@californiagirl95 http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/quick-reference-2015.pdf
Your admissions counselors are mistaken. Refer to p. 36 (p.37 if you’re viewing going by the actual number of pages). The UCs that use the PS for admission purposes are Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, and UCM.
I agree that transfer admissions is primarily a numbers game, but there are definitely other UCs that read the personal statement. Also, given the fact that the UCs release information about how they select transfer students, we can definitely know about the transfer process.