<p>the average to get in is a 3.8 so you should try and push to at least that by next fall. And thanks ill do the same, good luck man!</p>
<p>@MikeSauce your work in the marines is stellar! Berkeley is one of the top universities to support military re-entry. Yeah, what they want to see is leadership, confidence, giving back… You gave back in spades in the marines protecting our country. I would assume you will have a powerful essay incorporating your work in the marines. Logistics is a great topic, and who doesn’t want to know some inner workings, and how you handled a stressful situation or overcame any feelings of doubt, etc. in the process. Berkeley is holistic and you bring a fresh view and diversity. Just keep your eye on the prize. </p>
<p>UPDATE: I just noticed you’re out of state. A little harder for undergrads, as they usually take mostly in-state. (Not so on graduate level, which is much more spread out.) that could be a setback. Hopefully, the rest overcomes it.</p>
<p>thanks Im ve been working on my personal statement for a while now, and its coming along.
Im not out state lol, I live like 30 minutes from berkeley</p>
<p>I think all military people are considered instate for college admissions. </p>
I see you’re doing TAP. Are veterans eligible for TAP at UCB?
@bomerr is right, but I think you have to be stationed in California in some manner to get residence status.
Re TAP, I know military are eligible for TAG and UCLA TAP, so I don’t see why not UCB’s. It’s a different program, based on financial need, but I would think a military person could apply. I’m not sure there would be a deterrent.
Mike, use that VA office at Berkeley; I think you will be a go for Berkeley. Take a chance.
@briank82 Why wouldnt we? The gi bill gives money based on school location and where I currently go to school it awards me about 20k a year, I would hardly call that a privileged lifestyle, the program is also in place to help first gen college students which I am.
@aunt bea I will give them a call tomorrow and see if they are willing to help lol
@MikeSauce Good info, thanks. I was understanding that TAP for UCB was strictly about underrepresented minorities. Unless veterans are considered underrepresented?
I think underrepresented minorities and veterans are mutually exclusive, meaning one does not preclude the other.
I found this while poking around the UCB website, sorry if you’ve already seen it @MikeSauce and @briank82 !
Thanks @luckie1367, as well as you, @lindyk8 … both of you have been so helpful!
I was at Berkeley yesterday or the day before and actually tried to find the TRSP center but it was either closed because of renovation or I just couldn’t find it … but will definitely be looking into any services they may have to offer.
yeah thanks a lot for the help! Ive done a lot of poking around online and I found that link a while ago, not soon enough to meet the deadline tho 
maybe next year!
@briank82 did you happen to talk to the VA? When I was down there I didnt have a chance to talk to them, I emailed them a while ago but I guess they are still on vacation
@MikeSauce I didn’t. Really not sure why I didn’t, but I should have since I was down there. I think I thought they were located with TRSP, which I tried to find but couldn’t because of some construction.
I’ve basically wasted most of my GI Bill though and by the time I (hopefully) get to UCB, I’d only have a semester or so worth of entitlements. Could be worse though, I suppose!
@briank82 Ok well then you need to look up something called vocational rehab, im not too sure on the details but my current VA has told me that If you have a 20% disability rating then when you run out of your gi bill you can apply for vocational rehab and its basically like a second gi bill. Again im not sure how much it is but my VA pushes that every time I see them. I would know more about it but I only got a 10% rating
Why are you even asking if you’re gonna get it in? This reminds me of Urban Dictionary’s definition of College Confidential lol
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=College+Confidential
@btheral Be helpful, kind, or supportive. If you are going to be mean, don’t post at all
@MikeSauce You’re a veteran, right? And not active duty? I’m seeing that those on active duty need to be 20%, but veterans just need 10%.
"EVALUATION : If you have a VA combined service-connected disability rating of 10 percent or more and you apply for vocational rehabilitation, we will provide you a comprehensive evaluation. During this evaluation, a VA counselor will work with you to answer a variety of questions. Such as:
- Do you meet the basic entitlement requirements?
- Are you within the time limit for receiving this benefit? (This is generally 12 years from the date VA notified you that you had at least a 10% service-connected disability.)"
http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-28-1900-ARE.pdf
Also,
"Veterans are eligible if they:
Have received, or will receive, a discharge that is other than dishonorable
Have a service-connected disability rating of at least 10% from VA
Apply for VR&E services"
http://www.benefits.va.gov/vocrehab/eligibility_and_entitlement.asp
But how it all works (from what I’ve briefly read) is that it’s a bit more difficult using than the GI Bill and you’re at the mercy of the counselors assigned to you. Also, and this is important, you/we are entitled to 48 months of educational benefits through the VA. Whether that’s GI Bill for voc rehab, it all draws from that same 48 months. That’s how I’m understanding it anyway.
Not sure if it’ll be of any use to me, but gonna keep looking into it.
@btheral I feel like this is the exact opposite of that, most of the post Ive seen are people asking for advice on how to improve their application, I can totally see how someone with low stats would see it a different way though. And while I appreciate that you think my stats are so good that Im just on here bragging, thats not at all the point, Im honestly just tying to build to strongest application possible.
@briank82 thanks for the info, yeah Im not active duty anymore. I see what youre saying, Im actually planning on using all 48 months then lol Im using chapter 30 benefits for 3 years which will allow me an additional year of chapter 33 so it will be 4 years, just enough to finish.