<p>I will be going to UCSC this fall, and I really want to transfer to UCB. I slacked off these 4 years, not receiving even half decent grades until now, and I have several questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What does UCB look for in terms of grades, and are grades everything in a transfer student? I know a 3.75 is more or less average, but what classes should I take?
By the end of the year, I'll have taken 6 AP classes:
chem
calc AB
world history
psychology
US history
Bio (I might not pass this one, since the teacher didn't teach at all throughout most of the year-- we had our year's 3rd lecture yesterday)</li>
</ol>
<p>that apparently counts as 36 credits. How many credits do I need to transfer, and how many of my courses fulfill prerequisites? </p>
<ol>
<li>how difficult is school life at UCSC? To extrapolate the difficulty of classes in college: I'm currently taking 3 APs, and throughout the entire year, I'd wager I've spent about only 15 or so minutes a day actually studying. Last semester, I received a 3.5 UW (in 4 of my classes, I received 88%'s, but the 88 in ap psych counted as an A-). With this, how many hours of work would I probably need to put in to remain comfortably above UCB's transfer applicant standards?</li>
</ol>
<p>read thru the info on the Berkeley Admission and the UCOP Admission websites. It talks about the selection criteria, how many units you need to transfer, how transfer credit is evaluated, etc.</p>
<p>I really don’t want this to come off as rude, but if you think that UCSC is not the school for you then…don’t go there. Simple. Go to a community college, there are great community colleges out there, therefore you can get your general requirements done and then transfer to UCB. In total honesty and respect towards UCSC (who, to be candid, does not have the best reputation and is currently not the most prestigious UC), I have to say that if you don’t truly want to be there… then this type of attitude (again I am not saying any of this against you specifically or personally, I am making a blanket general statement to all) that it is this type of attitude that holds UCSC down. School spirit and pride in a school are the key steps to create a strong student body, thus a school with a better reputation and more prestige. If UCSC had the majority of students be prideful, spirited, then they would start rising. People at CAL (UCB)- love UCB with a passion, students are extremely involved and have spirit and pride…I have a friend who was rejected by UCD and is now going to UCSC for the fall quarter and has the same perspective as the one conveyed in the post above.</p>
<p>At a community college one will save money, finish the general requirements and has a higher chance of getting those A’s then at a UC. If one earns a strong GPA at a community college one will get into UCB, UCD or another UC especially because it’s easier to get in as a transfer, and transfer applicants are evaluated differently. </p>
<p>Who knows…you might end up loving UCSC. But think about the community college option…essentially that’s why people go to a Community College to transfer to a four year that they want to go to. If you’re looking to get credit done UCSC may not be the best choice.</p>