<p>Transferred out of UCSC last year and am now starting at UCB. I learned a ton from this site and it basically kept me going while waiting for decisions; so, I figured I'd give back and have the time to do so now since school won't get too busy until a bit later. Feel free to ask anything about the transfer process, questions about Berkeley--keep in mind it's only week 2 of class, though I have lived in the bay area my whole life--or anything else!</p>
<p>how long did it take? what was your major/gpa? did you finish your major prereqs?</p>
<p>1) Social life at Berkeley - how is it?</p>
<p>2) How is the housing for transfers students?</p>
<p>@hopebottle I took 2 years; I’ve actually only met one person–though I’m sure there are many more–who transferred to UCLA/UCB after one year, and he had junior status at the time of transfer due to a huge amount of AP credits from high school. Political Science major with a 3.98 gpa, but I met someone from UCSC, same major, who got in with a 3.62. At Berkeley, though, you’re admitted to the college, not major, and within L&S there are groups of majors that are evaluated together; political science was in the same group as economics and other similar majors. I did finish major pre-reqs for UCB, but of all the classes I could take at UCSC, UCLA only accepted two as major pre-reqs of their 6 required, which I thought would automatically net me a rejection, but luckily it didn’t.</p>
<p>@ocnative Social life is great, but a lot of my closest friends are here because I’ve lived near Berkeley my entire life and went to high school close by. With that said, social life is still awesome for anyone coming in, so long as you make an effort. The housing process for transfers is as if they’re regular students, except we sign up much later than others. The school does reserve spaces for transfers in most of their buildings, so placement in your desired building is possible, but entirely dependent on where you end up in the housing lottery.</p>
<p>Any advice to a potential transfer from UCSC? I’m trying to get into Berkeley with a 3.79 currently in CS. Only problem I think is a pretty severe lack of extra-curriculars and i’m looking into getting more involved this fall.</p>
<p>(I’m not ucbears, but I transferred last year as EECS.)</p>
<p>ocnative: In terms of how the housing actually is, most of it is pretty nice. It’s pretty expensive, so if you can find your own place that’s probably better, but school housing isn’t terrible.</p>
<p>The apartment style dorms are reserved for upper division students. I haven’t been in Channing-Bowditch, but I’ve seen Wada and Martinez, so I figured I’d at least chime in on those. The apartments here are generally pretty nice… they have a common area (couches/chairs/tables), a dining area (table and 4 chairs), a bathroom (toilet, shower, sink), and a kitchen (stove, oven, normal fridge w/ freezer, microwave, lots of cabinets). In Wada, each apartment has two (or three) doubles, in Martinez each apartment has four singles. Wada feels a lot roomier… the bedrooms I’ve seen in Martinez are tiny, barely big enough to fit a bed. Martinez’s layout is also a bit funky, some apartments are split between two levels, or have weird hallways and corners. Martinez is a lot newer though, so the general appearance is nicer and more modern.</p>
<p>Either way, they’re both pretty nice, and much better than being in a suite/minisuite/highrise… at least I think so, anyways. Transfer/upper div housing is basically apartments, but you get the benefits of being in a dorm (RA, maintenance/cleaning, security, close to campus, events), without the meal plan (eating out is cheaper than dining hall, btw). Housing is a lottery system though, so you might not get your first choice… but the apartments are pretty nice if you can get a spot, and they do reserve a lot of spaces for transfers.</p>
<p>hi @HelloPersonC, i am a freshman potential computer science major at ucsc this fall and i am also considering transferring to berkeley or ucla in a year or two. Got any advice for me? what courses did you take?</p>
<p>@dreamer95. Hmm. Take CS12A as the 5 series is needlessly slow. Beyond that, I think just make sure you do well in your classes, even your first quarter which is generally harder than the others as you are adjusting to college life. Also, don’t go in with a bad mindset of, “I will transfer in 2 years.” It should be a, “I’m going to do well and if I still feel like something is missing, I’ll apply.”</p>
<p>Oh, follow up to my original question @ucbears. Perhaps you don’t know as a political science major, but does the core course + writing 2 take care of Berkeley’s english requirement? Thanks</p>
<p>thanks failure622. </p>
<p>@ucbears: I’m currently planning on applying as a political science major. Is it true it’s one of the most popular and impacted majors on campus? Will it difficult to be accepted then 
</p>
<p>@HelloPersonC As far as I know, it does. As UC transfers, we have the option to complete our own GE’s and any other UC will agree to accept our GE completion as having satisfied their GE’s. It’s called UC Reciprocity. When I called to UCB several months ago to ask the same question, they said I’d be fine.</p>
<p>@ocnative It’s very popular. Look online for a resource that UCB publishes regarding transfer admit rates. Although you’re admitted to certain colleges, there are groups of majors that are evaluated together during the admissions process; political science is evaluated with economics, etc. If I remember correctly, the admit rate for the year before mine was about 23.4% for Poli Sci majors, econ majors, etc. Just make sure to maintain a high gpa, involve yourself on campus, and write compelling essays; UCB really, really values the essays. And have fun!</p>
<p>@ucbears Well, I have a 3.79 GPA right now but I’m 100% sure it will rise to a 3.82 once I submit my fall grades. I hope that’s competitive enough 
what are some examples of your involvement on campus or extracurriculars when you applied to Cal?</p>
<p>@ucbears is there anyone at ucsc that will help when it comes to the admissions process? help in proofreading admissions essays? planning out your schedule for your major? determining if your schedule matches up with the prerequisites for major at the campuses you want to transfer to?</p>
<p>@ocnative Don’t stress about your past gpa; rather, focus on increasing it as much as possible. That’s not to say your gpa’s not good enough, just that you can’t change the past. I’d rather not disclose exactly what I did since it’d be very easy to figure out who I am, but I will say I was heavily involved in one organization (leadership position) and also did an internship. Outside of that, I had high leadership positions in 4 clubs in high school, which I listed, though I don’t recommend putting any high school extracurriculars/leadership on that are not top-notch. All my positions were VP and above and my awards were national and state ranks. In all honesty, people make the admissions process out to be way more rigorous than it is; admissions officers are people too and simply want to accept people with high intellectual and social aptitudes.</p>
<p>@dreamer95 Unfortunately, and frankly, no. I searched and ended up having to rely on getting things done myself. With that said, admissions offices of schools I wanted to transfer to were very helpful; in fact, I met with an admissions officer and my major advisor at UCB before I applied and the admissions officer suggested I note on the application that I met with her, which undoubtedly helped show interest in the school. Planning out your major is honestly something you should do yourself anyways; just look up pre-reqs and available classes and go from there. The hardest part is determining whether courses from UCSC articulate to major pre-reqs at other schools. All UC courses count for units at any UC, but UCLA, for example, only took 2 classes from UCSC as major pre-reqs for poli sci. I met with a UCB major advisor well in advance of the application due date so that I could note exactly which classes I confirmed would transfer to UCB for major pre-reqs, which also helped to show interest.</p>
<p>@ucbears thanks for all the information! How were you able to meet the admissions officers and major advisors? Should I just call the admissions office of the schools I want to transfer to and ask them about the pre-reqs that would transfer over from UCSC?</p>
<p>@dreamer95 I called the UCB admissions office and after I told the rep about my situation, he transferred me to an admissions counselor who set me up with an appointment to meet an admissions officer. The UCB admissions office was the most friendly and helpful of the four UC’s I applied to, which were SD, Davis, LA, and B. And I just walked into the major advisor’s drop in office hours with syllabi for all courses in question and handed them to her; it took them about 4 weeks to get back to me with an articulation.</p>
<p>@ucbears thanks! I will definitely start calling them soon with my major/course questions! I was wondering that if I will be 5 units short of 90 by spring semester, will the top UCs automatically reject me?</p>
<p>@dreamer95 Apologies for the delay; school has been picking up recently. You just need 90 units by the end of your time at UCSC, and no more than 120 I believe, though it might be a 105 cap.</p>
<p>Well well well</p>
<p>@ucbears its totally fine! 
well since I will only have 85 by spring, should I just not apply this year and wait? Or will they let it slide?</p>