UC Berkeley students...Q. on uping chances for transfer there?

Question

For you UC Berkeley students or affiliates....
My younger sis is a community college student who's getting ready to apply for transfer within one-two semesters. (She currently attends Berkeley City College)
She wants to transfer to UC Berkeley. So far she's done pretty well in all her classes...good grades and so on...

MY QUESTION:
Do you know of any activities/internships/programs she can get involved in through/at UCB ...you know, to become more familiar with UCB and maybe up her chances of admission? Anything that will allow her to get involved with the UCB community eventhough she's not a student there? (she lives in Berkeley of course)

Any info is greatly appreciated! I don't have any ties to UCB, and I am not sure what to advise her.
Thanks :o)

Answer 1

The community college in Berkeley is Vista CC. SF has a City College and they send in a lot of transfers. Not sure which school you're talking about.

Anyway, if she still has a few semesters to go, encourage her to take a UC Berkeley Extension class and then enroll in summer sessions at Cal.

How good are her grades? The transfer students I knew had GPAs ranging from 3.5 to 3.99 (the 3.99 transferred into the EECS dept.).

As for getting in on the official student life, that's a tough one because that's mostly there for the Cal students themselves. Most student organizations have clauses in their charters stating that only students and university affiliates may participate. However, there are several somewhat-affiliated organizations that may be of some help. I know there's a volunteer center on Bancroft called Stiles Hall, and there's the YWCA, also on Bancroft Ave. KALX, the campus radio station love volunteers, and they take people from the community.

Answer 2

You should check out this website, www.transfertohaas.piczo.com. It was created by a U.C. Berkeley student who transfered there from Parelta. He got accepted and transfered in to Haas school of business, which is one of the hardest major to get in to at U.C. Berkeley. I'm sure they'll be plenty of information on the site that can help your sister out as he is writing from his own experience on how he had to prepare to for the transfer process. There's also a tutorial section on how to write a personal statement.

Good luck!!!