UC Psychology Major Transfers FALL 2020

[exfolieate]

@exfolieate

GPA: 3.98
EC’s: Toastmasters (Vice Pres. Public Relations at my campus’s club)
Work experience: Tutor at my cc’s tutoring center, respite caretaker for a teenager with autism

Essays: Each of them is about something different. here’s a small description of each one:

• Required question: I talked about my interest in psychology, connecting it back to my childhood growing up with an autistic sibling, and then talked about the opportunities I took advantage of at my community college to enrich my experience and prepare me for transfer (specifically the Honors Transfer Project, which introduced more opportunities for research that mimics what you'd see at a UC. I also briefly mentioned my job as a respite caretaker to show that I'm serious about pursuing psychology and have some experience under my belt already)
• Creativity essay: I talked about being a journalism student in high school and how I had to think of creative, out-of-the-box solutions to manage my workload since I had two editor positions at once in my senior year. I talk about what I learned and how these skills have transferred to college.
• Academic challenge essay: I talk about the circumstances that led me to going to community college after high school as opposed to a 4 year university and how going to community college has helped me grow as a person and as a student, and how the traits I have accumulated at the community college will help me once I transfer
• Significant life challenge essay: I talk about growing up in America as a Pakistani-American Muslim Immigrant (i know, it's the typical immigrant essay, blah blah) and the struggles I've faced in balancing two completely different cultures and finding myself in the process. Things like that. It's kind of cliche..

I also will have completed 18 units of honors coursework by the end of spring semester.

I applied to UCSC, UCD (TAG), UCSB, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB.
I got into UCSC, UCD, and UCSB. Rejected from UCB. have UCSD and UCLA left.
I’m probably getting rejected from UCLA because I didn’t take philosophy and all major prep is required. I did a lot of prep for a B.S. program in psychology and wasn’t able to fulfill all the requirements for B.A. programs (which is probably why I got rejected from Berkeley as well).

Update on my final standings:
Accepted:
UCSD
UCSB
UC Davis
UCSC
SJSU (I know it’s not a UC but thought I’d still throw that in there)

Denied:
UCLA
UCB

I got rejected from the prestigious universities which makes my decision a lot easier in a sense, lol. I want a B.S. degree and UCLA and UCB only offer BA’s and I would have probably ended up attending one of those universities if I had gotten in just because of prestige. I think my decision has come down to deciding between:

UCSD (cognitive psychology emphasis)
UCSB (psychological and brain science)
UC Davis (biology emphasis)

right now I’m leaning most towards UCSD because it seems that there are a TON of opportunities for research experience already embedded into the program itself. UCSB also has some research experience but not as much as UCSD… I’m wondering which of these three universities hold greater merit in their psych programs?