@ericbadmon I think I may have answered your post elsewhere on this forum, but just in case it was someone else, letters and science only had one form this year.
don’t be I called them and they said not everyone gets the same forms. As long as you filled out every single form on the map@berkeley portal before 1/31 you’re good
Hi Goldencub, and hi everyone else, nice to meet you. This is my first post here. Goldencub, I am a philosophy transfer from a CCC for Fall 2018 and would love to chat! Anything you are willing to share about being a phil transfer at CAL! Cal is my dream school.
Major: Soc
Prereqs: Completed
IGETC: Will complete this semester, currently taking overload of units
GPA: 4.0 overall
EC: Shift supervisor at pharmacy, worked there full time so that’s pretty much it 
Essays: Pretty bad, I read it back recently and noticed a few grammatical errors 
Idk how I missed those! It was genuine tho so I hope they can see through that
No TAP
CCC- Santiago Canyon College
BTW guys what do you think about taking Spanish as a P/NP to fulfill the foreign lang requirement? I called Berkeley and UCLA and they both said they don’t mind, but for Berkeley I was only able to reach someone working at the front desk so they might’ve given me shotty information. It’d be my first time taking a class for P/NP
Correction to my above post, I am not a transfer, a prospective transfer! Anyone have advice on best on housing options for transfers? I have done a lot of research, but still can’t really tell. Can you for sure get a single if you request it? 61 days until Berkeley transfer admission is released!! Would any of you guys take summer session if you attended?Hi Eric, I would call them again to ask about the p/np option to get a second opinion. Typically when I have a question, I get a different answer every time depending who I am talking to, so best to double, triple, check and verify answers.
Mine only had one form as well, and it was about IGETC, it said will your IGETC be done by the end of spring 2018.
@jljackson The fact that you had a form not done coupled with the GPA might hurt you, don’t worry though Poli Sci isn’t impacted so you have a better shot. I’m poli sci too, so good luck!
@philosophyCAL My best friend goes to Berkeley, for transfers you get guaranteed housing for your first year, but for the senior year you have to find an apartment because there isn’t guaranteed housing. If you share an apartment with some people it can be cheaper than dorming, or if you live nearby and can commute thats also cheaper.
@ericbadmon They won’t care, my foreign language is covered by high school classes too, I asked my CCC couselor and Berkeley admission officers, they don’t care. Since your GPA is good and ECs that will help tons, but the bad essays, though its subjective if they’re bad or not, you may think they are and they really aren’t, but anyway, if the essays are that good that might hurt you a bit. But I still think you have a good shot of getting in, especially as philosophy.
@hailey5799 it’s actually soc but thank you!! And for the foreign lang requirement, I’m not using my high school I’m taking as P/NP which is a bit different. Instead of opting in for a letter grade, I can get a P grade instead and it’ll not count towards my gpa but gimmie the units/credit to complete the course. I hope they won’t mind that, I don’t they they will since it’s not related to my major. I also thought it’d be fine since so many students use their high school to clear the foreign lang requirement anyways, which is very similar to P/NP. It sucked cuz I only took 1.5 years in hs
@philosophyCAL good advice I’ll definitely do that. I wish cal released contact information for their admissions counselors like UCLA does. And I believe most of us here are prospective transfers, as this thread is for 2018 transfers. 60 days doesn’t sound that long when you say it like that lol
Hey all! Here are my stats, I would appreciate if you would chance me. 
Major: Psychology
GPA: 3.68, Academic Honors List every semester since Fall 2017, will receive three AA degrees this upcoming May - Psychology, French, and Liberal Arts w/ Social Science Emphasis
IGETC: Completed
Major Prep: Completed
Essays: I would say they are pretty solid.
EC:
UC Berkeley Starting Point Mentorship
UC Berkeley Transfer Alliance Project
Psi Beta National Honor Society
Mu Alpha Theta National Honor Society
Secretary of Psychology Club
Mathematics club member
Self-taught flutist
Volunteer for ticket sales/ushering for all psychology guest speakers at my community college
Weightlifting is a huge hobby and I spend a lot of time on my personal fitness.
Received an award from the mayor of a local city for performing CPR/using an AED on a man who had fallen into cardiac arrest. He ended up surviving.
Work Experience:
Too much. I couldn’t fit it all in my UC application lol. Right now I work in high price point sales selling appliances and helping clients coordinate kitchen remodels. Some of my sales are upwards of 40,000 dollars. I currently work an average of 25 hours a week.
During the first two semesters at my community college, I was the Operations Manager at a gym. I averaged 40-50 hours a week.
Before that, I worked at a retail clothing store, where I was promoted from Sales Associate, to Head Cashier, to Visual Merchandiser, to Visual Merchandising Manager. I averaged 40 hours per week.
Major: Political Science
GPA: 3.82
EC’s: president of an organization within the residential housing association, has sat on the executive board of an environmental org, extensive involvement within the Political Science Student Association, and more.
Pre-Req’s: It’s complicated.
Why it’s complicated:
I’m attempting to transfer (I only applied to UC Berkeley) from SFSU. A little over last week I received an email from the UC (I only applied to Berkeley so.) which asked me for info on the Spanish courses I took in high school.
In short, I only took two years of Spanish in high school, which ultimately disqualifies my application because we need three or the IGETC whatever. I’m so set on transferring to Berkeley so I’ll taking an online Spanish 103 course at a community college in the Spring quarter to fulfill the foreign language breadth requirement by the end of the academic year. I’m already enrolled at the cc and have updated my TAU and emailed the UC etc. I called Berkeley’s admissions just to make sure my application still qualifies for admission and they said it is now and that if I don’t get in, I should appeal (Which I will be doing lol I’m already prepared because they’re under no obligation to consider changes to the TAU after the Jan 31st priority deadline.)
Anyway, that was a lot but I hope we all get in!!!
Go Bears.
Major: Political Science
GPA: 3.82
EC’s: president of an organization within the residential housing association, has sat on the executive board of an environmental org, extensive involvement within the Political Science Student Association, and more.
Pre-Req’s: It’s complicated.
Why it’s complicated:
I’m attempting to transfer (I only applied to UC Berkeley) from SFSU. A little over last week I received an email from the UC (I only applied to Berkeley so.) which asked me for info on the Spanish courses I took in high school.
In short, I only took two years of Spanish in high school, which ultimately disqualifies my application because we need three or the IGETC whatever. I’m so set on transferring to Berkeley so I’ll taking an online Spanish 103 course at a community college in the Spring quarter to fulfill the foreign language breadth requirement by the end of the academic year. I’m already enrolled at the cc and have updated my TAU and emailed the UC etc. I called Berkeley’s admissions just to make sure my application still qualifies for admission and they said it is now and that if I don’t get in, I should appeal (Which I will be doing lol I’m already prepared because they’re under no obligation to consider changes to the TAU after the Jan 31st priority deadline.)
Anyway, that was a lot but I hope we all get in!!!
Go Bears.
@bluethirteen I think GPA wise you’re within range, and your ECs are good, not having your pre-reqs for langauge done will hurt you a bit, so its good you’re prepared for the appeal process. I think the only disadvantage you have is that you’re not transferring from a CCC, since the UCs prefer and give first priority to CCC students, and with the not having UC language pre-req done. Good luck though!
@appliancenerd You’re GPA is a bit low, especially given the fact that you’re major is impacted, which will put you at a disadvantage, but considering your ECs, working, and fact you’re in the TAP and Starting Point Mentor program, I’d say you have a fair shot of getting in. Good luck!
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-residency-and-ethnicity (By ethnicity)
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school (The comprehensive one)
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major (Transfer by Major)
Just for you all to look at if you want, its all three of them, not easy to track down.
Hey everyone! I am a current transfer student at UC Berkeley. You all seem pretty worked up about your chances, so lemme give you my stats to give you all some reassurance.
I transferred from another UC (quarter system), slimming my chances.
I applied as a Society & Environment major, increasing my chances.
GPA: 3.5
ECs: UC Band (for like a year), NSCS (1 yr), Judo Club, TKD Club, Act2Fellowship
– I forgot to put some down because I applied/wrote my essays the night it was due, so my list was short. These ECs weren’t anything substantial though.–
I’d say my essays were solid given the fact that in one of them, I accidentally wrote: “setted the clock.”
What else? Umm, well I had 0 leadership roles.
My current academic counselor emailed me around Feb asking if I would complete one more class (basically intro to environmental studies) before coming to Cal. IF I got in, and that if I were to be accepted, I could complete that during the summer at Cal. There was another option: complete UC Reciprocity, and then I didn’t need to complete the lower division requirements. So, I completed UC Reciprocity. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but a personalized email was kinda fishy, ya know?? So if any of you received emails (i.e., my friend who is transferring amongst you guys received an email about HS Spanish), I suggest you do it. For Spanish, they want 3 years of high school, so if you didn’t do that, make plans to take Spanish online with Lake Tahoe CC and change your TAU ASAP.
Then after my acceptance, I wasn’t supposed to get anything lower than a B-, but in my last quarter of chemistry, I received a C+. Had to email, got reviewed, admission was sustained. So relax guys anything is possible.
Yeah man, who knows?? Was it my ethnicity? Well, I’m multiracial, so who knows what they put me down as. I definitely wouldn’t have made it as a science major or psychology, sociology, etc. Live your best life. Good luck! Oski is a scary-looking bear.
@hailey5799 @philosophyCAL does Cal say that there’s guaranteed housing? A lot of people on the 2017 Transfer Facebook group got screwed over. They didn’t make the first or second rounds. I think there is three total. I mean, some people got accepted like in June (I’m guessing they were waitlisted) However, you might get housing at Clark Kurr? A triple there might be too pricey though.
But once you get accepted, it is suggested that you hop on housing ASAP, but even then you won’t know for sure if you’ll receive an offer. I’m looking at the FB posts now, and so it looks like June is round 1, july round 2. Authorities said round 2 would prioritize transfers, yet so many had rejection letters.
Look for off-campus to be safe. There’s a lotta freshman who will get housing first before you.
@scariot Thank you for your post! I applied to Society and Environment for this fall! Do you have any advice? What do you think of the program? CNR? Lol I was also in college band.
@iLikeIceCream apparently CNR is like #1 in the world lol it’s a smaller college compared to L&S, so you get to meet with your advisor. It took me awhile to figure out the major (I kinda just chose one randomly while applying) but it’s actually a pretty cool major. There’s quite a bit of policy involved. Be prepared for that and a ton of Marx. I mean it’s the same idea that Marx says, but it reoccurs so often that it’s worth getting right the first time. These classes are all about reading, so either learn how to speed read or take the time to do it all. If you take GPP 115 (Global Poverty) to complete one of the requirements, you can continue and pursue a minor in Global Poverty & Practice like I am. It’s cool, you get to travel anywhere in the world and intern for an organization that is trying to combat poverty in some way (could pertain to Black Lives Matter, water sanitation, sex trafficking, etc).
There’s a ton of minors available as well as study abroad opportunities, but as a transfer, you gotta be on it. GBO (orientation) sucks—try to get out of it if you can. It was a week long for me and catered to freshman.
I think the hardest challenge is making new friends and procrastination LOL. Even with the transfer center and events, people aren’t as outgoing as GBO makes it seem. My advice is just to introduce yourself because people will be friendly and talk to you, and it makes it even easier if you both end up being transfers.
Your chances are pretty good I mean idk where you’re coming from, but most of the transfers I met at GBO came from a CC. I met two polisci majors with a 3.8 and 3.9. I mean I’m interested in the environment, and this major is pretty great. People are between this and the Conservation Resources one. If you’re not interested in the environment, oh well you can’t change your major unless they have openings. There’s no way you’d make the transition from S&E to biology. Maybe econ (another transfer student tried transferring from Asian Studies to Econ, decided against it in the end).
There is no amount of orientation or peer advising that’s available that will help you with your transition. You kinda just have to go for the ride. You won’t know where buildings are, you’ll show up late, you’ll be alone, you’ll scorn at the fact that you have to spend $50 for an iclicker JUST to take attendance. You will most definitely always be behind in readings, no matter what your major is. I’m also taking hard sciences, and we ALL struggle here.
My best advice? Follow the UC Berkeley Meme Page LOL. That will give you a good sense of what school life is like here.
If you have more questions, lmk hmu I gotchu