UCLA Transfer: torn between 2 majors

<p>I am a non trad student started college at age 25 after no education since high school graduation. Im getting ready to apply this upcoming cycle and am hoping for UCLA as my top choice. I originally planned to apply under the Anthropology BA, until recently when I discovered the Human Biology and Society BA that is offered. For Anthro I have all of my IGETC and major prereqs finished after this fall 2014 semester. For the Human Bio & Society I would need to take Gen Chem in Spring. The average accepted GPA last year for transfer students is similar in the mid 3.3 range but it states the the Human Bio & Society is a highly selective major. </p>

<p>Currently I have a 3.89 UC transferable GPA, but my overall which includes non transferable is 3.60 (which I heard they don't really take into account, correct me if I'm wrong)
I have a couple hundred hours of volunteering at local hospital and for underserved tutoring. in addition to working 30 hours/week through CC. </p>

<p>I would really prefer the Human Bio & Society over Anthro but I dont wanna blow my chances at UCLA, unfortunately I didn't TAP so I cant apply with a backup major. </p>

<p>Sorry for the length but any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!</p>

<p>That’s a competitive major but you have high gpa and to-be-completed prereqs so why not just apply for Human Bio & soc. Be confident! Write good PS that really speaks about who you are. Since there are going to be around 100k people applying to UCLA next year, you must really work on your personal statement and keeping your gpa high a must too. Good luck! It’s a great school. It was very hard for me to turn it down.</p>

<p>You can guarantee a spot at LA with anthropology. But your taking a risk with human biology…read the following. </p>

<p>Caution: Transfer Admission to our B.A. and B.S. programs is likely to be extremely competitive. For arrival in Fall 2013, we accepted 5 B.A. and 5 B.S. applicants. For arrival in Fall 2014, we do not expect an increase in this level of intake. We expect about 30-50 applicants for each of our B.A. and B.S. programs. Acceptance rate for transfer students into our major programs is therefore low, and so, we recommend that transfer students should only apply to our major if they wouldn’t wish to be at UCLA unless part of our major program. Additionally, we cannot accommodate requests to switch into either our B.A. or B.S. program. The demand for our small major program has simply become too strong for us to accommodate transfer student requests to switch into our program.</p>

<ul>
<li>[Major</a> ? The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics](<a href=“http://socgen.ucla.edu/academics/undergraduate/major-2/]Major”>http://socgen.ucla.edu/academics/undergraduate/major-2/)</li>
</ul>

<p>Every counselor I’ve seen at 3 different CCs tells me that non-transferable stuff doesn’t factor into your GPA. I specifically asked them about the remedial math classes I had to take get to transfer level math, but their answers were along the lines “it only matters if it says UC transferable in our catalog”.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be deterred if I were you. Looking at your stats you have an extremely competitive GPA for both majors and as long as you finish your pre-reqs, I really don’t see why you would be denied. If you’re determined on taking the “safe” route but really want to apply to Human Bio and Society then apply for the B.A., although I’d even encourage you to apply for the B.S. as you have a near perfect GPA. The B.A. had a 35% acceptance rate, which is higher than UCLA’s overall acceptance rate for transfers 28% in 2012 and the average GPA for Human Biology and Society B.A. was 3.49, WELL BELOW your own GPA. For the Human Bio and Society B.S. the admittance rate was much lower at 10%, but the pre-reqs are more difficult and from the stats it seems like the applicant pool was weaker than those that applied for the B.A. in 2012, explaining the lower acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Regarding non-transferable coursework, as it’s been repeated ad nauseum on here, it will not affect your admission in any way, shape, or form. Even if you get straight F’s in non-transferable coursework. I wouldn’t encourage you to test it out, but any non-transferable grades are basically thrown out and they’re going to look at just your overall GPA and your pre-req grades. If you’re still paranoid about this after probably reading it many, many times here just call UCLA admissions and ask them and they’ll give you a direct answer. Also, it should be helpful to also call the Human Bio and Society contact at UCLA. They might be able to reassure you that you’re a qualified candidate or maybe warn you and spare you from applying, the latter is doubtful. And no, calling them and talking to them can’t hurt your admission in any way. They’re not going to ask for any identifying information and they’re not going to track your phone number or anything crazy like that. They’re really only there to help you not flag your application for later because you sounded silly on the phone. Anyway, hopefully that helps. Good luck.</p>

<p>Edit:
After re-reading the first post I just realized you said you’d be taking Gen Chem in the spring which means you could only apply to the B.A. not the B.S. So yeah, don’t apply to the B.S. if you won’t have the pre-reqs finished by spring, but your chances for the B.A. look just fine in my opinion.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for the honest and informative responses, I think that most of your encouragement has finalized my decision for the Human Bio & Society, this is something I am more passionate about than Anthropology. Ill hopefully send an update next year with good news! Thanks again.</p>

<p>Anthro is a huge dept with lots of course options, resources, and professors. I’d apply as Anthro and minor in a biological subject.</p>

<p>Your stats are great, but looking at UCLA’s statistics of admitted transfer majors Anthropology has a 64.8% admit rate while human biology and society is 35.2%. I would say since UCLA is your top choice that you play it safe and have an amazing chance of getting in as anthropology as opposed to maybe getting in as human bio and society major just because its so competitive. Best of luck!</p>