre-reqs. You can use assist.org to see what classes incoming transfers are expected to have for what majors. The course articulations are only shown for California schools, but you can pick a random “from” school to get an idea of what courses you should take to be competitive.</p>
<p>Major plays a major role. Try to choose a major that is not impacted and has a high acceptance rate. Also pre-reqs are extremely important so make sure you complete all for your major.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re pretty set on going to CU-Boulder, but just know that if UCLA is your ultimate destination then attending a California CC (CCC) is probably the easier, more certain route. The UC-CSU system is mandated to give priority to CCC students for admission, although how that’s applied isn’t disclosed. Just know that those transferring from CCC’s into UCLA had around a 31% admit rate in 2012 vs 11% coming from OOS. </p>
<p>I know one of the bigger hurdles for OOS students is figuring out which classes are transferable or not. The CCC’s have articulation agreements with the UC’s for which students can see all the predetermined transferable classes in their course catalog and through using resources like ASSIST.org. As an OOS student it would probably behoove you to get in contact with a UCLA admission rep from day one to plan out your courses at CU-Boulder so that all of your units will transfer to UCLA. I know one of the big hang ups for many OOS comes when one of their courses isn’t transferable in a course they need for their major or to be eligible to transfer. Some people just look at the requirements on the UCLA website and make their own assumptions that a course is transferable and if it isn’t are rejected, even if their stats are fairly competitive. Don’t let that happen to you by instead going straight to the source by calling and speaking with a UCLA rep at least once every term to discuss your schedule. </p>
<p>Also know that you’re applying to an impacted major at UCLA, so it’s going to be that much more competitive for admission. For the best chance of transferring make sure you finish every pre-req and distinguish yourself from the applicant pool with worthwhile ECs outside of your classes that demonstrate your interest in your major. The average admitted GPA for a Poly Science transfer in 2012 to UCLA was an 3.78 (unweighted obviously because it’s college). So ideally try to stay above or at least around that GPA throughout college. Also know that UCLA doesn’t consider alternative majors (unless you TAP through a CC), so if you’re set on UCLA and applying to an impacted major you won’t be able to choose a back up major that’s less competitive and has better odds of acceptance. Also, if you consider applying to something other than Poly Sci know that UCLA does highly discourage people from transferring into impacted majors. It’s very rare, if not impossible. Anyway, that’s about the most I can think of being as I wasn’t an OOS admit, but I hope that helped anyway. Good luck!</p>