In-state CC student
Note: Attended UC Davis for two quarters (Fall 2015, Winter 2016)
Major: Global Studies/Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS not listed in the application, not sure if it’s still even a major at UCB)
GPA: 3.82
UC GPA: 3.74
Major Prep: 3/4 for PACS and 3/7 for Global Studies – IAS 45, PACS 10, and Global Studies 10b can only be taken in Berkeley. Will finish up my 4th semester of language during junior year.
IGETC: Done after Summer 2017
TAP: Yes
TAG: No
ECs:
Work 20-30 hrs/week; merchandiser.
-Server at my local soup kitchen for six years
-Caregiver for grandmother and mother
-Social activism and campaigning to bring UC Davis’ newspaper back into print
-Tutor a refugee
-Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society, leading a “refugee committee”
-Independent research in international relations
-Campus news reporter at UC Davis
-Les Mills classes
-Drawing/Painting
Awards:
-Academic Honors List
-Article published in UCD’s 100th anniversary print edition
-Journalism scholarship from Asian Pacific Fund
-High School English Medal
-High School Journalism Medal
Personal Statements:
Required question, about my interest in Global Studies, specifically peace and conflict, and how I’ve led members of AGS to join refugee resettlement organizations.
Talent essay, about how I’ve grown and excelled as a journalist at UC Davis after covering a breaking news story about the protest against our chancellor.
Challenge essay, about how I’ve overcome my mental disability and performed well in school after being hospitalized in a psych hospital during my first year of college. (best essay)
Change to community essay, about tutoring my refugee in his home, exchanging cultures with him, and teaching him English
Applying: UCB, UCLA
It’s either Berkeley or go back to Davis for me. I need to be closer to home for personal reasons. I’m determined to graduate from a UC. Just applying to UCLA to see if I’ll get in. I really hope I get into Berkeley. I feel like I have a good chance. My TAP counselor says my essays are really strong.
I didn’t input my non-transferable courses (which I got an A and a P) in my UC TAG, does that matter? or is there any chance that I can add these courses to my UC TAG right now?
@Ohm888 Really? When I did my application, I didn’t see any non-transerable courses to enter. That is weird.
It never showed up. I did input all of the grades for UC Transferables though. Sadly I’m not applying this year. I’ll check again.
No, my application only shows the UC transferable courses. LACCD might be different then… I’m wondering why it’s not showing up. I’m currently on Academic History. I did input all the grades for UC transferable courses. Non-transferable courses aren’t anywhere, and they do not show up.
I was thinking about inputting all grades, so I did open all the categories thinking it would be there.
Easy one should be English. In LACCD, any English below 101 is non transferable.
Not sure if anyone’s asked this yet, but I’m having an issue with the application. For the Academic History portion of the application, it says I need one more English course. I am taking one right now, and I was exempt from the other English I needed to take because of my AP English scores. It asks for the status of my second English course (the one I was exempt from). If I put “already completed with a grade C or better,” it asks for the dept., course number, and course title. The other three options are in progress, planned, and none planned/not completed. What should I do?
@Aharris1105 Being an out of state transfer is going to make it tougher, however, not impossible. I actually have a friend who transferred from Washington State that I met at CalSO (student orientation)! His situation was that he didn’t really enjoy it at Washington, so he went back to a CCC for a year and then transferred to Cal.
By the look of your stats and extracurriculars you look like you have a solid chance. Have you completed all the pre-reqs for Asian Studies? Also, make sure you are at 90 quarter units before the end of the Spring before your transfer.
Side note: Cal is playing Washington Nov 5. Just had to throw that in there!
@GoBearsss I know I have completed the pre-reqs to be able to transfer into the UW’s Asian Studies program. I should probably go see the pre-reqs for UC Berkely’s Asian Studies program. I’m currently just looking for extra schools to apply to just in case I do not make it into the UW this winter since I am applying before my AA. If I don’t get in then I will be staying at my CC and be getting my AA this spring and I will be applying to more universities than just the UW. My professor/advisor told me if I don’t get in for the winter then I will for sure be getting in the UW for the fall.
Do you know if being a dependent of a veteran will help my chances also?
There’s also a big difference, I believe, with being out of state and going to an out of state school versus being considered an out of state student attending and transferring from a California community college. The latter has better chances.
@annbern My TAP counselor filled in the respective slots: English, AP, Comp and Lit (I took both exams). For department, you would put English; for course number, you would fill in AP; for title you would put either comp or lit.
@briank82 The extension won’t do much. People are put under “priority” when they turn in their application under the November deadline. Take this for example: Two qualified applicants (of the same level) were fighting for one spot. Applicant 1 submitted their application during the November deadline and applicant 2 did not.
@jujuloos Your IGETC being incomplete until Summer 2017 is worrying, especially since you are a UC-UC transfer. Also, admissions officers usually skip over high school awards/extracurriculars because you are being evaluated as a COLLEGE student. However, your achievements seem to note that you’ve been carrying merit in journalism even past high school. You have a great holistic profile, nonetheless. Best of luck to you.
Anyways, here’s my stats:
CCC student
Major: Applied Math (or Statistics)
GPA: 3.77
Major Prep: Done after spring (still need DE and LA)
IGETC: Done after winter
TAP: Yes
ECs:
English Tutor at my local CC (September '16 - Present)
Tutored calculus at my local HS (2014 - 2016)
Self-studied some programming, economics, and film concepts during Summer '15 and '16
Physical activity (basketball, swimming, running) since 2013
Helped out my high school’s XC team during Summer '15 and '16
Volunteer at a tech museum (July '16 - Present)
Volunteer with a non-profit organization (July '15 - Present)
Worked at a local amusement park (March '16 - June '16)
Currently in the honors program at my school; have taken a minimum of 3 honors courses, requiring research outside of the classroom
Currently contributing to web development and machine learning groups for a club on campus (September '16 - Present)
Awards:
Dean’s List (year round)
Personal Statements:
Used my volunteer experience at a tech museum as a frame towards writing about my interests in numbers/stats (making meaning out of numbers). Talked about my preparation by enrolling in introductory programming courses and engaging in collaborative projects such as introduction to machine learning.
Used the creativity prompt in order to write about my interests in film–particularly visuals and cinematography–and how that has helped my creative process whenever I capture pictures.
Chronicled a story about how I finally felt like I made an impact in my small community with the non-profit organization that I volunteered with.
Wrote about my family history, how it distorted my perception of education, and how that has changed over the past two years. Includes my intellectual curiosity and hence my self-studying over the course of two summers. (*Reminder: I’m a TAP student).
Applying: UCB, UCLA, UCI, UCSD
Note: I got a B in a 5 semester/7.5 quarter unit summer course during high school in 2012. Without that class, my GPA is a 3.86. I am thinking that the B won’t be considered as much onto my GPA because it is a precalculus course that I took in order to get ahead to AP Calculus AB during high school in 2012.
IGETC: will be done by Spring 2017 (Need one more art class in winter and a physical science in spring)
Major: will be done in Spring 2017 (Need managerial acctg in spring and Math 3B - Calc II in spring)
ECs: In HS: Leo’s Club (cleaned up park and helped w/ XMas party for the blind), NHS tutor, and did Relay for Life for a video game club. In College: N/A (I know this is bad). I run a YouTube movie review channel, but I only have 12 public videos. I focus on older movies b/c it’s more expensive to keep watching new movies every week at the theater.
Schools applied for: Will apply to SJSU and Cal Poly SLO. For UC: Irvine, Davis (tagged for Econ, didn’t realize there was Managerial Econ b/c I tagged last minute), and maybe Berkeley for Econ (I don’t qualify for Haas or Enviro Econ b/c I only got a 3 for AP English Lang, which doesn’t count for Engl 1A at Berkeley but it’s fine at a CCC). I will also apply to UH - Manoa.
Personal Statements: Haven’t done them yet b/c I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to a UC. I will answer the creative question w/ my movie review experience in HS newspaper and YouTube. I will also answer the educational opportunity question w/ taking my senior year at a community college. I will probably answer the unique question (#7) in some way.
How much do Spring 2017 grades matter? Does anyone mind chancing me? Will I have to take the equivalent to English 1A at Berkeley or at my community college in order to graduate from Berkeley if I were admitted? I would have IGETC done before transfer b/c of AP credit for English.
@rootcause Thank you! Also, how do you know November applicants have priority? I was thankful for the extension because that meant I could have put my club leadership roles and internship for a longer amount of time.
Here, it states that “some majors will likely fill up with those who have applied during the priority application period. As a result, it is in an applicant’s best interest to apply by the original deadline if possible.”
The way I took this is that impacted majors would give precedence to those under “priority” status. The rest of the FAQ, however, seems to just state that there is a higher acceptance rate in those who apply earlier during the November priority period.
Though it is known that correlation does not mean causation, I’m taking the announcement as some sort of false hope and thus am still going to turn in my application during the priority period.
For anybody else reading this, please correct me if I’m wrong.
@rootcause That’s really helpful, thank you! One last question for clarification, am I correct in assuming that spring semester grades cannot help you as an applicant? I think I may get a B in my English class (I was hoping for straight As because my extracurriculars are lacking), and I know my spring semester classes would help bring that GPA back up-- but UCs send out decisions before the end of your spring semester, right?
@briank82 Yeah, I realize my ECs aren’t that great and I haven’t done my essays. I’m probably out of my league here, especially if I even qualified for Haas pre-req-wise. Econ is my back up, and I’ve heard that it’s tough. Plus, I’d only be a pre-major, if admitted, and there’s no guarantee. I did call Berkeley’s econ department and they said that I should be fine, since English isn’t a pre-req. I probably would have to take English 1A at some point, depending if I go to a UC or not, to graduate.
@TheLongRun Haas is crazy tough to get into and the caliber of students who apply there is high and their ECs are usually pretty crazy. As a transfer though, you don’t get a backup major. You get to apply into one major and one major only. If you don’t make it into that major, you don’t get into Berkeley. For people wanting Haas, it’s a pretty tough decision because you can’t have a backup major like econ, political economy, etc, where you might be more competitive.
I question what yo were told on English. Assist says you need “The L&S Requirements in Reading & Composition,” which is two semesters of english. This is required to get in, not to gradate, I believe. I would double, double check that.
@laccstudent I had trouble figuring out how to do this the first time as well. For about 30 mins. Anyway, go to your mycoursework --> Complete step 1,2,3 in the search for courses section --> Scroll all the way down --> at the bottom of the course list, you will see a link, “My course is not listed here. Add it”. With a red warning at the bottom.
