Everything I did to get into UCLA and UC Berkeley as a Transfer Student

Please describe how you have prepared for your intended major, including your readiness to succeed in your upper-division courses once you enroll at the university.

Wesley's Typical Weekday: Scroll through assist.org, aligning mechanical engineering's requirements to my schedule.

As outlined by Assist.org, math, physics, and chemistry are the core requirements to transfer. I strongly believed following the bare minimum couldn't adequately prepare me for the future. Unfortunately, when I attempted to register for the only Engineering Statics course at El Camino College, it conflicted with my physics course. With this scheduling conflict, I looked outside the box to a college about 24 miles away: Glendale Community College.

Glendale's course catalog was a treasure trove of engineering courses. Scrolling through their schedule, I found Statics would work with my schedule. I also discovered Material Science and Engineering, a course not even offered by El Camino. Glendale became essential for engineering courses, providing Assist.org's “Strongly Recommended Courses,” which gave me the foundational skills of an engineer. Even though these courses aren't required, they translate into preparation for the upper-division coursework required for my eventual career as an engineer.

My coursework during my first year led to the unsettling realization that the classes I was taking were purely theoretical, offering no hands-on experience. To fill in this hole, I applied for and was accepted into a summer internship at the Center for High Frequency Electronics at UCLA. I was tasked with fixing E3631A power converters, with each step teaching me components of engineering. Running electricity through each unit showed me complex circuitry. Searching for the root of the problem developed my understanding of how the machine worked, and what the potential points of failure were. As I discovered the potentiometer's broken state, I understood the applied side of engineering — the missing component I was looking for.

Assist.org and my internship at UCLA served the same purpose: they gave me the experiences to make me a better engineer. By studying the theoretical and applied sides of engineering, I've become balanced in my engineering mindset. Engineering upper-division courses are notoriously difficult, but assist.org and the Center for High Frequency Electronics prepared me to thrive.

Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

“ChatGPT, define the word engineer.” “An engineer is a professional who applies scientific...” — let me stop that right there. ChatGPT gave some over-defined paragraphs on the formal definition of an engineer. Being an engineer gave me the most valuable trait: problem solving. Becoming a problem solver led to my campaign to be the Student Trustee and for my promises to solve problems I was elected one of the six people making decisions impacting the 25,000 people I walk alongside every day. One of my initial goals was to develop the engineering curriculum at El Camino. As the semester began, so did a resolution citing over 100 students' disappointment of lacking engineering graphics, material science, and solid mechanics. Compiling their opinions and analyzing the abundance of these engineering courses at neighboring community colleges led me to inform the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Discussing the opportunity to develop the program, I was told it would be updated in the coming years. With one of my objectives done, I'll advocate for change in the last six months of my term.

Inspired by the changes I brought to El Camino, I attend the Torrance Unified School District Board Meetings. The reason? To advocate for STEM advancement and opportunities for the student population I once belonged to. As a Torrance Unified student, I didn't have STEM opportunities outside of the yearly Science Fair and a $300 Lego building camp. Writing policies that create STEM programs for Torrance's future scientists and engineers provides students with opportunities to learn, developing their interest in the field.

My career aspirations will always belong to engineering, and my passion for legislation and lobbying for change will remain integral to the person I am. The University of California is dedicated to public impact, and for me it will go beyond my term as the Student Trustee. During the day I'll be an engineer solving problems in society, but at night I'll be a policymaker improving the educational community I once belonged to.