Thread: So, about college for you older guys...

TOGS basically summed it up. You can probably forget about Berkeley but that doesn't mean you will be at McDonalds your whole life, there are plenty of decent schools you should be able to get into with a 3.0 (or even a high 2.something) high school GPA. Kicking ass on your SAT will definitely help, too. If you are really dead-set on Berkeley, you could always try to transfer there after a year or two at wherever else you wind up going. Getting in as a transfer student is often easier than getting in as a freshman. Also, listen to what TOGS says about different programs/departments at the same schools being more or less selective. You can use that to your advantage. You can easily switch majors after your first year (most of the classes you take as a freshman will be GE crap that are required regardless of major), so if applying directly into your intended major program would decrease your chances of getting in, consider applying into a major program that's less selective and then switching. Be aware of differing acceptance rates for different programs/departments and game the system accordingly.

I graduated high school with like a 2.2 GPA, a 1540 SAT (this was back in the olden days when the max SAT score was 1600), and plenty of AP classes with 5's on the AP tests. I didn't get into any of the schools I applied to, probably because they could see by the juxtaposition of my high test scores and low GPA that I was too lazy to put my smarts to good use. I wound up doing two years in my local community college, got serious about motivating myself, and was able to transfer to a school I liked. So just bear in mind that even if you don't get in anywhere, your academic career isn't ruined, it's just been sidetracked a bit and can be put back on course with a little effort; you could still have your degree in four years' time from a good school, you might just spend two of those years at community college and then the other two at 'real' college. Don't buy into the idea that community college is some dead-end for hopeless fuckups, it's really not. With good grades in CC, you should be able to transfer even into highly selective schools.

Originally Posted by Cherry Flavored Pez

The reason I aim for Berkeley is because it's a good place to start a career in pharmaceutics. Engineering is my second choice.

Look CFP, let me be blunt, since you may not have gotten the message yet, and if you want to do well from this point forward you need a realistic perspective on your situation, and your attitude is one of over-weening hubris:

Of course Berkley is a good school to start a career in many, many fields. On the other hand, being a professional basketball player is a good way to make money, as is being a movie star.


With near certainty, you will NOT get into Berkley, and if you really wanted to attend Berkley you should have started 3 years ago when you were a freshman in High School with good grades. I mean, if you really want to go to Berkley, then by all means make a serious effort, but don't set your heart on it. Also, make sure you look for and apply to strong alternate schools so that you don't screw yourself over in the end by not being realistic.

Over the last decade, admissions to every university have become more and more competitive, and at this point students that are by far stronger than you are the norm for even less regarded state schools like UMCP. Things are even worse at the top tier schools such as Berkley: their admissions are so swamped with exceptional students that they are looking for any reason to cull students from the selection process, and you give them such reasons in spades.

One last thing: do you think that people with pharmaceutical or engineering degrees from SDSU don't ever get careers? Of course they do.

Would it be possible to transfer from a state school like SDSU to Berk after only 1 year?

I have no idea, but again I wouldn't count on it.

Originally Posted by Cherry Flavored Pez

. The reason I'm doing so poorly is because for the life of me, I just can't do homework or projects. Or won't rather. This will change

What are you doing to ensure that it will change? Are you getting outside help to help you improve you study skills? Are you reading books about how to improve your habits? etc.

This is another reason why I find your idea of getting into Berkley so shocking. You have fundamental problems with simply doing the work assigned to you in classes and are failing classes because of that. How can you not understand that Berkley is not the school for people like this? And what's more you will be miserable surrounded by super over-achievers. I mean, I probably would be as well. It's bad enough in podunk little UMCP.