I’m currently a student at UC Irvine, but I have strong urges to transfer. I’ve grown to like UCI, but am determined to attend a Berkeley, UCLA, or even UCSD. I believe these schools can help me reach my full potential with it’s reputation of better career opportunities, high academics, strong alumni networks, I could go on.
However, I’m not sure if it would be smarter to transfer as a junior student or as a student going into grad school.
I’m trying to base it around these:
• Whether it is easier to get accepted as a graduate student or junior transfer student
• Whether making friends is as a transfer student is really as difficult as others make it sound
• Whether employers care more about the school I attended for graduate school (the final school I attend) or simply every school I attend
If anyone could answer these or include other points I didn’t mention, but should consider, please let me know.
Also, if there are people that have successfully transferred, I’d appreciate tips on how to improve my chances of getting accepted.
CC to Berkeley transfer here:
It really depends on a case by case basis regarding undergrad transfer vs grad school, but generally all but the very elite employers or very specific fields (e.g. law) care only about your last place of education.
I will say that as a fellow transfer: you potentially have less resources available to you in the way that a lot of the best opportunities require a lot of networking and maneuvering within the specific campuses and, as an newcomer, you might have to defer to to those have been wheeling and dealing longer. The devil’s advocate view also holds true: there are a lot of freshmen that don’t take advantage of those resources early and you can spin your transfer status to have a definite advantage over them.
As far as befriending people as a transfer student: it’s really up the student, bit I’d lean to the difficulty being over-exaggerated. I know a couple of people that were very introverted and secluded that had a rough time finding a niche to call their own, but I also know many others that had no trouble. There are tangible obstacles and it’s definitely harder than as a freshmen where everyone is in the same boat looking to make friend groups, but at the same time all UCs have some form of community engagement programs that exists for students to intermingle. Berkeley for instance has the Berkeley Connect program for select majors which is amazing for finding friends within the same field of study and DeCals for just finding people with similar interests.
In any case, a transfer application is not a written obligation… a lot of people have applied only to make their decision once their options were set.
Hey there! I am transferring to UCLA from UCI this fall. To sum up my experience, I just felt like UCI couldn’t offer me the best of what was out there, and I felt like I’d be better off with the rest of my college career and in the future with a degree from UCLA. On another hand, UCI wasn’t doing it for me socially, and I was rather miserable. I made some great friends but it just wasn’t a fit as a whole. UCLA was always my dream and I decided to give it a shot. And I gotta say, at first I was really worried about starting over, but I’m so excited to get a second chance this fall and make the best out of being a Bruin. Let me know if you have any UCI-specifc questions, I’d be happy to help!
SDGoldenBear,
Congratulations on your Berkeley transfer! It didn’t even occur to me that networking could actually be more difficult when transferring. Thank you, everything you included was helpful, I’ll keep it all in mind.
I do understand that sending an application does not guarantee an acceptance back. I’m aware each of these schools have stiff competition, but I have a somewhat solid idea of what I needed to do to higher my chances as a competitive candidate.
Fncrance,
Congratulations on your UCLA transfer and good luck at the new school! I can completely relate to your feelings towards UCI. The reasons you mentioned are also my reasons for wanting to transfer.
Few questions to each/whoever can answer:
• How early did you start planning to/when did you know you wanted to transfer?
• Did you receive help from any type of counselor, use internet resources, or just apply when it was time, hoping for the best?
• I know it’s difficult to run as a transfer candidate, and it seems discourages within the UC system. Do you have any ideas of how you were able to make your application stand out from others despite these obstacles? (GPA, jobs, etc.)
Again, thank you!
I had a bit of an idea last summer that I wanted to transfer, and I kinda got a head start on the process working on a little bit at a time. I started brainstorming early about what I wanted to write in my essays. They’re a little bit different from the freshman application ones. For instance, one of them asks why you picked your major and what you’ve done to prepare. I applied to UCLA as a Math/Econ major, and I talked about how my time as a math tutor at the local learning center really influenced my decision to pursue what I loved outside the classroom.
I mostly used internet resources about applying as an intercampus transfer. Not sure about SD, but UCLA actually gives the same priority to community college students and students transferring from another UC campus! Berkeley supposedly discourages intercampus transfers, but you can find people on here who transferred successfully (I didn’t apply there, so I can’t help you with that).
Here’s some more general info from Ms Sun:
http://■■■■■■■■■■■■/home/uc-transfer-admission-information/#uc2uc
If you haven’t already, you should familiarize yourself with her website. She may have already answered some other questions you may have.
My primary advice to you at this point is to finish your major prerequisites and your lower division GE’s (At UCI this includes everything except the upper division writing requirement).
In terms of priority for admissions, UCLA is the most intercampus friendly(same consideration as CC transfers) and UCB being the most discouraging.
If you’re planning on transferring, you’ll need to start planning ASAP as finishing your prereq’s is of utmost importance. As for resources, I found askmssun and these forums to have been the most helpful. If UCLA is your main goal, their admissions office is usually very helpful. Make sure to utilize assist.org as well.
Feel free to message me; I’m a UCSC-UCLA transfer admitted this year.
when you transfer, do u start from freshman year? sorry idk anything about transferring