22-year-old math transfer wins with UCs
Demographics
- Gender: M
- Race/Ethnicity: White + Asian
- Residence: CA Resident
- Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): Geographic, California Community College student. Attending a feeder school to Cal.
Intended Major(s): Mathematics
Academics
- GPA/Rank (or percentile): 3.76/4.00
- All Cal-GETC and degree-specific coursework completed. I also took a class called Transition to Upper-Division Mathematics that taught proof techniques and teased content from upper-division math. Finally, I took Cal's MATH 55 in 12th grade.
Standardized Testing
- Didn't take
Extracurriculars/Activities:
- Teaching assistant for Calculus 2 and Calculus 3 in one semester (helping to grade homework, quizzes, and multiple choice questions on exams)
- Math club secretary
- 30 mins/week playing piano at a senior living home
- 8.25 hours/week volunteering at food bank
- 2 years college prep program for neurodivergent students
- Math Circle from high school (3 years)
- Recruiting strategist for a club my brother and some friends founded at Cal
- Mathematics Undergraduate Student Association meetings at Cal
Awards/Honors: n/a (didn't occur to me to put Dean's List)
Essays/LORs/Interviews: I think my PIQs were really strong. For my required PIQ (discussing major prep), I talked about taking the class on proof techniques, being an attendee of the math circle in high school, and being secretary of the math club (the lattermost improving my attention to detail). In another, I wrote about overcoming a TBI resulting from complications from hydrocephalus sustained just before 7th grade. I pivoted to my creative side, talking about teaching myself Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata, proofs in math, and writing poems. Finally, I expanded on my experiences at the food bank, incorporating what I thought was just the right amount of pathos.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
- Acceptances: UC Berkeley (committed!), UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Merced
- Waitlists: none
- Rejections: none
Additional Information: none