Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N): Y
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: 4 courses in progress
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: not much.
@jackpotgirl777 I did all the prerequisites, but calculus. I didn’t even attempt to take the course because I would need geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, then finally calculus 1. Attempting to get the calculus done, would have set me back 1 whole year. I still applied though. They probably took into consideration the fact that the prerequisites changed last minute.
Overall GPA: 3.90
Major GPA: 4.00
Major Pre-reqs Completed (Y/N): No
Major:Pre-Psychology
TAP (Y/N):YES
IGETC (Complete/Incomplete):YES
Personal statements:8/10 talked about my passion for psychology and the humanistic approach, applying it to the people around me
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: PTK, Honors Program (TAP), VP LGBTQ Club, Mentored at-risk youth, community service, deans list, presidents honors, UCLA-CCCP. Worked part-time for school district emphasis with special ed classroom.
Estimated Family Contribution(EFC)/Income Bracket: $500
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected (strengths/weaknesses): First generation college student, competitive GPA, and involvement with community.
Accepted!!! Transfer from CC (Berkeley City College) to UC. Feel free to hit me up with questions!
Major: Business
UC Transferable GPA: 3.91
Completion of Major Prerequisites? Yes, but taking the final Calc 16B now (Spring 2016)
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: 5/7, I still need to take a physical science and a social science
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: Worked full time in HR, volunteered for three organizations, honor roll 3/4 semesters, three awards/scholarships from BCC, promoted at work
Major:Peace and Conflict Studies(Planning double major in Middle Eastern Studies)
UC Transferable GPA:3.9
Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N):Yes
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?:By the end of spring semester
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: Founder/president of a campus club, Model Arab League, 1 of 10 U.S. students selected for a study visit to Qatar, work part-time, fitness stuff, family stuff, TAP
Applied:UC Berkeley & UC Davis
Accepted: All
Rejected: None
Advice for future applicants? Strengths and weaknesses in your application? Lingering thoughts about the admissions process?
Get involved with a few things you really care about and stick with them. I got personal in my statements but stayed focused and tried to give an honest sense of myself. Good luck to the next round and congrats everyone!!
Decision: Accepted
Program: Haas School of Business
GPA: 3.92 Transferable/Major: 4
Prereqs: Done, W/Calc 2 in progress
Breadth: Done, W/2 in progress
ECs: President of Student Veteran Organization, Warrior Scholar Project/Service to Schools Alumni Ambassador , Business Senator of Student Gov (past), Treasurer of Student Gov (past), Chair of Election Committee (past), UCB TAP, UCB starting point mentorship, PTK/AGS member, PTK All-California Community College Academic Team.
Work: Administrative Clerk for Veteran Affairs Office. Tutor: Applied Calculus, English, Economics. Teachers aid for Algebra 2 (1 semester). United States Marine Corps 4 years enlisted: various international operations conducted.
Volunteer: Spanish Translator/Interpreter/Technical Support for local Latino community: roughly 12 families. Student Life Office Volunteer: graduation, voting booths, etc.
Essays: 8.5 maybe
Pros: Veteran, underrepresented minority, aced a class at UCB last summer, consistently took 17+ units
Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N): Y
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: Y / IGETC
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: Tutor, Work in gap years. Some leadership in LGBTQ groups.
Advice for future applicants:
I was rejected last year as psych major and did tons of research.
-Grades really matters. Don’t trade your EC to GPA ; Even though, Berkeley has more holistic approach than UCLA, it doesn’t mean you can get into Berkeley with lower grade than UCLA. It rather means you need to have a both high GPA and good EC. Remember, the average admitted GPA in Berkeley is higher than UCLA.
-Finish Math and English requirement by FALL, or you would get rejected no matter how much you excel in other categories.
-Do as many pre-req as possible by FALL ; my friend who applied psych major with 4.0 GPA and perfect EC was rejected last year. The only reason I can come up is he finished only 3/7 pre-req by Fall. In an impacted major, the progress towards the major is important. It is better you have all letter grades in you pre-req than leaving many IP or PL.
-If you are international, do TOEFL or Interview. Maybe the Interview can help borderline candidate.
-For EC, quality wins over quantity. They want to see your leadership or level of responsibility more than how many hours you spent for community service.
-Use additional comment box effectively in application.
Major: Political Science
UC Transferable GPA: 3.81 - 3.85
Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N): Y
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: Y / IGETC
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: 2 jobs, 3 internships, tutoring, 2 non UC-transferrable classes that were related to my major, other small stuff
Some background: 2 year CC applicant, 6 quarters in total (quarter system); my advice will probably only be relevant for the most part for fellow social sciences and Poli sci majors, so take that into account possibly!
I think I was a borderline candidate at one point? Berkeley contacted me in February to send in my winter 2016 grades. If you are a quarter student - do not slack off after fall quarter. Strive towards all A's your winter quarter as well! I got all A's winter quarter, hence, my GPA being 3.81 with only fall quarter factored in but being 3.85 with winter quarter factored in. Honestly, I think being a quarter student really worked in my favor... gave me more chances to take more classes to raise my GPA, and the additional look into winter quarter boosted my observed GPA.
I got a B- in one class my first quarter and a B+ in another class my third. Otherwise all A's, I think with two A-'s. I really do think having an upwards trend in your grades is extremely good, esp with Berkeley's holistic approach. After that first B-, I thought going to a competitive UC was out of reach for me (not that that was ever my sole goal/purpose in everything I pursued when it came to my time at CC--please don't let it be!!!--but things also turned around, and you often have the power the make them, so don't lose hope!
This is what my college counselor told me... idk if it's actually true. But I took one more English class than required of me, and he said that Berkeley admissions found that impressive for social sciences. He could have been shitting me, who knows. Just my personal story, not advice really. I had fulfilled the first English credit with an AP score from high school, then took another English class and realized it was transferable to Berkeley only and not to the other UC's, and then took another English class of that same level (but it was a different focus, one was research based, one was critical thinking...) Not sure if this was worth mentioning, but meh.
Grades are really important, they just are. Even more so then ECs... I had pretty good ECs, but I know people who had even better ones than me in my major who didn't make the cut or were waitlisted or whatnot because their GPA wasn't as high. But as for choosing ECS, quality over quantity. Things that show leadership, relevance to major/field of study, etc. are good.
With that being said, having good ECs related to your major really do help you out. Even just things that show you have a specified interest in the field of study is so helpful. They make you stand out. Same for personal statement, but they have changed that for next year into questions I believe.
This is huge. Honestly, do as many pre-reqs as you can by fall. In the case of if you're a Poli sci major, for the IGETC you need to take just one math class, I believe. I took Statistics. I’ve never been the biggest fan of math, so had I not thought that I had to get it out of the way as soon as possible, I would have delayed. But I’m really glad I didn’t. Seriously – take the B that you fear you might get in that IGETC pre-req you hate, rather than leave it to the end under the rationale that that way you don't have to have it accounted for in your GPA and grades. Especially if you have the option to take it earlier - do so. And be cognizant of major pre-reqs as well of course.
That’s all I can think of right now! Feel free to message me if you have any questions, haha. I truly feel like such a dork writing this all out and analyzing myself as a student, but I know it could probably help someone, just like the many threads that I sifted through this year helped me. In any case, I should be out celebrating… but I’m exhausted and this is gonna have to do for my Friday night lol.
Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N): Y
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: N (will complete IGETC in summer)
ECs: Caltech internship, exec board of AGS honors society and engineering club, student athlete
Essays: I think they’re pretty good
how risky would it to be reapply next year if i got accepted this year? im scared guys idk what to do right now. made the mistake of not applying for financial aid…
Accepted!
Major: Philosophy
GPA: 3.64?
Major GPA: 4.0
Pre-reqs: none completed
IGETC: completed
EC’s: Philosophy club and some activities I participated in in high school
Essays: not sure
Major: Political Science
UC Transferable GPA: 3.67 (I think, I forget)
Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N): Yes for call, still need to complete one more class for UCLA.
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: In the process of completing.
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: President of BSU club, Student Rep. on Equity and Diversity Committee at my CC, Commissioner for Student government director, interned for a candidate running for city council in the city of my CC, mentor for middle school girls at the school across for my CC, member of PTK, member of the BSU, Scholars, and Adelante programs at CC, completed a research program at LMU, CCCP Scholar. I work in the counselling office at my CC. These are all I can remember now.
Advice for future applicants? Strengths and weaknesses in your application? Lingering thoughts about the admissions process?
Make sure to get involved on your campus, that really sticks out to the admission office. Also, your PS are VERY important, do not BS them or hold them off till the last minute. Get as much help as you can. Ask questions, and try to connect and network with people at the schools you want to attend. That’s what I did esp. for UCB and for UCLA they were given to me. I believe my strengths were my EC’s and personal statements.
I am finally glad the process is over, and I can finally say I will be a Bear. After two long years and constant road trips from LA to Berkeley to connect and network with people on campus, I have finally fulfilled my dream.
