A Pathway to U.C. Berkeley for Foreign Students

  By former Executive Director, John Tang, Ph.D.

The English Center (TEC) is pleased to announce that it has formed a partnership with the Peralta Community College District (PCCD), which represents Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College, and Merritt College. This partnership will create a viable pathway for all foreign students interested in attending U.C. Berkeley. Currently, foreign students applying to attending U.C. Berkeley as freshmen have a less than 1% chance of successfully gaining admissions. The pathway program going through the English Center and Berkeley City College will increase the likelihood of gaining admission to U.C. Berkeley from less than 1% to 70%!

How does the program work? Beginning on October 1st, 2015, all foreign students enrolling at the English Center will be given a “conditional acceptance” letter issued to them by the designated school official for Berkeley City College. Foreign students enrolled at the English Center under this program will have to complete an intensive English language program through the English Center’s level 5 to complete their qualification for admission to Berkeley City College.

These students will then take freshmen and sophomore year college courses at Berkeley City College while preparing for a transfer to U.C. Berkeley. Among community colleges with matriculation agreements with the University of California, there is no better school for preparing students to enter U.C. Berkeley at the junior level than Berkeley City College. The admissions rate for Berkeley City College students applying for admission to U.C. Berkeley is a phenomenal seventy percent (70%)! No other California community college has a junior level acceptance rate for U.C. Berkeley that even comes close to the performance of Berkeley City College students.

Beyond its incredible improvement in the likelihood of gaining admissions to U.C. Berkeley, our program will actually save foreign students tens of thousands in tuition costs because the cost of attending the English Center and Berkeley City College for the first two years of college is only a fraction of the tuition cost to attend U.C. Berkeley for the freshman and sophomore years. However, the benefits don’t stop there. The partnership agreement in place between PCCD and U.C. Berkeley will actually allow a foreign student entering through the program to actually enroll in a class at U.C. Berkeley while they are co-enrolled at the English Center to improve their English skills. Program participants can even request their own personal U.C. Berkeley admissions counselor who will help them strategize on how to put together a winning application to U.C. Berkeley.

For more information contact the English Center at international@englishcenter.edu.