Transferred from Wisconsin to Berkeley- Taking Questions Forum

[Transferthrowaway]

#1 at a T25

That aside, I'm guessing my PS will be at least as good at yours.

We're your profs just exceptionally receptive to your LOR requests? Or did you develop relationships with them over the semester? Or somewhere in between?

Thanks.

Stay #1 and you'll easily get one of HYS.

LORs: My first LOR was pretty simple - I had developed a good relationship with the prof. throughout the year (office hours, lunch, etc.) and he knew that my chance of reaching my particular career goals would increase if I transferred, so he was glad to do it. I chose the professor for my second LOR based on my grade in his class and infrequent out-of-class conversation. He was not as warm about it because he thought I could accomplish what I wanted staying there, but in the end recognized that I was pretty set on transferring.

[ilovesf]

If I were #1 at a T20 I'd be aiming higher than Berkeley, just saying.
I don't really know any my professors at all. One of them definitely knows my name and I went over a couple of practice exams with him before the exam. He told me he was impressed with me and that I was the kind of person who really had all of my stuff together and would do well. Besides that, we haven't really ever had contact. I'm kind of worried that I won't get any recommendations. Do professors just give them out to anyone who really asks because it is part of their job? And how did you go about asking your professor for one?

[Regionality]

Were your personal statement and LORs anything special?

I ranked #1 in my class this year, and I want to transfer, but I don't think I'll have a stellar personal statement or any stellar LORs.

I guess I'm just curious if it's pretty much ALL grades, or if the rest of the app is scrutinized, as well.

I wrote my personal statement in an hour, and it basically said "Hi, this is who I am. I want to transfer. I grew up in the Bay Area. This is what I'm doing this summer. I think you'll like me."

Getting LORs is also just about double checking that you aren't a total screw up in class and that there's a professor who will say you're legit. I was lucky though in that I had totally supportive recommenders who understood that transferring is a personal decision and not to be knocked and certainly not a judgment on Wisconsin (except to admit the obvious career opportunities that are different, which aren't a secret)

You're #1 after your first semester at a school ranked what? That makes a big difference.

#1 at a T25

That aside, I'm guessing my PS will be at least as good at yours.

We're your profs just exceptionally receptive to your LOR requests? Or did you develop relationships with them over the semester? Or somewhere in between?

Thanks.

The professors who I asked for recommendations from all knew me very well. I had gone to office hours, sent emails with questions, talked in class, and had generally made good impressions on them. I also asked for recs from professors whose classes I had aced the semester before, so that always helps too!

Know your profs...they are amazing people and totally approachable. They love engaged students and think there is a real difference between genuine interest and gunners who talk to hear themselves talk. I was always someone who asked lotsa questions...I rarely answered them unless I was called on, but that was just my style. I quickly realized how genius my profs were and really wanted to pick their brains apart, so I did just that and it earned me some great relations with profs (many of whom I still stay in touch with even though I'm at Berkeley!)

[Regionality]

If I were #1 at a T20 I'd be aiming higher than Berkeley, just saying.
I don't really know any my professors at all. One of them definitely knows my name and I went over a couple of practice exams with him before the exam. He told me he was impressed with me and that I was the kind of person who really had all of my stuff together and would do well. Besides that, we haven't really ever had contact. I'm kind of worried that I won't get any recommendations. Do professors just give them out to anyone who really asks because it is part of their job? And how did you go about asking your professor for one?

Professors, at least the honorable ones who don't have administrative obstacles erected, view it as part of their job to write recs. Generally I would ask for a recommendation via email and inevitably each one of them invited me to talk about my transfer decision and help me make the decision. I never felt they had any ulterior motive or agenda...they just genuinely wanted to help me with my decision. One professor called me on the phone to chat about my decision, the other had like an hour long chat with me about the process/variables to consider when transferring.

In the end my decision was absolutely obvious though. I didn't make law review (it's a write on where grades don't really matter at all) and I guess I wrote a shitty paper because I didn't make it. That made my decision so much easier (I'm also in-state at Cal so that helped too).

[LawMan20]

The professors who I asked for recommendations from all knew me very well. I had gone to office hours, sent emails with questions, talked in class, and had generally made good impressions on them. I also asked for recs from professors whose classes I had aced the semester before, so that always helps too!

Know your profs...they are amazing people and totally approachable. They love engaged students and think there is a real difference between genuine interest and gunners who talk to hear themselves talk. I was always someone who asked lotsa questions...I rarely answered them unless I was called on, but that was just my style. I quickly realized how genius my profs were and really wanted to pick their brains apart, so I did just that and it earned me some great relations with profs (many of whom I still stay in touch with even though I'm at Berkeley!)

Hm. Thanks.

Wishing I would have done this last semester. I was the completely silent dude in the class. However, I talked to my profs outside of class when I needed it, so they know who I am; hopefully, this will be enough.

[Regionality]

Were your personal statement and LORs anything special?

I ranked #1 in my class this year, and I want to transfer, but I don't think I'll have a stellar personal statement or any stellar LORs.

I guess I'm just curious if it's pretty much ALL grades, or if the rest of the app is scrutinized, as well.

I wrote my personal statement in an hour, and it basically said "Hi, this is who I am. I want to transfer. I grew up in the Bay Area. This is what I'm doing this summer. I think you'll like me."

Getting LORs is also just about double checking that you aren't a total screw up in class and that there's a professor who will say you're legit. I was lucky though in that I had totally supportive recommenders who understood that transferring is a personal decision and not to be knocked and certainly not a judgment on Wisconsin (except to admit the obvious career opportunities that are different, which aren't a secret)

You're #1 after your first semester at a school ranked what? That makes a big difference.

#1 at a T25

That aside, I'm guessing my PS will be at least as good at yours.

We're your profs just exceptionally receptive to your LOR requests? Or did you develop relationships with them over the semester? Or somewhere in between?

Thanks.

If you stay #1 at a T25 you have HYS potential. I think my friend at S said that a number of #1's at T50's are in his transfer class.

If you drop to top 5% then I would think some top 10 school is gonna pull the trigger on you, but it's tough to say which one. This is when ties to the region start to make a difference.

[Regionality]

Ok, well, if anyone else has Q's I'll check this randomly.

[tww909]

.

[Regionality]

I wrote my personal statement in an hour, and it basically said "Hi, this is who I am. I want to transfer. I grew up in the Bay Area. This is what I'm doing this summer. I think you'll like me."

Getting LORs is also just about double checking that you aren't a total screw up in class and that there's a professor who will say you're legit. I was lucky though in that I had totally supportive recommenders who understood that transferring is a personal decision and not to be knocked and certainly not a judgment on Wisconsin (except to admit the obvious career opportunities that are different, which aren't a secret)

You're #1 after your first semester at a school ranked what? That makes a big difference.

#1 at a T25

That aside, I'm guessing my PS will be at least as good at yours.

We're your profs just exceptionally receptive to your LOR requests? Or did you develop relationships with them over the semester? Or somewhere in between?

Thanks.

If you stay #1 at a T25 you have HYS potential. I think my friend at S said that a number of #1's at T50's are in his transfer class.

If you drop to top 5% then I would think some top 10 school is gonna pull the trigger on you, but it's tough to say which one. This is when ties to the region start to make a difference.

yeah i'm the guy at SLS. everyone from under a t25 school (except me) was #1 or 2 in their class. i would be surprised if you weren't HYS secure (which really means HLS secure) at #1. do your best to stick at that number, don't bother with uchicago ED, and you'll almost certainly get into multiple t6 schools.

Hey he showed up! (i noticed this way too late haha...)

[drmguy]

Is it true that Berkeley has a strong California bias?

The yahoo transfer data for berkeley is really inconsistent. Do you have any ideas why this might be?

Also, if it's true, do they have a northern california bias or just california in general?

[lisavj]

Is it possible to ask for a LOR from a 2nd semester prof?

[tww909]

.

[tww909]

.

[Regionality]

Is it true that Berkeley has a strong California bias?

The yahoo transfer data for berkeley is really inconsistent. Do you have any ideas why this might be?

Also, if it's true, do they have a northern california bias or just california in general?

not OP, but we both applied with the same numbers from UW to boalt (as well as other schools). he got in and i didn't. the only perceptible difference was OP grew up in the bay area and has strong ties.

i don't know how strong that bias is as a rule, but at least w/r/t last year it seemed to be a factor.

that said, maybe my app just sucked, because a different friend applied from OSU with no CA ties at all and got into berkeley, so....

Thanks tww-- yes I'm pretty sure regional ties are relatively important in applying to Berkeley as a transfer. Most of the transfers this year have ties to the Bay Area-- either they transferred from a Bay Area school (USF, Hastings, Davis), a CA/NV school (SoCal/Nevada), or have ties to the bay area (me!).

I don't know of any of the 20 transfers that have NO tie to California, though I don't know all of their stories.

Apply though, nothing to lose! Hope this helps!

[drmguy]

Is it true that Berkeley has a strong California bias?

The yahoo transfer data for berkeley is really inconsistent. Do you have any ideas why this might be?

Also, if it's true, do they have a northern california bias or just california in general?

not OP, but we both applied with the same numbers from UW to boalt (as well as other schools). he got in and i didn't. the only perceptible difference was OP grew up in the bay area and has strong ties.

i don't know how strong that bias is as a rule, but at least w/r/t last year it seemed to be a factor.

that said, maybe my app just sucked, because a different friend applied from OSU with no CA ties at all and got into berkeley, so....

Thanks tww-- yes I'm pretty sure regional ties are relatively important in applying to Berkeley as a transfer. Most of the transfers this year have ties to the Bay Area-- either they transferred from a Bay Area school (USF, Hastings, Davis), a CA/NV school (SoCal/Nevada), or have ties to the bay area (me!).

I don't know of any of the 20 transfers that have NO tie to California, though I don't know all of their stories.

Apply though, nothing to lose! Hope this helps!

I was just wondering if I would be at a disadvantage for being from SoCal and not the bay area.

[sillyboots]

Hey both of you, and thanks for doing this thread.

I was wondering if Regionality could give any insight into grades & getting into Boalt. The generic wisdom that's tossed around is that top 10% at a T25 gives you a shot, and outside of that it's mostly top 5%. At the same time, when I've looked at previous transfer threads, it seems like even in the T25 you have virtually no shot if you're outside the top 5%. I don't know if you and your transfermates ever went around talking about your previous ranking, but do you have any sense of what the realistic cutoffs are for a T25?

Thanks!

[Regionality]

Hey both of you, and thanks for doing this thread.

I was wondering if Regionality could give any insight into grades & getting into Boalt. The generic wisdom that's tossed around is that top 10% at a T25 gives you a shot, and outside of that it's mostly top 5%. At the same time, when I've looked at previous transfer threads, it seems like even in the T25 you have virtually no shot if you're outside the top 5%. I don't know if you and your transfermates ever went around talking about your previous ranking, but do you have any sense of what the realistic cutoffs are for a T25?

Thanks!

I do have a good sense, and the advice you've been given is just plain wrong. The truth is is that it's actually far more random than one might think/like.

For example, I was top 5% at WI (T25-T40 school depending on the year) and I got in, while TWW was the exact same rank and did not (but got into Stanford, while I was ultimately dinged by them just a bit before school started). A girl in the top 11% at USF (a T2 school) got in, and a girl who wasn't #1 (but still very highly ranked) from CalWestern (T4) got in as well. I think either the #1 or #2 dude from Nevada got in with no ties to California, in fact he sounds set on going back to NV when possible.

The truth is that it's just impossible to predict and it seemed kind of all over the place.

The dean said that Berkeley actually rotates between the 3 bay area transfer-feeder schools (Davis, Hastings, USF) in who Berkeley will accept a bunch of students from versus just 1 or 2. It's impossible to know which year which school will be, but my transfer class was USF (they took 6 USF transfers and only 1-2 from Hastings and Davis...which I think is kind of an odd strategy, but I think it's so Berkeley maintains good relationships with these schools and only pisses them off once every few years). I on the other hand am probably the first person to transfer from Wisconsin either ever, or in a very long time. This is why my Bay Area ties were probably so important, AND why Berkeley was probably happy to pick off a top student from Wisconsin since they don't need to maintain a good working relationship with them (though this is certainly speculation).

The moral of the story is apply asap, talk up CA/Bay Area ties, and just hope for the best.

[nigerian22]

I have a friend who wants to transfer from UVA to Harvard. How well does she need to do? Top 5%? For CCN, Y, S?

[ommy48]

Hi,

I had the following questions that I hope you may be able to answer to a certain degree.

I'm attending a T-25 school in the Midwest and due to a family emergency during finals I did poorly the first semester grade wise. I do have strong ties to the Bay Area (parents live there, went to school there, grew up there and attended Cal for my bachelor's) and I really would like to transfer to Berkeley or UCLA at the worst because of my mother's health issues and my desire to be close by to take care of her and see her often. This semester I will bring myself back up to the top 25-30%. If that happens do I still have a shot at Cal or UCLA and should I apply nonetheless just to see what happens. Thanks.

[whereskyle]

I had always been targeting government, and transferring helped A LOT for me to get my summer job. I got exactly what I wanted and it would not have happened had I not transferred! I don't want big law right now...

What are your career goals specifically?