I’m interested in transferring to UCD, or any other UC really, from my community college during the fall of 2016 for Neurobio.
Here are my current grades: imgur. com/GwZ3xv1
[1] with my planned courses.
My intended transfer is to Neurobiology.
As per the UCD website, I prioritized impacted classes over GE requirements, meaning I’m missing my foreign language and a fine arts class.
Besides my grades I have the following EC:
Intern at a large cancer research facility, have been for 4 months.
Owned a large web hosting company (2000+ clients), built from the ground up with co-located servers in San Diego.
Any input is great, my CC counselor is amendment I shouldn’t bother applying for another year because I don’t have a high chance of getting in, but I’m curious for a second opinion.
Clear as MUD right? It seems to be based on whether you get a BA or a BS. You need to call and ask if you can take the coursework at Davis. (that’s what the first paragraph suggests).
Truth - I’m not sure your 3.4 will make the cut and they will only calculate your GPA through this fall. Even with straight As this fall it only puts you at about 3.5. Also, it seems like you’ve piled a lot of big classes for the end run, which won’t play well.
I was going to suggest cognitive science because I thought it had a much lower admitted GPA, but looking at the UCLA transfer profile of admitted students both majors average about 3.7+. Still, I would assume you would have a better shot at cog sci. (And, of course Davis and some others will likely have a slightly lower admitted GPA for both.)
If you wait another year and get all As this fall and spring and then maybe add a couple of lightweight humanities, you could apply next year with about a 3.65. BIG DIFFERENCE. Plus, instead of taking 17 really tough units in spring, you can stretch them out a bit.
Re language, I don’t know if you need the equivalent of two high school years or three. IGETC is two high school years, which you can use from high school assuming your last semester of the two years is a C- or better. Otherwise you will need to take a semester at college which is equivalent to the UC’s semester/quarter requirement. But you only need language if you’re doing IGETC or your major requires it. If you’re doing breadth, depending on dept, some require it, some don’t.
I completely agree with @lindyk8. Your planned Spring schedule is not just ambitious, it’s suicidal.
You would be taking 3 of the 5 most notorious STEM weeder courses (O-chem, Physics EM, and Linear) in one semester! All three have larger workloads and are based heavily on previous courses. Getting “only” B’s for PreCalc and Gen Chem, which are significantly easier courses, is a sign that you need to spread those courses out over multiple semesters to maximize your chances of passing getting an A in each. Biology-track majors are so impacted at every UC that “B’s” just won’t cut it.
A realistic worst-case scenario is that you’ll struggle with workload and get B’s and C’s in the course. That would not only drop your GPA significantly but would complete most of the major prereqs leaving you with no way of improving your major GPA.
Basically…a “chance” to transfer out this academic year is not worth jeopardizing ALL your chances at getting into your desired field of study.
^You’re right about that spring semester. Im probably not going to take Physics 196 (Its not even a required prereq for UCD, I just like the topic), and I’ll take calc III instead of linear algebra, because I was only taking linear because concurrent enrollment is required to take Physics 196. I’ll replace it with a speech class so I can apply to CSU’s.
Even without those classes, I meet the UCD’s assist requirements. And this: http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/profile/ Shows my GPA right smack in the middle of their 50% curve, and I have some pretty good EC’s.
I’m really just having issues with the social aspects of community college, its hard to stay modivated when everyone else is just ‘meh’ about school. I think I’ll apply anyways, and just try again next year. It can’t hurt… Right?
Thanks guys, I do appreciate the feedback. Reality checks are always useful.
I just realized something. Isn’t every single major at Davis available via TAG? If so, you have a shot, I suppose. Although you may struggle afterward. Did you TAG?
Just remember, as @SDGoldenBear noted, your GPA could take a hit that you won’t be able to recover from if it doesn’t work out. (And the graph you noted is irrelevant, as it’s including majors with low-admitted GPAs. You need to go by major.)
Re reapplying, they do look at your previous application. It probably won’t make a difference as they say they just look at it to check for discrepancies, but would you rather come in all new and shiny at 3.6 or have a previous lackluster application? Not saying it would have an effect, but there could be a subtle psychological undercurrent that people aren’t even aware of.