Official UC-Berkeley Transfer Thread Forum

[Lawl Shcool]

The app became available in the beginning of the month, but with outlining/appellate briefing/ and PS tailoring it has taken me until to today to finally submit. Even though they want to see both semesters grades, submitting early never hurt anyone right?

I'm sure there are a lot of others looking to spend the next two years in NorCal, so let's stress out waiting for decisions together!

Similar to the other official transfer threads we should post our stats to help with future classes of hopeful transfers.

T4 - top 3%

[A'nold]

t3 state school, 1st in section, 5 of 100-150ish. I love you Berkeley, just remember that. *stalker eyes narrow*

[kings84_wr]

This is my target school, Im not doing any of the apps until the end of the semester minus GULC.

T30 (feels weird saying that, I miss saying T25 already lol )
Top 4-5%

[RonSantoRules]

Berkely has a super fast turnaround if you have your apps and grades submitted. They do rolling acceptances starting in June. This is good if it is your top choice. The bad thing about it though is you have to make a decision before you will have heard back from most schools, as many schools wait until a certain date to release decisions.

[A'nold]

Berkely has a super fast turnaround if you have your apps and grades submitted. They do rolling acceptances starting in June. This is good if it is your top choice. The bad thing about it though is you have to make a decision before you will have heard back from most schools, as many schools wait until a certain date to release decisions.

Do you think it's good to get your crap in before grades?

[RonSantoRules]

Berkely has a super fast turnaround if you have your apps and grades submitted. They do rolling acceptances starting in June. This is good if it is your top choice. The bad thing about it though is you have to make a decision before you will have heard back from most schools, as many schools wait until a certain date to release decisions.

Do you think it's good to get your crap in before grades?

Not necessarily. I didn't do it because I didn't have faith in my second semester grades and didn't want to waste the 90 bucks if my grades sucked. You have lag time between the end of school and grades coming out, so I would say as long as you get it in by June 1, if you have admit-type grades, you should know by the end of June (based on past year's acceptances). They just seemed to be the one school that got acceptances out in June if you had your stuff in (out of the T10 schools that I applied to anyways).

[stinger35]

This is my target school, Im not doing any of the apps until the end of the semester minus GULC.

T30 (feels weird saying that, I miss saying T25 already lol )
Top 4-5%

Why? I feel though you are an autoadmit at Boalt, UCLA, USC, and have a good shot at Harvard.

[A'nold]

So......I think grades come out here after June 1st and rankings come out like June 15th. What should I do?

[kings84_wr]

This is my target school, Im not doing any of the apps until the end of the semester minus GULC.

T30 (feels weird saying that, I miss saying T25 already lol )
Top 4-5%

Why? I feel though you are an autoadmit at Boalt, UCLA, USC, and have a good shot at Harvard.

Well to clarify, if I got into HYS I would attend, but I think I would choose Berkeley over Chicago. Its been a back and forth decision for me.

In the end being in CA is a huge, hopefully I can get my grades up to RonSantoRules land and then Ill be in a good spot

[Dman]

Hope to be part of this crowd. Top 5% at a T2 first semester. I have cranked it up a notch this go around, so there is a glimmer of hope!

[Dman]

So......I think grades come out here after June 1st and rankings come out like June 15th. What should I do?

I am in a worse boat, grades on June 15th, rankings early July I plan to submit my app after finals and stay in contact with admissions detailing my individual situation. The rolling acceptance part really hurts though...

[Arrow]

I look forward to seeing all of you guys in the fall!

They do have an extremely quick turn around time. I went complete and they got back to me...the NEXT day by email. Unfortunately, they do not give you much time to accept (about a week), but you can always ask for an exception.

Also, my numbers for Boalt were:

T2, top 1%, no good softs, Ivy undergrad

My classmates generally tended to be:

T3/T4, top 1-2% (usually ranked 1 or 2)
T2 - top 5%
T1 - top 10%
Higher T1's/low T14 - top 15 -20% (they came for geographical preferences)

Hope this helps!

[A'nold]

So, you guys do know some t3 students then? Were they all from CA or did out-of-state t3's squeak in too?

Edit: Also want to give a big shout out the the king, arrow. If it wasn't for him I highly doubt I'd be in this situation to begin with. Thanks man!

[Arrow]

So, you guys do know some t3 students then? Were they all from CA or did out-of-state t3's squeak in too?

Edit: Also want to give a big shout out the the king, arrow. If it wasn't for him I highly doubt I'd be in this situation to begin with. Thanks man!

Yup, we had a good chunk of T3 students. In fact, most were T2/T3/T4 students, and many were from out of state. I know people from the mid-west, Florida, all along the east coast, and a good chunk from in-state schools as well.

[A'nold]

So, you guys do know some t3 students then? Were they all from CA or did out-of-state t3's squeak in too?

Edit: Also want to give a big shout out the the king, arrow. If it wasn't for him I highly doubt I'd be in this situation to begin with. Thanks man!

Yup, we had a good chunk of T3 students. In fact, most were T2/T3/T4 students, and many were from out of state. I know people from the mid-west, Florida, all along the east coast, and a good chunk from in-state schools as well.

AWESOME news, thanks again arrow!

[stinger35]

This is my target school, Im not doing any of the apps until the end of the semester minus GULC.

T30 (feels weird saying that, I miss saying T25 already lol )
Top 4-5%

Why? I feel though you are an autoadmit at Boalt, UCLA, USC, and have a good shot at Harvard.

Well to clarify, if I got into HYS I would attend, but I think I would choose Berkeley over Chicago. Its been a back and forth decision for me.

In the end being in CA is a huge, hopefully I can get my grades up to RonSantoRules land and then Ill be in a good spot

I read the thread name wrong and thought this was a UC Irvine thread. Berkeley makes more sense, haha.

[stinger35]

Arrow truly is the master. Not sure if I would have done as well without his advice on how to. Positive I would not be looking into transferring if it weren't for his epic post on that topic.

I hadn't planned on applying to Berkeley because of their "no-PT" policy. However, think I am gonna give it a go anyways.

[kings84_wr]

Ok so question about the deposit. If I got into Berkeley in June would their commit and withdraw policy effectively preclude me from HYS since they don't respond till late july? This is something I have been worried about.

And also for arrow:

Do you know any transfers that got on Law review? and do you have any insight on how OCI went in general for transfers?

[sjk]

My classmates generally tended to be:

T3/T4, top 1-2% (usually ranked 1 or 2)
T2 - top 5%
T1 - top 10%
Higher T1's/low T14 - top 15 -20% (they came for geographical preferences)

I was at a T2, top 12%, amazing softs, state school for UG.
And I know of several transfers who made law review. Not everyone tried, but a few made it (transfers get their own write on).
OCI went pretty good for those with better grades, top 1-2% no matter what the prior law school was. Bottom line, grades matter, not schools.

[Client8]

My classmates generally tended to be:

T3/T4, top 1-2% (usually ranked 1 or 2)
T2 - top 5%
T1 - top 10%
Higher T1's/low T14 - top 15 -20% (they came for geographical preferences)

I was at a T2, top 12%, amazing softs, state school for UG.
And I know of several transfers who made law review. Not everyone tried, but a few made it (transfers get their own write on).
OCI went pretty good for those with better grades, top 1-2% no matter what the prior law school was. Bottom line, grades matter, not schools.

thanks for the info sjk. what kind of softs if u don't mind me asking? Was your T2 in CA or out of state? LSAT?

[bkthunder]

When did you successful transfers have all your stuff in by? Early/mid-June?

[sjk]

T2 in CA.
I was really involved as a 1L. Most of the 1Ls who got amazing grades didn't do anything but study as a 1L. I was super involved in everything. Student organizations, outside volunteer work that I got through law school, work with youth, etc. So I think they were impressed that I had pretty good grades while doing everything that I did. Oh and I also had a job working a few hours a week. So I think it showed balance, that I could succeed in law school while still having a life.

I remember Dean Tom called me at 4:45pm on a Friday afternoon to tell me that the committee met that day and decided to admit me. He said, "We were extremely impressed with your success a first year student, and you have an amazing story."
When he said I got in, I ALMOST said, "Are you shitting me????" Buuuuuut then I thought I should refrain from swearing at the dean lol

I think I got most of my application turned in during the beginning of June (a few weeks before the deadline), and the grades in the 3rd week of June.

[Arrow]

T2 in CA.
I was really involved as a 1L. Most of the 1Ls who got amazing grades didn't do anything but study as a 1L. I was super involved in everything. Student organizations, outside volunteer work that I got through law school, work with youth, etc. So I think they were impressed that I had pretty good grades while doing everything that I did. Oh and I also had a job working a few hours a week. So I think it showed balance, that I could succeed in law school while still having a life.

I remember Dean Tom called me at 4:45pm on a Friday afternoon to tell me that the committee met that day and decided to admit me. He said, "We were extremely impressed with your success a first year student, and you have an amazing story."
When he said I got in, I ALMOST said, "Are you shitting me????" Buuuuuut then I thought I should refrain from swearing at the dean lol

I think I got most of my application turned in during the beginning of June (a few weeks before the deadline), and the grades in the 3rd week of June.

SJK got in because she is super amazing and super cool, and even more so in person. Unlike SJK, I did not get a phone call. I also turned mine in around mid-June once grades came out.

As for law review, they told us that they can take around 5-7 people every year from the transfer pool, and this year 6 people got in. This is actually around the same acceptance percentage (10-15%) as the normal write-competition, so it is all good. Plus, there are alternate ways of getting on to law review (like getting your law review submission published), which one of my transfer friends did and got into law review his 3L year.

[bkthunder]

That's a pretty cool way to get admitted sjk. Good thing you picked up the phone so he didn't have to leave a message. It seems like Berkeley definitely likes well-rounded applicants. I guess that makes sense when there are so many apps with similar grades to sort through

[sjk]

Berkeley definitely likes well rounded applicants. However, your grades have to meet a bottom line (whatever it is). I don't think they even evaluate applications that don't meet their minimum. AFTER you meet their grade minimum, they look at the bigger picture so if you have a great story, it will likely help you.

And another little Arrow shoutout, I did everything almost identical to Arrow, but I didn't type it out like he did. When I read his transfer paper, I was like, OMG ARROW, we're soulmates!! So if anyone hasn't read his article, DO IT, he's a genius.