Campus & community, People, Profiles, Campus news

Campus releases admissions data for 2014-15 transfer students

By Public Affairs

More than 3,700 students — 23 percent of those who applied — have been offered admission to UC Berkeley’s 2014-15 transfer student class, campus officials have announced.

Transfer student admission serves as a pathway for California students who enroll in a community college after high school. In addition to adding to campus diversity, transfer students are as successful as freshman entrants in completing their degrees at Berkeley, according to campus enrollment data. Community college transfers make up almost 20 percent of undergraduates on campus.

“Transfer students succeed at Berkeley,” says Amy Jarich, assistant vice chancellor and director of undergraduate admissions. “Six members of our own admissions team graduated as transfer students from Cal.”

The transfer pathway is crucial to giving more students a chance for an education at a four-year institution, adds Jarich. “To that end, our goal is to help community college students follow a clear path if they want to come to UC Berkeley,” she says, “and to help them succeed once they get here.”

The Berkeley campus released its transfer admission decisions April 25 to the 16,603 students applying as transfers, a slight increase from the nearly 16,000 who applied last year.

In keeping with the principles for access to the UC system as laid out in the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the typical pathway for transfer students is through California community colleges; 94 percent of all transfer admits come from more than 100 California community colleges. The remaining 6 percent of admits come from other colleges in California, including other UC campuses, as well as from colleges in the United States and abroad.

The community colleges with the largest populations of transfer students admitted to UC Berkeley include Santa Monica College, Diablo Valley College and De Anza College.

Community college transfers are admitted to all majors on campus, including the most competitive majors, such as electrical engineering and computer science and business administration.

The oldest among this year’s admits is 75 and the youngest is 15 years old. About 30 percent of the transfer class identifies with an underrepresented group (including African American, Chicano-Latino, and American Indian).

Other data about the 2014-15 admitted class of transfer students:

  • Academics: The average GPA of the admitted transfer class is 3.76 (4.0 scale).
  • Military background: 117 have a military background (including veteran, ROTC, active duty, National Guard, reserves).
  • First-generation college-going students: 29 percent. A first-generation college-going student is from a family where neither parent has attended any four-year college.