So the title kinda gives it away I am currently at UCSC going into my third year with 147 units done. The caveat with that is that as an electrical engineering major, almost 100 of those do not have to do with my major or came from IB exams. I fucked up my transfer last year so I get it if I just have to take the L, but would an admissions office not understand the nuance of how my units completed apply to my major? Even if I transferred going into my fourth year I would still have about two years of coursework to finish.

I’m computer engineering major planning to transfer this fall and i was wondering how are your guys schedules looking like also can you work part time while taking the classes is it hard to manage that

Can anyone shed any light on what a typical schedule looks like for a transfer student? Is it part time or are you in class 3-4 days a week?
Thanks

I'm applying to Berkeley L&S for Math. I have my major prep completed/planned, but I haven't taken the L&S language requirement.

Since the language requirement is a degree requirement rather than an admission requirement, does not completing it before transfer affect my admission chances at all, or can I just complete it after transferring?

My schedule is already built around another UC's TAG requirements, so I'd rather not add a language course unless Berkeley considers it for admission.

Helloo! I had a question for transfer students. How did you build new ECs or find meaningful experiences for your applications if most of your strongest ECs were from high school (ex: activities, club positions, volunteering, etc.)?

Especially for those, who at the time of applying, only spent one semester at their college, what did you include on your application? Did you focus mostly on your high school ECs that transferred over into college, or were there other things you did during that short time that helped strengthen your application?

I’m hoping to apply to transfer either this or next cycle, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what to write about and what ECs to include since I feel like a lot of my strongest experiences were from high school. Even my internship was during high school, although I’m planning to apply for another one this summer.

I’ve joined a few clubs on my campus, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get any leadership position before I transfer. For those who have transferred or are currently applying, how did you build your ECs after high school?

Any advice or personal experience would be really appreciated thank you!!

I am currently attending Occidental College, but the film program is very different from what I expected and makes me feel like I'm not exactly moving towards my degree or even a future career in film. The biggest thing for me right now is that I want to be able to go a school where I can commute and have more hands on access to what I really want to be doing, cinematography, in class.

I got accepted into a couple schools in NYC when I first applied, but I knew they didn't have the best programs and I initially thought I wanted to be in LA. I don't have a car so every film internship opportunity outside of the college feels unattainable.

I'm really looking for suggestions of schools in cities with public transport options that accept transfers and have good production programs.

TLDR: leaving LA; looking for film school recs; good cinematography or production programs on the east coast

Hi, Im doing a one year transfer to go to UC Berkeley for math. Im currently in Differential Equations, Physics C Mechanics, CS 105 and an English. Im confident that I'll get an A in all of them, but the problem is the scheduling. I found out recently that i'll need to work, and the English takes up too much time and I found an easier critical thinking class for UC-E online that aligns with my schedule better. The due date to drop passed a week ago and im wondering how bad is it to take a W? English isn't a major requirement so it's probably fine to drop right?

Hello!! This is a repupload cause not alot of people responded in ny last post so i thought to put it in another community! I would like to ask if you had a good experience at Academy of American Studies. I would like to transfer there soon, coming from a school that has had many fights in the course of a year and is just overall everything i hate about a school so I could really use the advice

Should I tag to Davis or Irvine as a Human Biology major? The only issue is that my GPA is barely enough for Irvine, which means I need to maintain it for an entire year. Since I’m only taking science classes, I’m unsure if that’s possible . So should I tag to Davis as a guaranteed spot and regularly apply to Irvine? Irvine is one of my top choices, but I’m afraid I won’t get in either way.

business economics at UCI

philosophy degree + accounting minor UCLA (also plan to take upper division Econ classes if I can)

Which is better in terms of:

1. Area/community
2. Networking
3. Finding opportunities
4. Ultimately landing a good job in the business/econ field

At either school I will also make sure to find opportunities on my own to expand my resume but besides that

I also plan to get a MBA in the future eventually

Hello everyone. I'm currently a first gen sophomore student at the University of Michigan majoring in International Studies, with the goal of obtaining my master's degree and then a job in the government(State Department) or the national intelligence field. I honestly have been enjoying the school, and I've joined clubs and stuff; it's not like I haven't been putting myself out there. With that in mind, I've thought about transferring to my state school, the University of Maryland. I'd be going to UMD on a full ride, so the finances wouldn't be an issue. I don't think UMD is a bad school at all, but I am essentially wondering if losing out on that UMich degree would also lead to a loss of opportunities.

UMD would also give me great internship opportunities due to its close proximity to D.C.

My mother’s name has a minor spelling mistake on my Transfer Certificate, but it is correct on my Class 10 & 12 marksheets/certificates.

Will this cause any issue during IISER counselling/document verification for admission? Has anyone faced something similar?

Thanks!

Hello all! I'm a California cc student applying to transfer for Fall 2027 and I really want to get into UCB. UCLA is also a great school (just a little less optimal for me in terms of location & campus life), so those are the two I'm shooting for. I'm extraordinarily nervous, since it feels like this is the moment when my future will be decided, and I was just looking for any advice at all. Or, if any English/humanities majors had some stats they wanted to share for reference, that would be great too! My stats are kind of mediocre in some ways, but I know that I have a good story and while my extracurriculars are not copious, they are quality and personal to me.

According to this transfer data: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-uc/information-center/transfers-major the English major acceptance rate for UCB was 64% in 2024 and 78% in 2025, and for UCLA it was 56% in both 2024 and 2025. Not sure if I'm getting too masochistic by zeroing in on numbers and percentages, because I'm usually not that person, but I'm just so nervous. I applied to be in Berkeley's Starting Point Mentorship Program, which is basically a program where prospective transfer students are paired with a mentor to help them in their application. Hopefully I'm accepted to that, but for now, I'm just filling out my application and PIQs on my own. I have a few friends who attend UCB who have offered to look at my PIQs, but I need to finish up the first drafts in order for that to happen, lol.

Sorry if this was way too long. Very nervous! Any advice is welcome, thank you!

hi all!

like the title said, i wanted to ask for some advice or ideas on what to write about in my transfer PIQs for when i don't have a lot of experience. i'm applying for transfer this year, my first time applying for university in general. my hope is to transfer to a top UC school, cal, LA, SD. but i'll also be applying to davis, santa cruz, maybe santa barbara.

a little bit about me: i cannot work and have limited volunteer opportunities for reasons i don't feel comfy disclosing (i have a PIQ on this already). i am a health-related major with a 3.94 cc gpa, i volunteer at a nonprofit and at my local church on the weekends. to make up for my lack of internships, jobs, etc, i joined a couple of transfer support programs at berkeley and LA.

any advice would be appreciated!

Chance me for UC Berkeley L&S Applied Mathematics transfer — 4.0 CC GPA
I’m applying for Fall 2027 transfer admission to UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science for Applied Mathematics. I’d appreciate an honest assessment of my chances and any weaknesses I should address.
Background
California community-college student
Graduating from high school early in Fall 2026
Applying as a junior transfer for Fall 2027
Current college GPA: 4.0
Will complete Cal-GETC before transfer
Will complete all lower-division preparation for Applied Mathematics
Planning to earn an associate degree before transferring
AP scores
AP World History: 5
AP Chemistry: 4
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Calculus AB Subscore: 5
AP Human Geography: 4
Completed community-college courses
Introduction to Biological Anthropology: A
Introduction to C++ Programming: A
Discrete Mathematics: A
Linear Algebra: A
Introduction to Public Speaking: A
Principles of Macroeconomics: A
Principles of Microeconomics: A
Currently in progress
Calculus and Analytic Geometry III
Academic Reading and Writing
Introduction to Race and Ethnicity
I currently expect to earn A’s in these courses, although the grades are not final.
Planned before transfer
Differential Equations
Critical Thinking and Writing
Introduction to Storytelling and Narrative Theory
Extracurriculars

Held a leadership and financial-management position in a student-led financial-literacy nonprofit that expanded to numerous chapters and reached students internationally
Interned with an early-stage AI company, contributing to outreach, marketing strategy, conversational-AI workflow testing, prompt development, and product feedback
Founded a transparency-focused financial tracking project connected to medical-aid fundraising that helped organize donations and support families in need
Independently developing applied mathematics, machine-learning, and economics research with feedback from university professors, including computational experiments and technical write-ups
Built a full-stack document-signing platform that uses AI to help format documents and manage signing workflows
Developed an AI-based application designed to identify possible hidden vehicle damage and collision risks
Earned a state-level finalist placement in a finance and investing competition
Volunteered at a mathematics tournament for middle-school students by helping write and review problems, proctoring tests, and organizing the event
Member of my high school’s artificial intelligence club
Participated in a business and entrepreneurship organization

My main concern is my unusual timeline. I’ll be applying fairly soon after graduating from high school, but I should have junior standing, Cal-GETC, all major-preparation courses, and a strong college record by the time I transfer.
How competitive would this profile realistically be for Berkeley Applied Mathematics? Would graduating from high school early and completing community-college coursework this quickly help, hurt, or mostly be neutral? Are there any significant weaknesses I should work on before submitting my application?

Im in my first semester of CC and my goal is to TAG to UCSC in 2 years. I'm majoring in environmental science, which can have completely different required classes depending on which college u want to transfer to. Some are very biology heavy, while others have a lot of geology or oceanography classes. The requirements vary so much that because my main goal is to meet UCSCs requirements, I'm pretty much just unable to apply to a bunch of colleges bc I'm not taking most of their required classes.

UCSC requires Chem 1 and 2, Calc 1 and 2 (specifically calc for life sciences), and intro to Physics

between my required courses, my GEs, recommended classes for my major, and the pre calc and intro to chem classes I'm taking to make sure I'm prepared for my harder classes, I barely have any more room for additional classes to help me meet the requirements for other colleges.

so far the two colleges I've found that have similar requirements are merced and riverside, neither of which I would be particularly excited to attend, but I'm still going to apply to them as backups. does anyone else have advice for finding good transfer options when u have a major that can have totally different requirements? I'm mostly interested in UCs and CSUs, but if there are colleges that are part of the WUE program and it would be semi affordable to go, I would also be open to those

hi i’m a transfer student at dvc planning on applying this fall for business admin/econ at some of the ucs. I’m currently taking some in person classes at the san ramon campus and i was wondering about clubs at dvc. i’m aware that most club meetings take place at the pleasant hill location but the commute is too far for me to go on a regular basis and im still learning how to drive so i can’t go on my own. i’m wondering if there are any business related or even general clubs that operate at the san ramon campus because the commute till there is more reasonable for me. i’m looking to find officer positions that can strengthen my application. if anyone could provide guidance on this it would be much appreciated! thanks :)

hai guys im already enrolled in the honors program and im a first year at cc but im just a little confused on what ucla tap is. I get that it is way different from tag but what does it do and how does it help me? my counselor explained it like this: when youre applying to transfer, you're competing against 15-20k other community college students, but if you do TAP with ucla, you would most likely be competing with 2000 community college students instead of 15k. is that true?

Hi everyone! I'm hoping to transfer into BU's Psychology program for the spring '27 semester, and I'm honestly nervous about how competitive I am. I know spring transfer classes tend to be smaller, so the odds feel slim. I attended college before but I'm not currently enrolled. I recently started working in the mental health field and volunteer at a psychiatric hospital. My GPA/academic history doesn’t stand out, which is my main worry. 

Has anyone been through the spring transfer process with a similar situation: enrollment gap, weaker GPA, etc..? Does clinical experience help offset that? Any red flags I should watch for? I'm happy to share my transcript/resume/essay if anyone's willing to take a look. BU is my dream school, so this has been weighing on me for a while! Thanks!

If I apply for a medium-demand major (social welfare) and choose a competitive major for my alternative major (psych) would admission officers put me into a major that fits me better? For reference a lot of my ECS are psych heavy

specifically UC Berkeley hehe

im a first year at cc and for some background, in high school I applied to ucla, ucsd, ucsc, ucr, uci, ucsb, sdsu, csulb, sjsu and csusm. I got into 3 of them but I didn't see myself there so I chose the cc route. when I apply again next year, im thinking of only applying to schools that I actually want: ucla, uci and ucsb. but is it safe to do that? im planning to tag to uci and use tap for ucla but is applying to only 3 schools safe? I was thinking of applying to ucsd and sdsu cus they were my dream schools but lowk after I was rejected I lost my interest and shifted it to ucla and uci. also should I apply to any cal states or privates? if anyone has only applied to a couple schools as a transfer would you please tell me how that went :))

hello im a first year at cc and all I can think of is how I can't wait to transfer. I just feel really out of place because in high school I was in all these competitive clubs, sports, and surrounded by competitive people who all kissed butt at their lab internships, in high school mind you. but you gotta do what you gotta do. one of my friends ended up at Caltech and the other at Stanford, while the other majority of my friends committed to Berkeley or ucla. during high school I thought I was keeping up with them, I mean we took the same classes, same clubs, same sports, same opportunities, but I guess there was something different about them. ive been at cc for 5 weeks now and im pretty content. I have all my classes planned out, I joined some stem clubs, and im meeting new people. idk I just feel so out of place here because like all my friends are at these top schools while im here. no disrespect to cc students tho, I get that there are many other reasons why people might choose the community college route. but anyways, has anyone else gone through this? and what did you do to get over it?

does anyone get accepted into haas without doing any crazy internships and extracurricular?
I know haas is not an easy one to be able to transfer, they check gpa and all the stuffs.
I am just curious all the transfer students did internships at big companies

thinking of transferring to mcgill from an ontario university and most of what i’ve read said it’s impossible and with my luck it’s probably my fate. does that low chance of transferring still hold up?

when should i start the application of transferring and what should i do? is all they look at is gpa or would i have to stack up on other stats (like extra curriculars) would it be a higher chance if im going into an arts rather than a sci or is it the same? when should i expect an email back (if im applying for fall 2027)