Should I give up on Berkeley?

Shannon13
Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:55:35 +0000

I don’t think you should give up but you should definitely either apply to more than just Berkeley (preferably, apply to 3-5 UCs), or being okay with the idea of sticking it out another year at the community college taking some GPA booster classes along with a couple of extra classes related to your major. Are you applying this fall? Do you live near a UC? I am taking classes at UC Berkeley this summer to demonstrate my interest in my major (I think by the time I am done I will have 10 courses completed for my major, which only requires 3 prereqs) and my determination to attend Cal. I am also interested in double majoring in Econ once I transfer although that is not my main major and I know that you must complete a calculus based statistics course as well as an upper div Econ class before (or be in the progress of taking those) you apply for the major. Could you take one of those at UC Berkeley this summer? And if you didn’t get into UC Berkeley for Fall 2013, would you consider taking those courses during the summer before your application (and spending another year at the JC)? I think these are all things to consider.

If you are not willing to do these things, then yes, I think you should research the other UCs and CSUs and rank 3-5 of them in order of your preference, if you don’t get into Cal. For example, I have decided that although Davis and San Diego have great programs for me, I don’t want to live in those cities, so I am only going to apply to UCB, UCLA, and UCI. If I don’t get into any of those 3, then I would rather take another year at the JC to raise my GPA. But if I got into UCI but not UCB or UCLA, I would rather go there then postpone my graduation another year.

However, I still think you have a good chance, especially if you do well in the Calculus class. So the last thing you should do is throw in the towel and not even submit an application.