Hello everyone, I am planning to transfer to 4 year institution for Fall 2018!
If anybody can up my hopes (or crush it), it would be appreciated!
Intended schools: UCI(TAG), UCSD, UCLA, UCB
Major requirements:
Calc1: B
Calc2: B
Calc3: A
Linear: A
DiffEq: A
PHYS1: B
1LAB: B
PHYS2: C*
2LAB: A
PHYS3: pending
GenChem1: A
GenChem2: A
C++:B
StaticEngr: A
DynamicEngr: Pending
Circuits: Pending
Overall GPA: 3.69
For the C in Physics 2, I am pretty certain that this guy must be one of the hardest physics you will encounter in lower-division physics courses. First exam’s avg was 8/60, and grade break down was 80% being A, 60% B and 40% C. We began the class with over 30 people but ended with 6 people. I have talked about this in my personal statement.
I have also worked for the majority of the time I was in my college, and I also played intercollegiate baseball.
For your info, I am an Asian (Japanese), white, and Hispanic mix (with Spanish last name).
Again, if you can provide me with some insight, that will be fantastic! Thank you!
You might have a shot at aerospace at UCSD, but it looks like you’re just barely above the 25th percentile of admit GPAs on that one. Frankly, I’m not very familiar with the programs, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I don’t think your odds are good at UCLA/Berkeley. Though even if you had a 4.0, I would tell you not to get your hopes up since aerospace/mechanical engineering majors at those schools (I don’t think Berkeley has aerospace, but maybe I’m wrong) tend to be incredibly competitive majors. I dont believe admissions officers are allowed to see the names on the applications, so your last name will not affect the outcome either way. Also, I don’t know how you talked about your physics class in your personal insight question, but I would probably have put it into my additional comments instead. Of course, thats not to say this was a bad move on your part; I can imagine many ways you could shape that into a good essay. The bottom line is that your odds at UCLA, UCB, and UCSD are unfortunately fairly low. I wish I could tell you something different, but your GPA is well below the average for those programs, with the exception of UCSD aerospace, where it is only slightly below average. You probably already know this, but if you want to see what the GPA range for each major at those schools is, all of that info is on the UC website.
Your GPA might be a little lower than average for some of those schools, but if you were working, playing basketball, etc., they will probably take that into consideration. I’d say you have a shot at most of those schools, but it really comes down to your essay and whether or not they think you’d be a good fit that their school.
I’m sure it varies by the admissions department, but I’ve heard sometimes it’s better to be a well rounded 3.7 GPA student than a 4.0 GPA student with little or no extracurriculars. Good luck, don’t lose hope! I’m almost in the same boat, where my GPA isn’t awesome, but I’ve done a lot of stuff outside of school. I also just applied to transfer as a chemical engineering major.