I figured it was about time to start this - we have the UCLA one. It is fairly early, but the more prepared we are, the better.
So, yeah. Open discussion I suppose.
Has anyone started their personal statement prompts? Any ideas/tips regarding them? Would anyone be willing to exchange and read/edit/give feedback for personal statements? Any thoughts or concerns regarding the process as a whole?
I’ll be applying as a transfer from a california community college. It’s probably a long shot, though.
I will be applying as a Math major, 3.67 GPA at end of fall, completed honors program (21/15 units completed), student government (senator and vice president), swim team, waterpolo team, ssccc regional student government work. At california community college.
I haven’t started the personal statements yet, but I’ve made notes about what I will be writing about.
Applied Mathematics major as well as the first guy. So far it’s:
GPA: 4
Major GPA: 4
EC’s: Worked at a fast food joint for a year and now am a freelance writer.
I’ll have every major pre-req done by Fall 2015
IGETC: Will be done by Spring 2016
I’ll be taking 4 math classes this semester, so I’m anticipating my GPA to land around 3.8 after Fall, but we’ll see how I do.
I’m a philosophy major.
GPA: 4.0
EC’s: Philosophy Club, Chess Club, worked at a restaurant since my senior year of high school as a busboy/cashier, apprenticeship with reputable Philosophy professor.
IGETC will be completed by Fall 2015
I’ll also be taking 3 philosophy courses at Cal by Spring 2016 through cross-enrollment/summer sessions. They are the 3 prerequisites for the major, and aren’t offered at any CC in CA as far as I know. If I can get the classes (one I’m signed up for, two I can take if there’s room in the class) all of my prereq’s will be completed by the spring.
Oops, I missed the limit for editing. Read this, not that ^
Full post:
I guess I’ll do mine.
Major: Philosophy (possibly considering a minor in anthro/rhetoric, not really sure)
Transferable GPA: 4.0
EC’s: Philosophy Club, Chess Club, worked at a restaurant since my senior year of high school as a busboy/cashier, apprenticeship thing with a reputable Philosophy professor in PA (who happens to be my grandfather).
IGETC will be completed by Fall 2015
I’ll also be taking 3 philosophy courses at Cal by Spring 2016 through cross-enrollment/summer sessions - they are the three prerequisites for my major, and they aren’t offered at any CC in CA as far as I’m aware. If I can get the classes (one I’m signed up for, two I can take if there’s room in the class) all of my prereq’s will be completed by the spring. GPA might drop a bit because I will be taking Cal classes, but at least I’ll have all prerequisites finished and some experience with UC Berkeley courses.
I start the first prereq, PHILOS 12A: Intro to Symbolic Logic, next week. ~O)
The main thing I’m worried about is the personal statement. The transfer prompt should be really easy, but I have no idea what I want to talk about for the general prompt. I don’t want to give a sob story, but just about anything I’m particularly proud about experiencing is, or seems to be, a sob story.
@goldencub, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but a “sob story” is only bad if it’s a pity party. You can tell them about something that’s been rough in your life, but how you overcame it, and they’ll like that. Rather than saying “my life’s so hard, plzzzz feel bad for me!” say, “something bad happened, I faced it and did well, plzzzzz love me” (without the plz’s, of course, and maybe no begging haha).
Will be applying to Berkeley’s Haas in the fall.
GPA: In the neighborhood of 3.7-3.8ish.
Major GPA: Not quite sure, probably 3.7ish.
EC’s:
VP of Student Veterans Organization
VP of Community Service for my school’s Phi Theta Kappa
member of the garden club
I’ve been a business owner for the last seven years (editor-in-chief of a nationally distributed print magazine that’s been recognized by Forbes)
Currently a freelance journalist and independent contractor handling the digital marketing strategy and digital communications for a Bay Area company that handles the importing and marketing of 30+ brands and 300+ products from around the world in the US. Working full time.
Hooks: Veteran, Re-entry (will be almost 30 when I apply), DSPS (qualify for disability services), TAP, combat/humanitarian deployments around the world
I’ve taken a lot of classes over the years and have 100+ semester units. I took classes 10 years ago and I didn’t do all that well. I took classes while deployed to Iraq and had little time to work on them, and I was getting B’s. And I’ve taken classes over the last few years and I didn’t do bad, but I received a few too many B’s as I was working full time (at some points, had up to 3 jobs). But once I got serious about school, my load increased and I’ve gotten all A’s. I took 18 units in spring, taking 12 now in the summer, and will be taking 23 in fall. Taking as much as I can to get as many A’s on my transcript as possible and really solidify how I’ve changed academically. I’ve also retaken (or will retake) 3 classes I previously received C-'s in 10 years ago and while they aren’t necessary for Haas, I want to both raise my GPA and show I can get A’s in these classes that previous I did poorly in.
My GPA is good but not impressive … and realistically, it’s average for Haas.
All pre-reqs will be done and I should have seven breadth requirement done as well.
My load will lighten up in the spring, where my main concerns will be a second semester of language and a second semester of UCB’s Math 16B equivalent.
Personal statements … haven’t started or put much thought into them yet, but I have a feeling they’ll be fairly strong.
I think the holistic approach will suit me well though I think as my background and experience (including strong business and workplace experience) is really unique. I feel I’m strong because of this, but obviously there just isn’t much room in Haas so who knows.
@Nediac Yeah, but I feel that if I talked about something I overcame, it would seem that I am trying too hard to appeal to pity, which I’d rather not do. I’ll probably talk about such circumstances anyway, considering that’s what the prompt is essentially about. It’s probably going to be about my first experience with death in high school, how I lost all motivation and whatnot with my lowest GPA one marking period being a 0.73, and how I’ve turned things around, but still, I just don’t really want to go too into it. I probably should, though, and just make a point to emphasize how overcoming it all has benefited me in a number of ways, but I think it’s really easy to appear all “woe is me”. I know it goes over well with admissions, but it’s just not something I particularly want to do, so I suppose I’ll just have to be especially careful
@briank82 Your EC’s and extenuating circumstances are definitely really strong advantages, they’ll probably love you - good luck!
@swim23 have you completed all of your prereq’s? / IGETC or general ed?
@naregian I’m sure you’ll be fine. We’ve finished the first year, and the spring of next year won’t really matter regarding GPA. Even if you get a couple of B’s next semester, your GPA should be fine for your application.
@goldencub igetc will be done after fall, prerecs done after spring
@goldencub take the advice of a 20 year old student with as much consideration as you can, but I think that would be a great topic. You’re basically telling whoever is reading your essay that you faced this problem that everyone thinks they’ll never truly face, and you overcame the impact it had on you. I’d talk to a counselor as well if I were you to have their input, but I think that would be a good topic. Mine was essentially about how bad it sucked to watch everyone I knew move away, and how I learned from that that I had to do well to move on too. It probably sounded like a pity party at certain points, but the difference in mine (like yours) is that I showed how I overcame my attitude/feelings of rushing to get out of CC.
@Nediac Yeah, it’s just something I’d rather not do. I’ll probably do it anyway, though.
major: Business Admin/Econ
GPA:3.9 (one B in a class that doesn’t transfer)
Major GPA:4
EC’s/work:
Senator in student government
Treasurer in student government
Teachers aid for a math class
Math tutor
Administrative clerk for the Department of Veterans affairs
Member of PTK and AGS
Student member of a hiring committee for school staff
A couple other things, in general ive been just giving back to my community which ties in nicely with my personal essays
Hooks:Veteran, URM, First gen, taking a class at UCB this summer, couple other things 
My actual resume is a lot more robust and overall I feel like I have a good shot at getting in. My personal essays are basically about why I want to go to school and how its not about just getting a job or getting a degree, its about something bigger. I still need to get it reviewed but I feel its pretty strong.
Honestly not too worried about my UCB app. Ive set my sights on more competitive schools, without revealing my whole hand, Im in a veterans network that has connections with the admissions office of veteran friendly schools.
@goldencub I’m just worried about my complete lack of EC’s
@naregian do you write regularly? You have more than none, at least. UC’s don’t really care about EC’s for transfer - primarily just general ed, prerequisite completion, enough units, etc. You should be fine so long as you keep your GPA up and have adequate preparation for transferring (as you said you will).
@naregian your job and freelance writing will suffice.
Reposting here so you can see.
UC admissions data released Thursday indicate an increase in nonresident and transfer admissions for fall 2015 compared with previous years statistics, while California freshman applicants faced a 1.7 percent decline in acceptances.
Does anyone know how much assist.org agreements change from year to year?
They’re still showing 14-15 agreements, and it says it bold red something along the lines that 15-16 agreements haven’t been posted yet. I’m just thinking of the slim possibility of an agreement changing halfway through a required sequence, or language or something like that.
Hi @briank82 in general they don’t change, but there are ocassional changes, albeit rare. I would just go with the old one for now.
I’m applying for EECS. I’m really interested in the EECS/MSE Joint major but as far as I can tell we have to apply for joint majors after we are accepted.
GPA: Currently a 3.1, after retaking all the classes I had previously failed my first time around in school I will be sitting around a 3.6, which I know is still really low.
EC’s: I’ve worked at a hospital (I basically watched mental health and elderly confused patients to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves) for four years. I recently started a new job as a math/physics/chemistry tutor at my college. Student-Parent. I sang lead vocals and played guitar in a pop-punk/pop-rock band for a few years while I wasn’t in school, does that count?
IGETC: N/A. I’m OOS.
For my personal statements I’m planning on writing about how difficult it was to come back to school as a parent because I was ineligible for financial aid due to how bad my GPA was (it was a 1.7 when I first started back) from my first attempt at college. And for the transfer prompt I’m kind of split on what to write about. I’m thinking either how playing in a band and my interest in tube amplifiers steered me down the path of Electrical Engineering, or how when I was growing up (my parents were very poor when I was younger) the computer was kind of an escape from everything. You know, until we had to get rid of it because my parents couldn’t afford to keep it. I think the second one makes more sense, and is a lot more honest since I really want to get into computer hardware, but I love the electric guitar, and I think the first topic would be easier to write about.
I’m very aware that my odds are slim-to-none since I’m out of state. I wouldn’t even have good odds if I were in state. I’m eagerly awaiting my rejection letter 
Good luck everyone!
Would completing English R1B without completing the R1A requirement lead to an automatic rejection? I have taken 2 (college-level) English courses at my community college but for some reason, according to Assist, only the English R1B course seems to articulate. Mechanical Engineering major.