What are my chanes to UC Berkeley or UCLA?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

Hey all, I’m a current student at a community college in Los Angeles.

I’m hoping to transfer to UCLA or UC Berkeley and I’m going to apply this coming fall.

But there are things about me in order to determine my chances of admitting into UCLA or UC Berkeley

I’m an older student that returned to school to study really hard, I stopped going to school for about 5 years before I returned in 2014 Fall.

Before stop going to school I worked full time or two jobs and attended school part time.(24 units in 4 years)

I grew up from a dirt poor family and I worked to provide myself with pocket cash, help my family financially and to be a financially independent student.

I was an art major before but now I’m a business major and I never took major classes in STEM or English.

Before I left school my GPA was at 2.4

After I came back, my semester GPA has been 3.7 to 3.8 range per semester and I had a 4.0 past semester, working 30 hours a week.

My overall GPA at my school including long time ago units is 3.32, UC GPA of 3.24. But since I’ve returned as I said, my GPA has been 3.7 to 3.8 range.

I live by myself, I’m 28 and I work at a restaurant waiting tables as a server. I hate retail job and because I feel like I’m not as educated, incompetent I study my heart out and if I don’t get an A in an exam I get really upset.

Right now I’m taking precalculus and I have a B average in my course and I’m mad as hell. I still work so it bothers me specially in the winter. I understand the material, I know how to derive theorems but math is just like performing at a concert or at a sports match. I need to practice and review everyday in order to perform better. I’m trying to find co-workers to cover me and work and I’ll put in more time to solidify.

Although I only work two days out of the week part time during weekdays(but work 10 hours a day on friday saturdays and 5+ hours until late sunday night) it feels like I just don’t have enough time or I’m too tired to focus to produce quality studying hours to prepare for my exam

Anyways, here are list of classes I’ve taken and here are the grades.

2014 Summer(Worked full time)

Business 1/3 units - A
English 21B(English 1 pre req) /3 units - W

3 units/ 4.0 GPA

2014 Fall(Worked full time until Thanksgiving and quit)

Microeconomics/3 units - B
History 2 (15c to WW2)/ 3units - A
Philosophy(Human nature)/3 units - A

9 units/ 3.67 GPA

2014 Winter(Didn’t work)

Accounting 1(Beginning)/5 units - A
Media studies /3units - B

8 units/ 3.6 GPA

2015 Spring(Didn’t work)

Accounting 2(Managerial Accounting)/3 units - A
Macroeconomics/3 units - A
Latin American Art History/3 units - A
Business Law/3 units - B

14 units/ 3.79 GPA

2015 Summer(Started working)

English 21B(English 1 pre req) /3 units - B

2015 Fall(Worked 30 hours a week)

Lab Introductory Biology - A
Intermediate Algebra - A
Plane Geometry - A
English 1 - A

15 units/ 4.0 GPA

2015 Winter(Working 30 hours a week)

Precalculus - I’m going to end up with a B :frowning:

My 2016 Spring schedule will be

Calculus - 5 units
Statistics - 4 units(Wait pool)
French 1 - 5 units

total 14 units, goal: 4.0 GPA

I don’t smoke, I don’t like drinking, I rarely take vacations I don’t chase skirts much.

People think I’m boring and too serious about life but I work too hard to be spending money on anything other than investing into my future and education specially when I’m at 28 years of age juggling school and work, with no professional career and degree.

I got B’s here and there but I’ll do my best to not slip.

Some were easy classes that I’ve gotten B’s in. I just got lazy. Microeconomics, I slipped in a crucial exam so that I can’t do anything about.

Precalculus… I should work less for that >:|

I know Haas is really really really hard to get into but I talk to Berkeley representative at my school and she says although 5.6% who applied get in, more than 40% of them didn’t even qualify to apply.(They were missing some of the pre req and didn’t know about it etc)

She also advised that I would have a better chance applying as Econ major which I don’t mind but if I’m doing Econ when UCLA doesn’t offer Business administration, I can apply for Biz Econ for UCLA although you need 3.9 GPA to get in.

I don’t know.

Do I have any chance?

I don’t struggle with math I love math although I’ve not taken math for the past 10 years and those intermediate algebra and geometry classes were my first since high school.

2

Accounting 2 is 5 units. Sorry.

3

bump: Please answer? :’(

4

Your overall gpa is 3.2 thats pretty low dude, the average gpa for Haas last year was like a 3.87, even the middle 80% starts at 3.6. You sound very enthusiastic tho…
https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/class_profile.html

5

@MikeSauce Thanks, I was hoping that they would take my circumstances into consideration and sort of forgive my 5 year gap, since my GPA has been 3.7 - 3.8 since I’ve returned to school after 5 years.

6

Getting into business programs at either of those school would be quite the miracle after having a rough start.

Business is obviously the new ‘trendy’ major, but the truth of the matter is that you are hardly anymore likely to go far in business with a Business Bachelors then with one in Economics, Communications, Political Science, etc. MBA programs genuinely couldn’t care less whether you majored in business because undergraduate business is far too broad. Business are comprised of departments, which are comprised of the best experts that the company could find. A Business bachelor is certainly not a bad major; it simply won’t truly give you a leg up in terms of employment for 90% of occupations because business are based in specialization rather than having every worker do a little bit of everything.

Think about what types of businesses you plan to work for and what positions you want to hold within them. If you would rather not work with the numbers, then there is no sense in studying semesters worth of economics and accounting. If you want to work in Marketing, HR, etc, a Communications B.A. + MBA would be a far more beneficial route to take. If you want to work for Nonprofits, Resource Management, Legal departments, a Political Science B.A. + MBA. Etc. Etc.

Something to consider.

7

@TheVisionary I know it’s a very very very very long shot with my overall gpa but Berkeley representative said Berkeley is forgiving and understanding of circumstances and stories but not sure how much I can count on it considering my story. She specifically told me GPA is 50% 35% is essay and 15% are extra curricular activities according to Berkeley’s way of weighing applicants. But then again, I’m a practical, realistic person. I have lots of doubts but if I can get into Berkeley or UCLA, it’d be awesome. :’(

8

You should still apply, TAG to a different UC as a safety and beef up those EC’s.

9

The universities don’t care about a gap in years unless it’s been 20 or more years and then it’s a credits issue. Age is just a number. You will see students who are older on all of the UC and CSU campuses.

The universities do care about all classes taken after high school. So if you had any classes, anywhere, after high school, those transcripts have to be sent in. They will be averaged with your current classes.

Why UCLA and Berkeley? They are some of the toughest schools to get into in California. If you are having difficulty or weaknesses in any subjects now, then you will have it really tough at those schools. The level of instruction at the UC’s is rapid and tough. UCLA is on the quarter system which means you only have 10 weeks to perform. UCB is on the semester system, but the student level of performance is insanely high.

There are schools everywhere in California. Don’t limit yourself to two of the toughest schools that reject even perfect candidates. Berkeley is forgiving, but if you don’t have the numbers, both UCLA and UCB will be long shots.

10

@MikeSauce I did have a bit more harder life than most of students. I always worked, at one point I’ve helped out my family with finances. I didn’t party much because I felt guilty when my family is just too poor. We didn’t even dine out until I got a job and I started taking them out to nicer dinners. I made at least $20,000 of contribution over the course of 3 years. I wanted to do both school and work, but it didn’t work out. Before I was making excuses to sleep through classes and barely pass with a C. 5 years after, I realized my life was going nowhere, I didn’t want to be a complete loser with no degree, no real job, no career, no profession so I made the jump at the age of 27. I was hoping that I would get anywhere but I wasn’t getting anywhere in retail or at a job without a degree. I would like to think that I deserve a shot but again I’m probably a lot less competitive compared to those with 4.0 who are really smart.

11

By this fall when I’ll be ready to transfer I’ll have about 3.46 UC GPA :confused: I would have overall cumulative GPA of 3.8 since my return to school in 2014 :confused: :’(

12

Your previous grades are rough, but UCs like positive grade trends. If you can keep getting good grades and find a really compelling way to tell your story through the essay portion of the application, you have just as much of a shot as anyone.

You just need to keep getting good grades, find some ways (if possible) to be involved on campus or in the community, and submit a killer application. You can take extra (easy) classes online as a way to boost your GPA a bit as well along the way or during summer, just choose the classes wisely.

13

@briank82 I can but I still need crucial pre req classes so I don’t want to waste my time. I need 2 semesters of foreign language, and I need to take up to calculus 2. But I like math so it’s not a problem. And I work 30 hours a week so that can be a bit of problematic. as I listed since my return after 5 years it’s been

2014 Summer - AW, 3 units/4.00

2014 Fall - AAB, 9 units/3.67

2015 winter - AB, 8 units/3.60

2015 Spring - AAAB, 14 units/3.79

2015 summer - B, 3 units/ 3.00

2015 fall - AAAA, 15 units/4.00

52 units, 3.77 GPA

Keep in mind, besides winter and spring 2015, I worked full time or I’m working 28+ hours a week. Sadly I will end up with a B in my current class which is pre calculus NOT because I have trouble in math but I struggle with time and fatigue because I work, and it eats up my time to study for the exam and I’m often worn out physically and mentally.

I will take 14 units/3 classes in spring(French 1, Stats, Calculus) and I will get a 4.0

I don’t have trouble with math. So far 3 weeks into 6 week winter session, I worked every Thursday lunch when I have exams every Friday.

Otherwise I would have an A for sure. I’m so mad but the Berkeley rep told me Precalculus is pre req of a req so just do well in Calculus and Calculus 2.

14

My UC Gpa has been 3.73 since I returned. 44 units out of 52 are UC transferable and 3.727 GPA since then.

15

Sign up for Berkeley TAP, a rep from Berkeley should be paying a visit to your school about once every 2 months to do counseling. Go to it and ask them about TAP and the summer enrichment program. They’ll help with essays, applications, workshops etc. Also sign up for Berkeley’s Starting Point Mentorship, an undergrad from Berkeley will be assigned to you and mentor you through the transfer process.

They may or may not benefit you, but you can at least slap them on your application.

16

@MikeSauce You’re right. I only get one shot, doesn’t hurt to try. I have nothing to lose.