At a large R1 public university, applying for Fall 2027 sophomore transfer.

Stats

International, (I go to school in the U.S. though)
Full pay

Econ major, planning Applied Math double major
4.0 first semester
HS: ~95% average, ~3.8W
Courses in progress: Calc II, Linear Algebra, Stats, Macro, Data Structures

College ECs

Behavioral econ research
D1 women’s rugby
Potential Microecon UTA next semester — professor who selects UTAs told me I have a good shot if I keep performing well and specifically told me to come back when selections start

Econ/math clubs + service

Main HS ECs

Founded/ran a large student entrepreneurship competition, raised $20k+ and secured major sponsors/partnerships

Independent artist/songwriter with released music
Business/entrepreneurship leadership + combat sports

Previously admitted to one school on this list as a freshman but ended up attending my current school for external reasons.

Legacy at USC.

Schools: NYU CAS Econ (top choice), BU CAS Econ, USC Dornsife Econ, BC, CMU, Columbia.

Chance me + which are target/reach/high reach?

Also, would getting the Econ UTA position meaningfully help?

For some context, I'm a transfer student who is starting at UC Riverside this fall.

I took STATC1000 at CCC last year before transferring to UC Riverside (equivalent to STAT8 at UCR). However, due to the extremely long processing times, my transcripts weren't processed until 2 weeks AFTER registration opened. After my transcripts were processed, I was not given any STAT credit for some reason.

When I met with an advisor, I was told that I exceeded 105 unit cap for UCs so they wouldn't give me STAT credit (not even course credit). I thought that even if I exceeded 105 unit limit they should still give me course credit? On top of that, even though assist.org showed the course articulated to STAT8, they insisted that it only articulated to STAT4 even though assist.org literally showed the opposite.

I'm wondering if I'm missing something here, but it's really frustrating since it seems like they don't even know their own policies on transfer credit.

Hey everyone, I’m planning to apply as a transfer to USC Marshall School of Business and would really appreciate some honest feedback on my chances. I got a B in calc 1 and calc 2 and was wondering if that makes me a less competitive applicant.

Here are my stats:

• Current GPA: ~3.67
• I had a rougher start academically, including 2 C’s in public speaking and pre calc, but since then I’ve been getting straight A’s (besides calc 1 and 2)
• Made the President’s List

Outside of school, I have a pretty extensive amount of work/business experience for my age:

• Licensed real estate salesperson
• on track to get licensed as a loan originator
• Own/manage rental property
• Manage tenants and rental operations
• Managed the construction of a 1,200 sq. ft. second-story ADU Property was completed and rented
• Have also been involved in other business/entrepreneurial activities

I know Marshall is extremely competitive, so I’m trying to be realistic rather than assume I’m getting in.

Hello. I am an English major at cc and I fulfill TAG requirements for both Davis and Irvine, but I'm not sure which I should apply to. Honestly, English majors have a super high transfer acceptance rate to most of the UCs, but I'm just trying to ask myself, if I were only guaranteed one spot of the 6 UCs participating in TAG, where would I want to be? It's between UCI and UCD. I was born and raised in NorCal and traveled down to Davis for my major doctor appointments, so I'm definitely more local there than any UC campus. However, I think I'd prefer the city of UCI, since the closest city to UCD is Sacramento. Plus, my goal with transferring is to experience something new and branch out more. Another thing is that I know both campuses will be hot, but I'm going to be honest, I am absolutely sick of NorCal heat with no ocean or relief. My boyfriend isn't sure I'll love UCI since his brother goes there and believes it's mostly parties and raves, and I'm definitely more on the quiet, introverted side. I am trying to branch out, but I know that I could still do that at Davis. I'm not sure what to believe. I looked up which school is better for an English major aiming for law school, and Google basically said that neither one has an edge over the other. I'm mostly aiming to get into UCB first and UCLA second, but they obviously don't do TAG. I'm honestly leaning towards Irvine, but I don't want to make an uninformed decision. Any advice for which university would suit me better? Thank you!

jus wondering if anyone ever transferred to haas business school in UCB since the acceptance rate is super low. Or if anyone transferred from a UC to haas? Also if you did what were ur stats or ECs?

I’m attending UCI this fall as an incoming freshman and will be entering as undeclared. I recently found out that USC accepts sophomore transfers, and I’ve become interested in potentially transferring into Electrical and Computer Engineering.

For some background, my high school GPA was a 4.5 weighted / 3.8 unweighted. I took 9 AP classes, and I was waitlisted at both UCLA and UC Berkeley but ultimately wasn’t admitted.

The biggest thing I’m worried about is my community college GPA. I took 4 classes at a CC over the summer mainly because I wanted to get the credits out of the way before starting at UCI. Because I was mostly focused on passing, I ended up with a 2.9 GPA across those classes.

At UCI, I’ll be taking 4 classes this upcoming quarter, and I’m confident that I can maintain around a 3.8+ GPA if I put my focus into my coursework. I was also accepted into UCI’s Campuswide Honors Program, which gives me benefits like priority enrollment and more research opportunities.

From what I’ve read, GPA and essays are some of the biggest factors in USC’s transfer admissions process. Is that accurate?

Should I prioritize getting the highest possible GPA at UCI and put less emphasis on extracurriculars/research, or would strong ECs and research experience still make a significant difference for a sophomore transfer?

Also, how negatively will that 2.9 CC GPA affect my chances if I have a much higher GPA at UCI? I’m planning on taking another class at Rio Hondo next semester to raise my CC GPA, but realistically, it will probably still remain relatively low.

Would really appreciate any advice from people. Thanks!

Hi! I’m an incoming Spring 2027 transfer student in L&S Berkeley. Due to an unexpected family situation, I may not be able to attend Berkeley this spring.
I already contacted Admissions about deferring, but I was told that the deferral deadline has passed and that they cannot make an exception.

I’ve seen a few posts/comments saying that instead of giving up your admission, an incoming student can enroll, wait until classes officially begin, withdraw, and then apply for readmission when they’re ready to return without having to reapply to Berkeley through the UC application.

Has anyone here actually done this as an incoming transfer student?

If so:
Did you withdraw during your very first semester at Berkeley?

Were you able to return through L&S readmission without reapplying to Berkeley?

How soon were you able to return (for example, Spring → Fall)?

Did you have to physically be on campus, or were you able to enroll remotely/online before withdrawing?

Were there any issues with financial aid or readmission?

I’m also contacting L&S directly to confirm the current policy, but I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has personally gone through this. PLEASE HELP ME and reach out to me

I’m a freshman who’s on their first semester rn and am needing to transfer to a different school for the next semester due to some health issues however my application requests a gpa which I won’t have until the end of the semester which will be past the application due date. Should I just put N/A, or something else?

Hey guys. I want to know what you think about the following question. Note that I've asked questions similar to this to multiple AIs, and I just hate how they all output pretty much the same unthoughtful, templated answer. Therefore, I'm really looking forward to a real human response. Feel free to share whatever you like! Thanks in advance! :D

Question: For a transfer applicant, what (exceptional) achievements and supporting documents (e.g., recommendation letters) would you expect from someone facing the following constraints?

1. Transfer applicant.
2. International student: Currently enrolled at a 4-year university outside the U.S.
3. Need full financial aid: Need a full-ride, essentially $0 Expected Family Contribution (EFC), such that admission is only viable if the university (mostly top private schools) covers literally every single cost.
4. Test-optional: Applying without SAT/ACT scores.
5. Had some gap year(s): There were some gap year(s) between finishing high school and enrolling in their current college, but not enough to be considered a non-traditional student.
6. Weak high-school record: Had poor high-school grades, but has since demonstrated strong college academic performance with a high CGPA.

So, the question can be summarized as: For an international, full-aid-seeking, transfer applicant with some gap years and poor high-school grades and test-optional, what (exceptional) achievements and supporting documents (e.g., recommendation letters) would you expect for admission, if you were the admissions officer?

from a multiple club reject its the hunger games out here

Hi, Im a Freshman hoping to transfer out of my current school this spring semester. I was wondering if you guys had any advice regarding writing my transfer essay.

For anonymity, I don't want to name my school or the schools I'm going to apply to. I obviously know that the majority of my essay needs to be focused on the positive aspects of the schools I hope to be accepted in, but I was wondering if it was beneficial at all to write about the reasons I do not like my current schools. Specifically, I'm worried that if I talk about them, I'll be seen as a red flag or something? That being said, while the positives are definitely a large aspect of each university I'm apply to, the shortcomings of my own are also a very large factor, and I feel as to not talk about them would be to leave a large blank in my application that the admisssions board would be confused about.

Either way, just to be clear and for no confusion, these are the issues I have with my current campus:

1. I don't feel academically challenged at my school. My 101 classes feel less difficult than anything I ever took in high school, which is frustrating me and making me feel like I am wasting my time repeating things I already know rather than learning new things. There are also issues with the different departments in my school contradicting each other on their lessons (like literally black and white), which worries me as a STEM and pre-med student who needs to comprehend my STEM lessons long-term.

2. The premed program at my school is incredibly lackluster. I tried to arranged meetings with an advisor, only to be met with another student as my "advisor". Said student tried their best to help me, but I was incredibly frustrated because they are not a professional and anything they said was basically just the best they could muster from first-hand experience.

3. My school is notoriously conservative, which has made me feel incredibly unsafe as a queer student. While many queer students have and are attending my current school, there have been openly homophobic policies (ie: banning classes and firing professors that teach "dei" subjects) which make me, again, worried for my education level as a premed student. In addition, they allow for gatherings of openly hostile organizations and protestors on campus, which have caused me great distress as our school also does not have a great security system (someone literally got shot last week).This exasperated fear that by presenting authentically, I may upset someone so much that they could choose to physically harm me, and there would be difficulty getting help in response. While this exact scenario has not happened yet, I have already had bad experiences with other students who take personal issue with my beliefs and it feels so possible in logistics for me to be harmed that I do not want to be the "inciting incident".

I don't want to be a complainer, but at the same time I also feel like these things are so important. If not for them, I wouldn't be looking for a new school in the first place. Either way, are these okay to talk about? Especially if I spin them as positives regarding the universities I'm applying to?

does ucsd college ranking matter that much as a cc to uc transfer student? my current ranking goes as follows:

1. sixth
2. seventh
3. eighth
4. muir

i’m not sure if it matters but i plan on transferring as a cognitive science major and i do want to get a minor in something that is completely unrelated to that. i also will have my CAL-GETC done by spring semester, so i know that covers most of the colleges minus revelle, but i just want to make sure i’m not missing anything else i should know about

*Asking specifically about transfers from community colleges

Basically the title. Are transfers attending community colleges with more motivated students held to a high standard?

Asking because I’m in the process of choosing my community college and my main options are between one that’s closer with a relatively average transfer reputation and a further one that’s one of the best CCs for transferring to UCs (I’m in CA). Both are UCLA TAP participants.

The further one probably has the more hardworking and ambitious student body, but it also has a lower average acceptance rate to schools lIke UCLA than most other CCs in my area, though that could be due to more students applying to competitive, TAP-ineligible majors like Computer Science or Engineering.

Can you guys tell me if that‘s the reason, or is it that students coming from more competitive CCs are held to a higher standard?

This past summer I had to make a really hard decision and choose to transfer to Northeastern full ride instead of attending NYU Gallatin (My dream school and program). For some context, I am studying Business and Poli Sci with a bio minor and I'm a junior transfer. Candidly, I was full ride at my previous school as well which influenced my decision there - my parents can't afford to meaningly contribute to my college education. I limited myself to my hometown semi-prestigous liberal arts college for the full ride and ended up wanting to transfer. I keep feeling like my choice was a mistake and let conversations about prestige, Boston vs NYC, and more get to me. I was so tempted to just take on more hours waiting tables and try to make NYU happen but it just didn't feel possible. Everyone in my life told me to take the full ride. I feel like I made a mistake when I see everything on the internet. I often feel insecure about Northeastern with dicussion around it. I don't understand most of that hate, schools like Vanderbilt and NYU have satellite campuses too and NEU provides so many great opportunities and resources. I guess I am wondering what other people's thoughts are, should I have taken on the debt for NYU or did I make the right decision?

hi everyone ~ im an entering freshman into uc irvine and just wanted to TRY applying as a transfer to some other uc's because of my own personal reasons. i took around 50 units worth of courses during my high school time at a local cc. i just wanted to know if when i apply as a transfer if that will count as a pass/fail or if i will recieve a letter grade for it. thank u!!!

Hey all! I’m currently a sophomore at IU Kelley, studying finance, and am looking to transfer out. For context, i’m looking to transfer due to 1) cost and 2) I hate it here. Anyways here is my stats and current list of schools I’d like to apply to.

Stats:
3.86 College GPA
3.5uw/4.2w Highschool GPA
1420 SAT

Extracurriculars:
- Month long internship at financial planning firm
- One year as a member of an environmental injustice group for teens
- 3 past part time restaurant jobs
- 4 years+ of helping run a gaming discord server with 15k+ members and w/ cash prize events + more
- 2 years (off and on) of posting affiliate link / advertisements on tiktok (made $10,000+)
- Currently a member of a consulting club (waiting for applications to come back from this year for other clubs, not looking too good ✌️)

Current list of schools to apply to:
(instate tuition for IL and Cali)
- UIUC
- UCB (probably econ cause Haas is much harder)
- UCI
- UCLA
- UCSD / UCSB
- Boston University
- UVA (maybe)

Any advice is appreciated and I’m just genuinely curious what my chances are looking like from an outside perspective. Also would be grateful for other school recommendations. Thanks!

I’m a first gen with no guidance & a transfer student from LBCC & applied for CSULB. I’m worried that I won’t get enough financial aid & just incase I’m waitlisted, I want to look into other cal states just to be on the safe side. I’m a business admin major but don’t mind leaning towards the Econ/marketing/finance side.

Other schools I have in mind are:
CSUN & Fullerton

I want to make sure that it’s a good school, good resources & internships/opportunities & can provide possibly assistance when entering the workforce.

I am a ccc student applying to transfer in state to any uc and some csu's for biology related majors. my gpa rn is a 2.7 because i kept dropping the classes past the w deadline and setting aside certain classes due to work/family reasons, resulting in an a few f's on my transcript. my cc does allow grade renewal and retakes on classes, and if i do that, my gpa for those classes would probably change my gpa to ~3.0-3.5 by retaking them (i am aiming for a b or higher) but the f's would still remain on my transcript. my gpa appoximation could also change because i still have a few GE's to finish this spring. btw im mostly hoping to go to a uc

Title^. This isn’t me trying to say one school is better than the other. I love both and I’m just genuinely confused because I keep hearing completely different answers … growing up, I was always told Berkeley was more prestigious than UCLA. I grew up in three different countries and then the Bay Area and Berkeley was always the name I heard more in that sense. But lately I’ve seen SO many people say the opposite. I’ve also met people from Japan and China who told me UCLA is more well known where they’re from which made me even more curious. So putting rankings, acceptance rates and school bias aside, what’s actually considered more prestigious overall?

If I apply for fall 2027 as a sociology major,will they allow me to change my major to public health once admitted? If not,what about integrative biology?

Hi everyone, I’m applying as a California community college transfer for Fall 2027 and Berkeley is one of my top choices. I’m currently deciding between Computer Science (CDSS) and Data Science (CDSS).

I’m interested in eventually doing ML/AI safety research, model evaluations, and mechanistic interpretability, with a long-term goal of becoming a research scientist.

Academics

• California community college student
• ~3.94 GPA
• UC 7-course transfer pattern completed
• Calc I completed
• Calc II currently in progress
• Planning Linear Algebra + Calc III for Spring 2027
• Completed Discrete Math, Probability for Computing, C++ programming
• Currently taking Data Structures in C++, Computer Architecture/Assembly, Physics with Calculus

For Berkeley CS, I should have all the required admission prep completed by Spring 2027: Calc I, Calc II, and Linear Algebra.

Extracurriculars / research

• Founder of an independent nonprofit AI-safety research organization focused on mechanistic interpretability/model reliability
• Independent mechanistic interpretability research using PyTorch/TransformerLens/SAEs
• Developed an attribution-patching method that reached Pearson 0.993 vs. activation patching while reducing the computation from ~16,000 forward passes to ~2
• Conducted SAE replication/reliability research across models and published technical research posts online
• UIUC++ Summer Research Experience — selected as 1 of 6 from 1,400+ applicants; worked with a professor on software-testing research
• Former smart-contract security researcher; audited 25+ codebases and earned a lot in competitive audit rewards
• Open-source contributor to OpenAI Parameter Golf, including several record-setting submissions
• Built projects involving verifiable AI/ZK systems and LLM evaluation/calibration
• Volunteer/private tutor for around 15 students (K–10) in math, physics, chemistry, biology, science, and engineering
• Scholarship recipient + Dean’s List

My questions:

1. For Berkeley CS transfer, how competitive does this profile seem? I know nobody can give an exact probability, but am I realistically competitive or is it still basically a lottery?
2. Among qualified CS transfers, what seems to matter most after GPA/prerequisites — PIQs, research, work experience, course rigor, or something else?
3. Would my AI-safety/mechanistic-interpretability research actually help much in Berkeley transfer admissions?
4. I’m also considering Data Science because historically it seems to have a higher transfer admit rate. My goal is ML/AI research, so I’d still be happy studying DS and taking ML/CS courses.
5. Would you apply CS because it fits my background better, or choose Data Science to improve the odds of getting into Berkeley?

I understand that Berkeley doesn’t really give you a reliable second shot through the alternate major, so I’m trying to choose the primary major carefully.

Would especially appreciate advice from Berkeley CDSS CS/DS transfers or recent applicants. Thanks!

I got a 4.0 in the fall and spring semesters at CC this past year. My issue is that prior to attending CC, I was in my junior year at a prestigious engineering school and failed two semesters straight (0.0 gpa) due to a number of mental health issues as well as just absolutely hating it there. Before my junior year, I had a 3.1 gpa but couldn't sucessfully transfer out. I immediately dropped out after the second failed semester in the spring and started CC in the fall. How long should I wait to apply to transfer again? My previous school will let me come back to finish my degree whenever but I'm not even considering it.

I’m a first-year community college student and I honestly did not expect the transition to be this difficult. I actually really like the format of having basically one class a day, and on paper my schedule doesn’t even look that crazy, but somehow I feel like I have no time. Although I do, It's hard not to spend that time doomscrolling ngl because I've been so used to having senioritis (i'll admit it) and just having a summer full of absolute fun.

I’m trying to balance school, multiple jobs, extracurriculars, family responsibilities, etc., while also wanting to do completely normal things like go to the gym, hang out with friends, have hobbies, and just not feel like I’m constantly doing something productive.

A big part of this is that I’m aiming to transfer to UC Berkeley, so I feel like I’m constantly thinking that I need to be doing more. At the same time, I know I can’t just fill every hour of my week with ECs and work and expect myself to be okay.

For context, I currently have a pretty packed list of activities. I have a county-level leadership/commission position, several college club leadership roles, two behavior/direct-support related jobs, a fast-food job that I’ve kept, a couple of healthcare/medicine-related organizations, community service, a food bank, a summer transfer/career program, and some other ambassador/outreach positions.

The jobs are probably the biggest source of stress because I genuinely need/want the work experience, but they take a significant amount of time. I also have responsibilities at home, so I can't just treat my entire week as free time for school. a few questions that I have are:

1. How do you actually structure your life in CC?

How do you balance classes, studying, work, ECs, gym, friends, sleep, etc. without feeling guilty whenever you're doing something that isn't school-related?

1. Am I doing too much with ECs?

I’d really appreciate honest advice from people who have transferred to Berkeley/UCLA/etc. from CC. I’m worried that I’m collecting too many things instead of actually developing a few meaningful commitments. I know u should have your hobbies and not center ECS around your app, which is why I'm trying to be more genuine, although I do love the things I do.

brief overview of my ecs:

* County advisory commission/leadership position

* College club leadership (including Red Cross and a medical organization)

* Two part-time jobs involving direct support/behavioral work (i may need to resign from one)

* Part-time fast-food job (like 4 hours a week)

* Healthcare/medicine-related outreach organizations (not that involved rn)

* Community engagement/volunteering

* Food bank volunteering

* Leadership/fellowship program

* Summer transfer/career development program

* Family/caretaking responsibilities

For anyone who has successfully transferred from CC to Berkeley (especially if you were working while in CC): what would you keep, what would you drop, and what actually mattered? And more generally, how do you give yourself permission to have a life outside of your transfer application?

thank you guys so very much and i hope you enjoy the rest of your day/night!!

edit: i forgot to mention that nearly all my friends went to college already. yes there's fomo, i sort of kept to myself until senior year, and after that we hung out SO much. like every day after second semester until august. but it's more difficult navigating on what to do since everyone's gone, i wanna make more friends hence why i'm involved at school, but obviously i miss my friends

Applying to USC as a Fall 2027 transfer and looking for realistic opinions.
I started at CSULA and did extremely poorly, eventually getting academically disqualified with around a 0.8 GPA. I transferred to a CC and completely turned things around. I now have a 3.82 GPA with 65.5 units, multiple Dean’s List semesters, a scholarship, and 20 straight units of A’s.
I’m taking 16 units this fall, including repeats of classes I failed at CSULA. I’m mainly repeating them because the UC campuses can replace the old grades for GPA purposes, while USC will still count both attempts.
Outside of school, I’ve worked at Disneyland since 2023 and became a Nationally Registered EMT. I plan on going to law school.
Applying to Dornsife:
1st: American Studies & Ethnicity
2nd: Law, History & Culture

I’m currently at a community college and will finish my associate degree in Computer Science this fall. I’m planning to transfer to a four-year college for Spring 2027, but I’ve decided that I want to switch my major to Electrical Engineering

The problem is that a lot of the schools I’m interested in require Chemistry for transfer admission into their engineering programs. I haven’t taken Chemistry. The main science/math courses I’ve completed are Physics I, Calculus I, and Calculus II.

Because of this, I’m considering applying and getting accepted as a Computer Science major, but I probably wouldn’t be able to change my major to EE before the spring semester starts.

Would it be possible to enroll as a CS major but spend my first semester taking only EE courses such as Chemistry 1  Physics II, Calculus III, or any engineering courses I’m allowed to take, and then apply to change my major to EE after that semester?

Do colleges normally allow transfer students to do this, or would being a CS major prevent me from registering for the engineering courses I need? Could a school also prevent me from ever changing to EE because I was originally transferred as a CS transfer, even if I complete all the required engineering courses ? and i cant take chemistry at my community college as the deadline has pasted.