Taking a gap semester this fall...

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I have been following the UC Transfer sub forum for months now, but this is my first time posting in this section. I am currently a student at a california community college, more specifically Sacramento City College. I have been looking forward to applying this fall (2011) and eventually attending either UC Berkeley or UC Los Angeles in 2012. However, I have recently been given the opportunity to travel and make the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia (Hajj for Muslims) and afterwards travel the middle east this upcoming fall. I would absolutely love to take this opportunity, but I am a bit hesitant as I do not want to hinder my chances of being accepted to either of the aforementioned universities by 2012. </p>

<p>So, would taking a gap semester this fall '11 (which is also when I will be applying to UCs) to travel be looked upon negatively by admissions at Berkeley or Los Angeles, which in turn may lead to being rejected? </p>

<p>I'm not sure if my stats will help in answering this question, but just in case here they are:</p>

<p>College: Sacramento City College</p>

<p>Age: 18</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00</p>

<p>Units: 39 (I am completely positive that I will be able to take 21 units in the Spring)</p>

<p>Major: Cognitive Science</p>

<p>IGETC: Will be completed by the end of Spring semester</p>

<p>Pre-Req's: Will also be completed by the end of spring semester.</p>

<p>EC's: Decent (Tutoring Children, Sunday School Teacher, Taught children how to read Arabic, Worked a part-time job throughout college, Head of youth outreach program, Basketball in competitive league, Learned to speak 4 languages)</p>

<p>Essays: I am a pretty good writer so hopefully my essays will be decent as well.</p>

<p>On a final note, I would also like to hear if you guys think the trip will be worth sacrificing a semester I could be taking medical school prerequisites? </p>

<p>I look forward to hearing from all of you, </p>

<p>Zakariya</p>

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<p>Apparently, medical schools take a negative view of applicants who do their medical school prerequisites at Community Colleges anyway so that would not be a big problem if you took them at a UC but you would have to do them and finish your upper division requirements for your degree in only two years.</p>

<p>You may be confident that you can complete 21 houres and all your pre-requisites during Spring semester and still maintain a high GPA but UCB and UCLA might be more skeptical and therefore be more likely to accept applicants who will have more of their coursework needed for transfer by the end of Fall.</p>

<p>If you are a Muslim I am aware you need to make this pilgrammige sometime during your life but you are still young and will have many other opportunities to do this in the future. Given how difficult it is to get classes in the Los Rios CC District I think you are taking a very big risk if you only give yourself only one more semester. I also believe that if you take a semester off, you will be considered a returning student by Los Rios for the Spring semester and will given a late registration priority date when many courses will already be closed. I would save this trip for a less critical time during your education such as a gap year between graduating from college and starting medical school.</p>

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<p>I don’t know much about religion and skipped semester, but I only have two things to remind you:</p>

<p>1> First, fall grades are SUUUUUUPPPPER important. That said, if you skip this Fall, your chance might be in jeopardy. I’d recommend you taking the remaining 21 units this Fall and skip Spring, if that is possible.</p>

<p>2> You have to know that admission to the top 2 dogs are NEVER guaranteed. They don’t have TAG, and I’ve seen cases where people with a 4.0 were rejected because they could not fulfill a specific requirement in their “contract”. Just keep that in mind, and good luck! You seem to be very confident, and that’s good for you!</p>

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<p>i learned about Hajj. You have to go once before you die. You decide if its important enough for you to complicate your UC admission process.</p>

<p>not saying its not important, but i mean like if its an ABSOLUTE MUST, at this time.</p>

<p>PS. beautiful name. jews and muslims are so close in ancient history, it’s a shame we have to fight one another.</p>

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