3-time Berkeley Reject — the journey of a transfer student hustler

Heran Patel
Jul 28, 2017 · 6 min read

I have finished my undergraduate education at University of California, Irvine (UCI), and I can’t be any more bittersweet about it. While I am glad I completed my Computer Science and Engineering degree, I will miss my wonderful set of supporters who have become my family at UCI!

Throughout my undergraduate education, I have heard ‘NO’ more often than ‘YES’, and I anticipate that to continue in life. Through this process, I have learned to keep telling myself ‘YES’ following it by intense execution.

After failing to get into top colleges out of high school (including being rejected from my top choice -UC Berkeley), I had one aim for attending community college — to transfer to UC Berkeley. I wanted to go to a good school in an entrepreneur-driven location, and what better school to attend than UC Berkeley. Ever since I started watching Shark Tank, my interest was to do business as my major of study. Since I already knew I was going to community college, during my last few weeks of high school, I started summer school classes simultaneously. After taking some business classes over the summer, I found it to be quite intuitive, and wanted to further challenge myself. In August of 2014, I decided to change my major to Electrical Engineering.

At the same time, I strategized myself to complete a 2-year normal transfer in 1 year. With multiple debates and discussions with the counselors, I was told that, with my major, it was IMPOSSIBLE to transfer to any university within 1 year. This was the first scenario where I was fueled by negativity. I took on the challenge to transfer in 1 year, and through 19 semester units in Fall 2014 and 24 semester units in Spring 2015, I was able to transfer. I had achieved a 4.0 GPA, and had a seemingly convincing application for UC Berkeley. Unfortunately, I was rejected from UC Berkeley this second time around, and this was a very pivotal moment for me. After putting an immense amount of pressure and hard work throughout that year, I shed a few tears for my defeat, as defeat was what I saw it as at the time. Looking back, it was an opportunity to more experiences that I could have missed out on!

I had gotten offers from UCLA, and UCSD; however, for convenience (being an Irvine boy) along with pressure from my parents, I decided to go to the University of California, Irvine. My ultimate goal was still to get into UC Berkeley, so I sent another transfer application to try for my 3rd time while I was attending UCI. To continue building a convincing application, I took Summer and Fall courses in 2015, and ensured that my GPA stayed at the highest possible since Fall grades are considered for transfer applicants. In the beginning of my UCI journey, I was a bit lost in terms of what courses to take, and thus I approached my counselor to help me navigate. This was another experience where I was told that I needed to spend 3 years to complete my Electrical Engineering degree at UCI. Most people who transfer anticipate finishing the degree within 2 years; however, I was told that there were too many classes to take which would end up taking 3 years to complete. I have learned to never take ‘NO’ for an answer, and so I made a plan to complete my degree within 2 years. The catch was I needed to take an average of 20+ quarter units. Being a very competitive individual, I loved to take on the challenge. After completing 12 quarter units in Summer 2015 and 21 quarter units in Fall 2015, I had a pivot in my life.

Upon attending many hackathons, I found an interest for Computer Science, and hence, I made the move to change my major to Computer Science and Engineering. My counselor told me that at this stage to change my major, I would definitely need to plan for a complete 3 years at UCI. This was yet another case where I was told ‘NO’, but I simply was not going to take anything but a ‘YES’ for an answer. I mapped out my classes, and continued to take the maximum number of units possible. I took 14 quarter units in Winter 2016, and 22 quarter units in Spring 2016, however, my hunt was only half way done. That Spring, I received my 3rd rejection letter from UC Berkeley, and at this point I had to accept my fate and continue to make the best of what I had. Just before summer classes began, I was introduced to a minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and I quickly signed up for 28 units over Summer 2016 to make significant progress towards the minor. Over the course of my final year at UCI, I took 22, 17, and 30 quarter units in the 3 quarters of the year to close off my education.

During my last quarter, I needed to take a business class to finish my minor, which happened to overlap with another one of my necessary computer science classes. My business counselor would not let me take the business class in parallel with another class, but through perseverance and a little bit of optimistic threat passed around the dean and counselors(nothing bad here), I was able to take both simultaneously.

And now, I am thankfully finished with my undergraduate institutional education. Although there were many ups and downs, and although I didn’t make it to UC Berkeley, I have received much more than what I could have by pursuing my education in any other way. The rejections and ‘NO’s I faced were all part of my equation, and without them, I would have never gained the valuable skills, experiences, and hustle that got me to where I am today.

Everything that happens in your life is meant to be, whether it is seemingly good or bad. What you do have control over is your hustle (hard work, determination, and simply execution in all aspects of your life). Although at the time, it may seem hard, the future is always bright, and keep moving forward because when you look back, everything will fall in its right place for the right reason.

This is not a way for me to show off to anyone, but rather, a testament for you to understand that people, situations, and circumstances will not always play out in your favor. You just have to make the most of it, and through that process you will gain more than what you had expected for yourself.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of my journey. [COMMENT] below your thoughts and your experiences of education. If you have any experiences, knowledge, or memories to share, please feel free to connect with me at any point in time!

The hustle has only begun…

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read this! It means a lot! :) Hit the ❤!

If this article made an impact, it would mean a lot if you SHARE this with someone who needs this!

Connect with me: Facebook | Instagram

Heran Patel

Written by

Hustler — innovation/execution strategist.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade