UCSD Bioengineering: Biotechnology transfer chance for Fall 2016

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
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Hey UCSD, I am currently a freshman student at CSULB in pre-electrical engineering. I made the mistake of not deciding to take the path towards my dream major (Bioengineering) because of getting denied from the UC system for my poor grades in Highschool (my fault). Being enrolled at CSULB for an entire school year and realizing I wasn’t happy, I have decided to transfer back to SD Miramar college (I’m from San Diego) summer 2015 in order to try and transfer to UCSD. I have not taken any engineering courses yet, and will finish my physics and mathematics sequence by my fall 2015 semester at community. I was wondering if they’ll consider me a community college student since I’ll have more CC units than CSU units (37 > 30) and what my chances of getting in are. I was also wondering if I should choose general bioengineering over bioengineering: biotechnology because I am interested in microfluidic and neuroengineering research. Here are my stats:

Current Overall GPA: 4.0

Will complete entire Bioengineering: Biotechnology pre-major (with the exception of 2 semesters of O-Chem) including C++ programming ( by Fall 2016)

Helped reinstate the Biomedical engineering society (BMES) student chapter at CSULB (2014-2015)

Publicity director and Project manager for CSULB BMES (2014-2015)

Helped petition and catalyze the development of the Biomedical/Clinical engineering degree at CSULB out of the electrical engineering emphasis into an actual degree at CSULB (it’s going to take years, but there will be a BME degree @ CSULB)

Designed and built transcranial electromagnetic stimulation device for CSULB BMES

Undergraduate research assistant in the Neurobiology Lab of Kevin Sinchak (We do lots of surgeries!)

By the time of transfer, I expect my GPA to be in between 3.9-4.0. My biggest concern is my chances at getting in since I will have a mess of units from CC and CSU. I am wondering if they will consider me a CC student (which I think will greaten my chances at admission) or a CSU student for transfer, even though I will have 37 units at the CC level versus 30 units at CSULB. I am also concerned as to which track I should choose: General Bioengineering versus Bioengineering: Biotechnology since I will not be able to complete O-chem in time (I would be in community for another year, and I already completed a lot of GE requirements). Can someone give me their insight as what is best for me? Thank you so much.

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Did you get in?

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I got into UCSD, but they didn’t admit me to Bioengineering: Biotechnology like I wanted. I transferred to UC Berkeley for Bioengineering. UCSD didn’t admit me for bioe: biotech because I was missing one class (Physics 2C), despite it not being required for transfer admission (the program is impacted). Berkeley admitted me for Bioengineering about a week later, and I decided to transfer there.

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I am Pasadena City College Student who just applied for bioengineering: biotech at UCSD and I will have almost all the Prereqs completed except o-chem and C++. I will have completed IGETC. I have 4.0 and imagine I will have a 3.9-4.0 when transferring just like you. I am taking Matlab course, which seems to be on the bioe:tech curriculum for their computer programming course It just won’t fulfill transfer requirement. I was wondering if you finished IGETC? Also, how is Berkeley’s Bioengineering program? I’ve heard its still in its infant stages and that its upper division coursework is not as sufficient as you would think from such a prestigious school. I applied to Berkeley chemical engineering program, hoping to have a focus on Synthetic Biology through it.

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IGETC is not required. Berkeley’s Bioengineering program is great, and is extremely selective. Only 6 students were accepted in the last cycle with a 4% acceptance rate . The Chemical Engineering program is amazing too, but is more focused on Biomolecular Engineering in the realm of BioE. There is a lot of SynBio research being done in both the ChemE and BioE department, so there is a lot of variety for you to choose from. I would go as far to say that Berkeley has a better Syn Bio program than UCSD. Be careful with applying, UC Berkeley expects you to finish the Ochem series, and UCSD expects you to finish the physics series. I didn’t get accepted into UCSD because I was missing one physics class (Physics 2C). I would’ve otherwise been accepted (transfer GPA was 4.0).