Hello everybody,
I will be a first year biochemistry student at UCSD this fall, but I’m really not looking forward to it at all. UCLA was my dream school and it’s the only school I want to be at, so I wanted to know how possible it is to transfer after one year. I have almost enough AP/IB credits to start as sophomore standing, and I’d need to take around 16-20 units each quarter to get up to 90 units by the end of spring. Is this possible/doable?
Also, the only reason I’m going to UCSD this fall rather than a ccc is because I kind of already have a research position lined up. Will this give me an edge as a first year transfer applicant?
Another complication I have is that I plan on going to medical school. According to what I’ve seen online, UCSD graduates typically have higher acceptance rates to med schools than UCLA graduates do. Should this be concerning, or should I try to go to UCLA despite this since it is my dream school? The statistics aren’t that far off from each other, especially since acceptance to CA med schools is so low anyways.
One more thing - are the transfer essays as critical as they were for freshman applications? My essays were subpar and I think they contributed to my rejection, so if the transfer essays are equally as/any more important then I know I need to make a lot of changes.
I really, really want to be at UCLA, but I don’t want to waste my time OR screw up my chances of getting into med school.
Thanks for your time & help!
Hey man,
First of all, congratulations on making it into a top tier UC! I know that you wanted UCLA (I know I am from SoCal and I want to go there), but UCSD is NOT a bad school by any means. I know countless people who are really smart and go there and love it. They thought that they were going to hate it and they actually ended up loving it so much.
However, to answer your question. No, you cannot transfer to a UC after only one year. The UC schools have a rule that you can only transfer there after two years. However, if you start off as a sophomore with credits to get you there in a year I believe that they will let you do qualify for a transfer. On top of that, they give priority to transfers from community colleges rather than other UCs. ((I believe that 90% of their transfer students are from California CCs). Because, when you think of it logically, it makes sense. If you see someone who is qualified and already goes to a great school like UCSD and you see someone with the same qualification trying to get into a good school, why would you reject the person from CC. You would be destroying their future. The person that is already at a top tier school has no need to transfer and hence they are given lower priority.
Despite all of this, yes, UC to UC transfer is the second in line for priority and some people do successfully manage to transfer from one UC to another. As for essays, it is the exact same application as the UC application only that you fill in your college grades rather than your high school grades. The transfer rate to UCLA for biochemistry is 28% according to their official stats (will post the link down below) which is definitely higher than the overall 16% for freshman applicants. The average GPA is between 3.61-3.93 for those they admit though, so you have be quite good if you want to get in.
At this point, you should honestly decide for yourself. Maybe one year of CC (are you a Californian?) would be best for you if you are from California. Regardless, maybe go to UCSD if you judge it best. It is an amazing school that nobody can ever say is low ranking and I think that you will end up growing attached to it in the end as many of my friends who thought they would hate it have.
Best of luck!
Oops. Forgot to include the link
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major
When you transfer to UCLA, you must complete specific major requirements. The fact that your AP credits bring you to sophomore standing means almost nothing, because most of those units don’t satisfy specific major prep.
You would have to complete at least the following at UCSD (and potentially more) to be able to transfer to Biochem at UCLA:
1 year of general chem with labs
1 year of organic chem with labs
1 year of calculus
1 year of biology with labs
2 English composition courses
At least one G.E. course outside of the sciences
Additionally, they recommend:
2 quarters of calculus-based physics with labs
multivariable calculus
linear algebra
I just don’t see anyone doing all that in 3 quarters at UCSD.
Another issue - when you submit your application in fall, your GPA will still be 0.00
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If you are planning on going to Medical school, then you want to maintain a High GPA, have a High MCAT score and have medically related EC’s, all which you could achieve at UCSD. And if you plan to transfer to UCLA, then a High GPA will be required anyways to make yourself a competitive applicant for transfer.
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If you have 16-20 AP Credits then you would need to take on average 17-18 units/quarter including summer session to make it to the minimum 90 quarter units for transfer. Also you need to complete all requirements by spring quarter prior to transfer.
As noted in the above post, not all the AP credits can be used to fulfill the major prep requirements for transfer so 1 year seems very unrealistic. -
Again as noted in the above post, your Fall application will not have any college grades listed when you apply so how will UCLA know you are a competitive applicant with no grades.
My advice is be proud you were accepted into UCSD and make the most of the opportunities afforded to you by attending and graduating from UCSD.
Listen to @Gumbymom. Also it seems you will still be missing a lot of major requirements at the end of your fall term, which is the last term the UC uses to calculate GPA. Missing a lot of major courses (to be completed winter and spring) is not the best scenario.