@Sagacious literally 40 of my semester units are AP. You’re fine.
@Justkeem Most likely you will get into UCSD, UCI, and UCSB if your essays are above average. Having a C in any class is not ideal for UCB, UCLA, and USC, but if your essays are really good you may get into at least one of the them.
@Riotseason In January, Cal sends out a request for transfer applicants to complete the Transfer Academic Update (TAU). That’s may be what you’re thinking about. http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2018/01/uc-transfer-academic-update-supplementals/
Does anyone know when they will actually start releasing decisions? I know the portal says everyone will get their decisions no later than april 19…
Does anyone have an idea of how heavily the College of Engineering will weigh a bad semester from 8 years ago? Long story short is that my family was in dire straits, economically-speaking, and I was working full-time to help support them at 18. I’m a first generation student from a lower/lower-middle class background and didn’t know how to navigate academia well enough at the time to drop the classes, so I ended up with a couple F’s.
I took some time off of school and continued working. Since re-enrolling at a local bay area CCC I’ve maintained a 4.0 GPA in 2 years over 70 units, completed all major prereqs, one strongly recommended course, plus other relevant science and technical courses, worked part-time, and done a lot of volunteering in my community. I explained the situation that led to these bad grades in my essays and addition comments. I think my PIQs in general were good. If it wasn’t for this one semester I would be relatively confident but I’m really stressing that this will be held against me.
I just hope they’ll base my admissions decision on the student I am now, and not the grades I got back then. What do you guys think? Does anyone have an experience with a similar situation?
@whostolemycookie I may be wrong about this but if you look at the threads from prior years, it seems like the vast majority of decisions are actually released on the stated date. I think it was the 27th last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of us didn’t find out until 4/19.
@sugarcane1 Hi! Yes i did get into both Cal and UCLA, I originally SIRed to Cal but then UCLA’s regents came out later that month and decided to go there. But after taking summer sessions and fall quarter, I realized i was very unhappy at ucla and wanted a second chance to attend Cal (my true dream school) or if not be closer to home at Davis.
I wouldn’t say that I was dissatisfied with the Sociology department at UCLA, I realized i didn’t enjoy Sociology because I felt like what I was learning didn’t align with of my personal and career goals. Don’t get me wrong, for the right person, especially if you are interested in politics and human rights kind of things, the Sociology department at UCLA is pretty great. I wanted to pursue a career in marketing/pr in the technology industry, so the Media Studies or Comm major at Cal and Davis would’ve been a better fit for me (especially for having good connections to the Bay Area).
getting classes at Orientation will be a headache and stressful, I got lucky that I was chosen first in my orientation group to select for classes. Each group only has 1-2 laptops so be sure you know what classes you want to take beforehand and have backups for each class in case they fill up.
Being in Circle K at my CC, joining their club at UCLA was the highlight of my time there because I’ve made some of my best friends there. TLDR, join a student org and make not only connections but friendships, these are people who you can study with, eat food with, and talk to during hard times because everyone is going through a difficult time in college. Get that support system
On-campus housing at UCLA is incredible, especially as a transfer student there’s a very supportive transfer community in the dorms and the overall campus. It’s rather very luxurious for on-campus housing because the dining hall food is amazing and the dorm rooms are very clean and nice.
Ah yes I was on last year’s thread haha, I did get in last year but hopefully I’ll get in again as a UC to UC transfer lol
I got an email from the UCs asking where I attended 9th grade and the language of instruction even though this was listed on my UC application. Should I be worried about this? I already got accepted to UCR so does this mean the others UCs are unsure?
Has anyone received emails requesting college transcripts?
@whostolemycookie I got that same request a few months ago.
@akwong15 thank you for your detailed reply. Did you take Soc 20 the research methods there as well as the 2 required theory courses? If so did you find them difficult? Did you find classes there significantly more difficult than your community college? Did the regents scholarship at UCLA give you priority registration and a lot of financial assistance?
Also wondering if you transfer to another UC like Davis or Cal when you are a senior how does that work ? Is there a point where that’s not possible due to having too many units? Wishing you the best and please update here about where you transfer.
Anyone up for chancing? Thanks for any help!
Transferring from an instate CC:
- White male, 22 years old (I know they don't really look at this)
- English major
- 3.72 GPA (near 4.0 for English classes, got one B in a creative writing class of all places)
- Completed all of IGETC (GE requirements)
- Will have an AA-T degree end of semester (on accident--this is really only helpful for CSU, right?)
- Completed all major requirements (I think?)
- Been an English peer tutor for over 2 years on campus (but this is really my only EC )
- Pretty confident that my personal statements are above average
- History of mental illness (a fairly big focus of my PS)
- Lower class
- Not entirely sure what else is helpful to add (made Dean's list 4 times, does that matter at all? lol)
Thanks again for any help 
@Left_hand
I think as long as you showed improvement in recent years, your grades from 8 years ago should not matter that much. I think the UCs like huge improvements as well.
But you do want to make sure your overall GPA is above 3.8 (to be considered competitive)
What’s your overall GPA now? Which type of Engineering are you applying for?
@sugarcane1 My first quarter I took Soc 20 and an upper division soc class, I did not take a theory class. Soc 20 (at least with the professor that I took) was pretty easy and almost no different than a class I could’ve taken at a CC, the professor’s lectures were based on a textbook, we had weekly assignments, a midterm and a final that were MC and based solely on the lectures. The upper division soc class was another story, there was no textbook but a course reader with tons of readings every week, weekly assignments, a term paper, the midterm and final were a mix of MC, true and false, short answer and essays. TLDR, upper divs go more in depth into material while lower divs (what you take in CC) just cover the surface level.
priority registration from the regents scholarship at UCLA starts at registration for winter quarter. After my fall quarter I came back home because if I took any more classes I would be over the unit cap to be eligible as a UC to UC transfer (admissions websites have info on that). So pretty much I never got to take advantage of the priority registration, but you are pretty much guaranteed the classes you want with priority reg since regents students are only a small percentage of the campus. When I transfer to Cal or Davis, I would be starting as a junior again, under a different major.
Thank you for your wishes!
@akwong15 As an Asian American myself as well, I am so impressed with your stats and experience! I think you will get into UCB almost for sure but Davis probably at a lower chance since they will think that you are over-qualified. 3.97 from UCLA is just legendary.
I personally suggest you to stay at UCLA if UCB rejects you. UCLA and UCB’s education are far more prestigious and valuable than that of UCD. Since we only get to do undergraduate once, why not aim for the best possible school?
As for your UCLA experience, I think you can always improve it by making more close friends. UCLA was my dream school back in high school so I also applied there. By the way, I applied to UCs from a top 50 private university in California, so it’s hard for me although I have 62 units but not all of them are transferable. For example, the public speaking class at my university may not transfer to the UCs General Education. My GPA is 3.71 and I hope for the best for UCB HAAS and UCLA. I also applied to USC and Emory because private school is probably a better shot for me.
Anyways, you will probably make UCB and best of luck!
@sagaciousforever oh hey there I’m also applying to Haas and USC as well. The wait is killing me though but just hang in there we’ve got a month and three days left for Haas. Hopefully, USC will release decisions for us before that.
@Left_hand Don’t worry. You’ll be absolutely fine and your experience will only make you stand out. I literally heard from an admission officer at Berkeley that the upward trend of your grade is something they’ll greatly value, especially for such a unique experience like yours. Good luck!
@udonsalad I got the same request from the UC TAP about a month ago as well.
Best of luck to everyone!
CCC: Santa Monica College/Orange Coast College
Major: Gender and Women’s Studies
Pre Reqs: Partially complete
GPA: 3.62
IGETC: Complete
TAG: UCSB
Admitted: UC Santa Cruz
Still waiting: USC, Chapman, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSB, UCI, CSULB
I applied to some of the above mentioned schools for Film Production, so there’s a longer wait time on those