Hello, I was wondering if I have a chance to transfer into UC Berkeley if I have failed a class previously. It is my first semester in college and I currently have 3 A’s and a D. If I end up with a D at the end of the semester and retake the course with an A, will I still have a chance in getting into UC Berkeley’s EECS program when I transfer out?
Do you have a chance? Possibly, though probably not.
EECS is one of the most competitive (in terms of admissions) programs at UC Berkeley, a highly competitive university. What do you think would make UC Berkeley choose you over someone who didn’t get D’s in community college (or many others who had 4.0s or very close to that)? It would especially hurt your chances if the D is in an indicator class such as Calculus or Physics (as opposed to a random general education class).
Retaking a class in which you got a D and getting an A the second time does not send nearly the same strong signal as getting an A on the first attempt. And this is in a class that is likely significantly less competitive than the equivalent one at Berkeley. Transfer admissions (or undergraduate admissions, or graduate admissions) is not trying to measure your grasp of Calculus or Physics (a strong student can, perhaps with some difficulty, make up for weaker fundamentals) but your work ethic and ability to learn difficult material quickly and excel.
I’d not lose hope, but I’d suggest not worrying about your transfer chances. Think about how you can become a better student. Learn from your mistakes and try to improve your performance for rest of your time in community college and beyond. When you’re ready to transfer, hopefully someone could advise you on where you can get in. It probably isn’t UC Berkeley, but the EE and CS programs at other UCs, USC, and Cal Poly are excellent. Computer science is very competitive at every good program.
To answer your question about a retake (and I’m not sure about transfer admissions), I would suggest taking a different course and getting an A. That would send a stronger signal of potential success than retaking a course and getting an A. Of course, you should have some idea of why you got a D in your current class and on how you would not make the same mistakes again.