I am currently a student at UC Davis and after completing a year at this school, I am thinking of transferring to another UC campus. UCLA has been my dream school since my first application cycle but after being put on the freshmen waitlist and later rejected, I decided to choose UC Davis as a pre-med. Same thing had occurred with UC Berkeley. However, I would love to give another shot at UCLA and after completing a summer program this year, UC Berkeley also seems like a better fit for me. For reference, my reason for transferring is my major and major-related opportunities (my top choice majors are not offered at UC Davis but are offered at UCLA and UC Berkeley).
For anyone else who has been through this process, I would love to hear more about your application experience and any tips to keep in mind!
Overall, I have a strong GPA (4.0) and a few extracurriculars as well so I would love to hear more about my odds if I do decide to apply as a UC-to-UC transfer? Thank you so much!!
One helpful tip is to get the GE reciprocity letter from UC Davis. The Letter, which you request from the Registrar’s Office, certifies that you completed the full GE course list at your current UC and will therefore not be required to take any other GE courses at your new UC, even if they differ.
Also note that UC to UC transfers have less priority in the transfer process than CC to UC transfers.
Your strong GPA will definitely be a plus and having UC Davis as a fall back if not successful will still offer you some great resources towards your Medical school goals.
This link shows UC Transfer GPA admit ranges by major and campus although from the CC’s, but it will give you an idea of where you stand with your chances.
My ideal major is Public Health since I am deeply interested in the policy side of healthcare, but Cognitive Science is also one of my top choices as it bridges my interests in neuroscience and technology. Unfortunately, Davis doesn’t offer a Public Health major and the Cognitive Science department is still relatively new.
By when can the GEs be completed? Can some be taken in the summer quarter? Can this reciprocity letter be taken in the summer quarter? The list of GEs is very large at the UC my son is at - and in order to finish all of them, he may need to take more than his current pace of 3 per quarter - 1 major related, 1 math or Physics, 1 GE. He needs 4 or 5 more GEs. So he will have to do 4 or 5 courses in Winter and Spring quarters and take at least 2 GEs in both quarters and 3 GEs in the other quarter which will be quite a workload.
What are the options if he does not complete all the GEs in the sophomore year at the current UC? If the result was ready before March at least a decision could be made to change the spring quarter to not include the major related course and finish the GEs instead by taking more courses. But it looks like decisions come in April.
My understanding is All lower division GE’s have to be completed by Spring quarter prior to transfer for the Reciprocity letter. I would confirm with the UC campuses.
If he is unable to complete all the GE’s needed for Reciprocity, then the rest can be taken at his new college however the minimum required GE’s for transfer need to be completed by Spring. Reciprocity is not a transfer requirement for admission, it just keeps the student from having to take these GE’s at their new University.
I think the sheer number of GE courses needed at his current campus along with needing to finish the Computer Science transfer pathway courses means that it will be difficult to finish by Spring quarter. The CS transfer pathway also has a lot of requirements including a full year of Physics and lot of Math beyond traditional GEs. So till the Spring quarter, he will likely just proceed normally making progress towards his major at his current campus and take any remaining courses at the new campus. Reason: first he has to get admitted to the campus of his choice and secondly he may decide not to transfer depending on the situation at the time.