<p>I am a transfer student currently applying for Fall 2013 to UCSB, UCSD, UCLA, and UCSC.
I'm applying under the following majors;
UCLA- Anthropology
UCSD- Anthropology
UCSC- Psychology
UCSB- Psychology</p>
<p>My question is, if I write my personal statement about Anthropology, will I risk my chances at UCSB or UCSC? I know it says they both don't read personal statements, but I met with one of the UCSB counselors a while back and she said they may check it just for clarification on some things. My top pick is UCLA, and runner-up is UCSB, but I don't want to chance it all on one school! Please help in any way possible.</p>
<p>Ah, I was in the same exact position. I applied to;
UCLA- Anthro
UCI- Anthro
UCSC- Anthro
UCR- Anthro
CAL- Anthro</p>
<p>I also applied to;
UCSD- Comm studies
UCSB- Comm studies
UCD- Comm studies</p>
<p>My personal statement explicitly mentioned “human communication” which is a bit ambiguous sounding already and I wrote it in a way that touched bases on both majors. If you think about it comm studies and the societal/social aspect of cultural anthropology are very similar. </p>
<p>I don’t think it will hurt your chances. I got accepted to all of the above except for Cal. Especially because I got accepted to UCLA for Anthro, when my personal statement mentioned “why I want to study human communication”, and since UCLA and CAL are supposedly the only 2 that actually take the PS into consideration for admission I don’t think a quasi-relevant PS will hurt you. As long as its a good PS you should be fine.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! This is a huge help. Did you directly mention anthro in your personal statement? And if you don’t mind me asking, what was your cumulative GPA?</p>
<p>No problem, glad I could help. My transfer process was a bit…“unconventional” so I dealt with a lot of weird issues that I assume most applicants don’t encounter. No my PS never explicitly mentioned anthropology. But if my communications PS was good enough for UCLA’s anthro than you should be fine. My GPA was not great, it was a 3.49 cumulative(4.0 major). But I had tons of work experience(45 hours a week & full time school), upward grade trend from a 1.5 to a 3.49, and two really good PS’s. So I think those other factors helped a lot. </p>