I have not completed my major prep courses yet but I will have IGETC done prior to transfer. I have done numerous volunteer activities and did a internship at a large non profit organization that lasted several months. Right now my GPA is a 3.79. I was also the vice president of the student body when I was in high school and came up with innovative ideas such as a electronics recycling program. I am applying for computer science B.A major.
How many major prerequisite will you be missing by spring ?
at least 4
I’m missing one and counsellors told me I have a pretty low chance at UCLA. But I know a few people who got in missing prerequisites for UCLA this year.
Are you missing 4 because they are not offered at your CC, or because you don’t have the time/just didn’t take them?
Here you can see UCLA’s CS stats from last year:
https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof14_mjr.htm#SEAS
The avg admit GPA was 3.88
Here: https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/seasmajs.htm
It states “Applicants to the Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Science must have … completed preparation for the selected major” If you are missing the classes even though you school offers them, your chances are not great.
I talked to a counselor at UC Berkeley and she stressed to me that if I don’t finish a prereq by Spring that I can just take it at the school (if I get in/decide to go to the school), but I think that’s if I’m missing just one and she was from the psychology department. You should just ask a counselor or rep from your department at the schools you want to transfer to.
Within the College of Letters & Sciences at Berkeley, wouldn’t it be practically impossible to get admitted into any capped major without your major prerequisites done?
The rationale is that since transfer admits of capped majors only have one semester to declare their majors, and most capped majors have specific requirements that must be taken at Berkeley, then why would they accept a student that is at risk to meet / cannot meet the deadline to declare their major because they don’t have the prerequisites?
I know for Econ/Comp Sci/Cog Sci this is the case.
I have no idea, this is just what the woman at UC Berkeley told me. It would definitely be best to complete all pre-reqs. I was asking her about a class that my CC doesn’t offer and no other CC in the area offers either and that’s when she told me that I can take it at UC Berkeley if I get in/decide to attend UCB.
I’ve talked with Berkeley admissions about something similar, and I was told that if you do not have all of the prerequisites you won’t even be considered for the school of engineering. I’m not sure if CS in Letters and Sciences is the same way or not. Either way I would definitely try to get everything done by Spring if you plan on applying for Fall 2016.
I’m pretty sure that they’re fairly lenient regarding courses that your CC does not offer. Not sure for CoE or highly impacted majors, and it’s definitely better to finish all prereq’s than not, but I don’t think missing one that one is absolutely unable to fulfill would be held against you (generally).
Can you TAG to UCI’s CS? I’m guessing that you can probably get into UCI, and UCLA/UCB are reaches (UCB especially).
@goldencub the question I asked them was actually about a course not offered at my community college. This is the exact text from the email (keep in mind that I am OOS, so it might be a little different)
"Thank you for your email. If you’re applying into the College of Engineering, it is imperative that you complete all required courses. I would recommend checking with the University of Illinois, and possibly seeing if they offer an equivalent course online.
Best,
Undergraduate Admissions Staff"
I guess it wasn’t as “finish everything or you don’t be considered” as I remember it being.
@Evilcow867 no, the use of imperative implies that you must complete everything, and that makes sense for CoE - and still, I’m sure that there are people who are unable to access those courses, but still get in.
My major, Philosophy, is entirely different. The prereq’s for UCB’s Philos major aren’t offered at any CCC as far as I’m aware, so naturally, no transfers are penalized for not taking the required courses. I’m not sure as to where the line is drawn, but it certainly varies depending on the major. I’ve just heard that, if a course is not offered at your CCC, you will not be punished for that. It may depend on the college/major, but I don’t know honestly.
For EECS in CoE, you need to have everything completed whether it’s offered nearby or not:
“Completion of 100% of the required core preparation courses by the end of the spring term prior to fall enrollment”
Source: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/ugrad/transfer-reqs.shtml
For CS within L&S, their “capped” status is volatile and can change yearly but currently they are (surprisingly) under the threshold to be designated as a capped major so you have two semesters to meet the major requirements instead of one:
“Transfer students should plan complete their technical prerequisites and apply for the major at the end of their first or second semester at UC Berkeley.”
Source: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/csugrad/#petitioning
@justint95 For Berkeley: Given the above timeline of two semesters, that means you need the equivalents for CS 61A/AS, Math 1A, and Math 1B completed to be considered as you only have two semesters to finish the remaining requirements. Realistically, you probably need to have the Math 54 equivalent and CS61B done as well since they consider those as “soft” prerequisites for CS70.
Can they take CS 61A & CS 61C at the first semester and take CS 61B & CS 70 at the second semester?
Technically yes as Berkeley doesn’t really check prerequisites at class registration, but admissions evaluators will probably have an issue with that as they list 61A as a prerequisite for both 61B & 61C.
Source: http://guide.berkeley.edu/courses/compsci/
61A during semester one with 61B, 61C, 70 during semester two is a more likely timeline, but even then it’s doubtful they would admit a student planning to do that unless they have a good number of other non-transferable CS courses under their belt.