<p>In case anyone is transfering to UCSD this cycle and was interested in knowing more about the school or wanted to know about my own experiences with the application cycle:</p>
<p>Background
I applied to 7 of the 9 UC campuses as a history major and where available alternate major of poli sci:
Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSB, and UCSC
(in order of preference and probably us news ranking)</p>
<p>I was accepted to UCSD and UCI</p>
<p>my educational background was as follows:
2yrs @ Las Positas College with a GPA of .74 (not a typo)
2yrs @ Diablo Valley College with a GPA of 3.54
Finished IGETC and took 3 history courses, however at the time of application I still had a math requirement class left which was taken the spring before enrollment.</p>
<p>for my personal statement I wrote about the difficulties of succeeding in school early in life then transitioned into my new outlook on life and how school is involved in the success of my new life.</p>
<p>I also wrote an addendum about how my dad’s death after high school affected my grades at Las Positas.</p>
<p>I worked full time at Las Positas as loss prevention for JCPenney’s and didn’t work at all during my time at Diablo Valley College.</p>
<p>On the Application Process
My experience was that applications are divided into cycles. There will be x number of waves of acceptances and typically 1 large wave of rejections. Information <em>is</em> shared between the different campuses so do not be disheartened if you do not get in at a lower ranked school than your goal school. They know the status of each other on your application.
Early in the application process I called one of the schools (UCSC I believe) and they were able to tell me how many schools I was accepted to before I even received an acceptance at all. Of course, don’t go asking for this information because this was merely mistake on her part to tell me this information as she didn’t know what decisions I received.
My biggest piece of advice would be to finish IGETC reqs as soon as possible. I seriously think that not finishing my math req soon enough kept me out of some of the schools I applied to.</p>
<p>In General
As far as UCSD is concerned, I absolutely love it here. The weather is as good as it gets and the students are cordial. The biggest mystery to many of you may be the college system. At first I was skeptical of the system because my classes are scattered throughout the entire campus, but this is a good way to help students become intimately familiar with the entire campus rather than a single building.</p>
<p>On the College System
If you are uncertain as to how to rank the different colleges and how they differ it’s really only a difference in upper division GE requirements. For example, I’m in Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC) so I’m required to take the equivalent of 4th year foreign language, 2 classes that specialize in a region, 3 courses of a writing program called Making of the Modern World (MMW), and a few other courses which I’ve completed through community college work prior to transfering.
If I were to rank the colleges by easiest to hardest GE requirements it would likely be:
Muir
Warren
Marshall
Sixth
Revelle
ERC</p>
<p>This is likely biased on my experience because I despise foreign language requirements which both Revelle and ERC have. Your ranking of them would likely be different and I would encourage you to seek out the different college’s requirements to determine which you like more. The only other notable difference is certain colleges have a reputation for catering to specific majors. For instance, ERC seems to mostly consist of humanities majors while Sixth tends to have comp sci and math majors.</p>
<p>On the Social
If you decide to visit UCSD I would recommend not doing so in late May if possible because of the possibility of visiting during Sun God Festival. I don’t know the exact date this year but it will paint a picture unrepresentative of the rest of the year. UCSD is a very calm environment with an uncohesive social environment. There is little unity between students outside of their immediate setting (student org, classroom, etc…). I would classify the student body as nerdy but comfortable due to being in like company. Competition is fierce especially in the technical majors but it tends to not extend outside the classroom. There is no centralized greek housing near campus; it is typically confined to scattered houses around the area. Also, if you are considering renting an apartment in La Jolla expect to pay between 1300-1600/mo (I live in a single bedroom apartment down the street from school and pay 1505/mo but this is in the higher end and I’m being ripped off).</p>
<p>Hopefully this will serve to answer any questions people may have and I will check back on this thread when I get a chance to answer any questions that arise.</p>