<p>And then complain when they don't get in . The other day a girl was whining to me how she got rejected from Cal with a 3.4 for an accounting major, and she said she wanted to know why . Well , I don't get why she wouldn't apply to some backup schools. Alot of students do this, and say "I'm going to UCLA or Berkeley " even when their GPA is like 3.0, 3.1, 2.9 .
Can someone explain this all to me, what happened to having realistic goals .</p>
<p>they have not met with a counselor to talk about TAG’s</p>
<p>Part of the reason is people are somewhat out of touch with the admissions statistics. Just 5 years ago, getting into UCB and UCLA wasn’t that hard, and they’ve always had the reputation of being great state schools. </p>
<p>Another part of the reason why everyone applies to UCLA and UCB is… they happen to be conveniently located almost smack in the middle of the 2 biggest population concentrations in california. Heh. Geographically, everyone wants to go to one of those two places because it’s convenient for them. </p>
<p>For me, UCB is a 30 minute drive. Seriously, 30 minutes and not having to move?! SO CONVENIENT! But I didn’t like UCB… so I didn’t apply. </p>
<p>But seeing as we have echo boomers hitting college, and the economy is in the crapper so everyone wants to go to college, UCB and all of the other UCs are having way higher demand than they used to, and they can’t simply expand to meet needs (especially with the budget problems), so they just make it harder and harder to get into.</p>
<p>That, and despite UC TAGs being wildly popular last year, the majority of people at CCCs are still TOTALLY CLUELESS about them. My CCC’s transfer department never told me about them - I learned about it through a friend, and have told quite a few people about the TAG agreements as nobody seemed to know. -_-</p>
<p>It’s amazing, really.</p>
<p>What wwlink said pretty much. I have a 3.9 so it didn’t really matter, but I had no idea about TAGs until like one week before the deadline. Luckily my counselor had the sense to tell me about TAP when I first enrolled at my CCC.</p>
<p>No one at SMC mentioned TAG, I found out about TAG here on the message board.</p>
<p>i’m so grateful for cc seriously. i doubt i would be successfully transferring to Berk without it.</p>
<p>i appreciate alot of you guys for teaching me the way, i could never repay you the advice ive received and learned.</p>
<p>They don’t know the tricks like for UCLA, if you have a low GPA 3.0 to 3.4, you have to apply for a non-impacted major and you must have tap.</p>
<p>There are so many ways to get around the system</p>
<p>There may be, but I’d bet a lot of people would rather go to a different school than take a major they aren’t interested in.</p>
<p>I always felt like “getting around the system” by applying to a non-impacted major that you are not really interested in was like cheating your way into a good school. </p>
<p>@thisislife – I’ve wondered the same thing. I think the reason so many people apply to UCLA and Berkeley even though they are not competitive applicants is because they are obsessed with the brand name schools. They do it for the same reason that some people who can barely pay their rent are still willing to buy $1000 coach handbags.</p>
<p>However, it is surprising how many people get into UCLA and Berkeley with less than 3.5. I have a 3.55 and I thought my GPA wasn’t competitive enough for Berkeley, so I didn’t apply. Now I wish I had taken the chance.</p>
<p>lol it’s not^
that’s kinda the point of this thread haha</p>
<p>i think the real question here is why do cc counselors suck so much? you’d think their job was like hard or something.</p>
<p>@redoplease - I think you might’ve missed my point 
Let me reiterate: I am also surprised at the number of people with stats that are below the average (and sometimes way below the average) for UCLA and Berkeley apply to these schools. I wonder where they got the balls to do it since they have a very slim chance of getting in. It is even more ridiculous if they act like one of the schools owed them a spot. However, every year a lot of people with below average stats apply and get in. I know a guy who got into Berkeley as a computer science major with a 3.4 and another guy who got into Econ at Berkeley with a 3.5. There are a lot of other people on this board who got into Berkeley and UCLA with less than a 3.5. So, yes, it is highly unrealistic, but it is worth a shot, and I wish I had taken that chance.</p>
<p>I got into Cal with a comparable GPA to that. I don’t actually know my GPA because I don’t know what was transferable from my 4-yr but I’ve had a 3.8x over the past 3 years (100+ credits) so I think my bad GPA was offset a lot… but yeah people do get in under different circumstances. I was rejected from UCLA but I applied to an impacted major so I wasn’t surprised. I wouldn’t want to apply to a different major on the off-chance that I would get in and then have to figure out how to switch into an impacted major. Overall, yeah I do agree that a lot of people don’t realize what kind of other applicants they are up against but if you have a good reason for a bad year or semester, then sometimes they do take that into consideration.</p>
<p>The whole " why didn’t I get in " thing with kids thinking a top school owes them a spot . I consider a student with a 3.0 who apply’s to some not so top schools and maybe one dream school smarter then a student with a 3.5 who apply’s to Cal and UCLA and then whines about how he didn’t get in . But it gets better, after mister ,‘I only applied to the 2 hardest schools to get into’ gets denied he/she needs to appeal that decision as if the school just didn’t know who they were missing out on .</p>
<p>I have a ~3.52, and I got into Cal, so its definitely possible. Surprising and unlikely, but possible. But there were other factors at play in my case: powerful personal statement, excellent grade trend, 4.0 in major classes with all prereqs + extras completed, 26 yr old reentry student, first gen college student, caucasian (someone told me this might have actually helped), raised by single mother. Some ECs, some volunteer ****, lots of regular work experience. Its basically the sum of so many parts; like the vice chancellor said last Saturday, they admit stories, not just numbers. I guess they liked mine :)</p>
<p>Anyway, what I’ve taken away from all this is to never sell yourself short. If you don’t try, you’ll always be left wondering “what if?”</p>
<p>stefan,
I’m talking more about kids who have less then 3.5 and ONLY apply to Cal and UCLA, its ok to apply to a dream school, but its only common sense to have a backup</p>
<p>@ santacruz</p>
<p>I have very similar stats all around. In my personal essay, I didn’t try to make excuses about my slightly low GPA (all the “I was on my deathbed, I had family problems” stuff that is incredibly overused). The way I see it is that anyone can tell a sob story and they’ve probably heard it all, so I focused on how I developed into the person I am today and how being an unconventional student has actually enabled my academic and personal success. I’m 99% sure my personal essay was the reason some of my past grades were overlooked and I feel incredibly fortunate for that.</p>
<p>sorry, thisislife… i’m not trying to change the topic of your thread either :)</p>
<p>@ killmy Thats exactly the way to do it. Of course, in my case a certain amount of explanation was in order, to address the large gaps in my schooling and the stark differences between my first attempt at college in 2004, and then these last 2 years. As I’ve said on these boards a few times, my problem was heroin addiction, and writing about that could have gone either way with the admissions people. I tried to make my essay about what I’ve gained from the experience, and just as you say above, how I don’t regret the past because it’s made me into the man I am today. I think this is what they liked about it. There’s no, “oh, poor me” BS, I created my problems, I had to learn how to deal with them, and this is what I did and what I gained as a result. Not taking things for granted, appreciating and being grateful for everything I have, and especially for the opportunity to get sober and go back to school. </p>
<p>God, I only wish I could have been there when they read my essay, or if I could meet the folks who did, and ask them what went through their minds as they considered it. I’m absolutely certain my story is what got me in there; yeah, grade tend is good, but that overall GPA drops their average.</p>