Questions about Berkeley EECS transfer(PIQs & ECs)

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
1

I am a freshman in CCC currently and I am aiming to transfer to Berkeley for fall 2020 as EECS major.
I’m pretty confident that I can get a 4.0 and maintain it till the end. So grades are not an issue for me.
However, I am not sure what to do with ECs.
I’m aware that I am supposed to do something related to my major, EECS, and show demonstrated interests, but I am not sure whether what I’ll be doing to “show my interest” will be good enough…

At first, I considered doing some programming projects, making some apps or websites, or attending hackathons… But I presume many people who apply to EECS do that already… and doesn’t seem like a good way for me to stand out. And besides, even a high school graduate can pick up a book or read online tutorials and code… it’s so easy nowadays.

AND the fact is, I don’t enjoy programming that much. I do like it, of course. But just not as much as I enjoy studying artificial intelligence(machine learning), theoretical computer science or just computer SCIENCE in general(anything that has a lot of math, I love it) and a little bit of computer architecture.

So, I am more of a theory guy instead of a “tech” guy who likes to code stuff.
So my questions to people who are experts of EECS transfer admission are:

  1. What kind of ECs do you think I should do if I enjoy more theoretical stuff instead of practical and empirical stuff?
  2. Because EECS is an engineering major, I assume they're looking for "engineering"-minded people. Does it hurt my chances of admission if I am more of a theory guy? Also, if you're in or have been EECS major in Berkeley, do you know people(transfers) who are more theory-oriented than practice-oriented? If so, what kind of ECs did they do during their CC years?
  3. Am I worrying too much about ECs? Should I just focus on what I love to do, then by the time I apply, should I just aim to perfect my PIQs?
  4. Does having ECs REALLY help with answering PIQs? Or can you do just fine with not so many ECs?

Also, please don’t suggest me to apply to CS L&S because I REALLY don’t want to do IGETC. My backup school is Davis with TAG and CS major there doesn’t require IGETC, so I am good.

2

I don’t know much about EC or CCC transfer, but I know a little bit about this:

Note that EECS has two parts, EE and CS, and anything in between.

My D was an EECS undergrad, and currently a CS PhD student there. She is not “engineering”-minded (I know, I’m an EE) and she is doing very well there. In fact, her most recent paper was more math than CS.

She didn’t have much for EC when applying as a freshman. She had about 9 months research with a prof. at SLO Cal Poly (she contacted the prof. after attending a talk by the prof at Stanford Univ). The research was a good learning experience, but didn’t result in a paper, nor did she ask for a LoR from the prof…

As an undergrad at UCB, she got a research assistant job via a contact when attending a bootcamp at https://simons.berkeley.edu .

For PhD, she was admitted to 5 of the top-10 schools. She chose UCB partly because it was ranked the world #1 in “theory of computing.”

Go ahead and apply. You will not be lonely there.