Psychology transfer student Mariano Vincent Salvador never imagined seeing himself at UC Berkeley. The 27-year-old was once academically dismissed from Diablo Valley College (DVC) with a 1.6 GPA. Now he’s thriving as an A-student at UC Berkeley.
Salvador’s arduous academic journey began at DVC as a college student who didn’t understand the value of learning and was unsure about his future. This led to academic struggles, probation, and eventually, his dismissal because of low grades and a lack of academic units completed.
After he hit rock bottom, Salvador received support from a DVC faculty member, who encouraged him to see the value of a college education and apply himself. Today, the rising UC Berkeley senior prioritizes his mental health, enjoys academic success and community at Cal, and plans to pursue a career that helps others overcome their personal and mental health challenges.
Salvador spoke to Berkeley Social Sciences about his background, academic journey and experiences at Cal. The interview is edited for clarity and length.
Please tell us more about your background and academic journey.
Mariano Vincent Salvador: I am a rising senior at UC Berkeley from Alamo, California. In Spring 2024, I graduated from Diablo Valley College and transferred to Cal. I initially went to DVC to study business administration, but didn’t really know why I was even going to college. I went on to fail and withdraw from about half of my classes at DVC from Fall 2015 to Spring 2018. I went through academic probation and eventually got dismissed from the school because of my low grades and lack of academic units completed.
During the 4-year gap that I took from school, I worked various jobs and met a DVC Business Administration Professor John Fogli through our tennis community in Concord. He encouraged me to come back to school and obtain college credits for my academic efforts through an appeal. When I had returned to school digital marketing courses, I had a cumulative 1.6 GPA to dig out of. During this process, I completed Professor Fogli’s certificate program titled “Digital Marketing Certificate of Achievement,” and got straight A’s for the first time in my life. After completion, I went on to become a digital and social media marketing intern, where I realized that I didn’t get any sense of fulfillment in this type of work in itself, but I did thoroughly enjoy the behavioral science side of things.
During my academic wilderness years, I basically became my own therapist to redefine who I was. After discovering the value of personal growth and wanting to help others who struggle with mental health too, I was inspired to pursue psychology. Through my efforts of completing the general education courses for my associate’s degree in psychology to transfer, I boosted my overall GPA to 3.7, a life-changing number that would allow my application to be considered for all of the nine schools I applied to as a transfer student: Cal State East Bay, Sacramento State, San Jose State, San Francisco State, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis and UC Berkeley. I ended up getting into all of them and chose UC Berkeley as the next chapter of my journey, a place that I would have never seen myself having a chance of getting into years before!
What were the challenges during your transition from Diablo Valley College to UC Berkeley?
Mariano Vincent Salvador: Some of the main challenges I faced were a higher level of academic rigor, making friends and building community as a 27-year-old transfer student who is still an undergrad. In addition, it was difficult to maintain a work-life balance. I ended up adapting to these challenges and seeing success in all of these areas as I went on to seek out the support that I needed from Berkeley staff and my professors.
I remained true to myself to not let my age get in the way of connecting with other students, many of whom were younger than me. I worked to build community with hundreds of students by participating in campus events, info sessions, clubs, student mixer events, and going out of my way to contact strangers on social media, who were also my Class of 2026 UC Berkeley transfer peers. I pushed myself to implement a higher level of organization by using Google calendar to allocate my time wisely, creating ample time to diversify and enjoy my experiences outside of the classroom.
What sparked your interest in studying psychology?
Mariano Vincent Salvador: I think becoming my own therapist and parent for myself (in a sense) in my process of redefining who I was during covid and my gap years, was the ultimate pursuit of happiness for me. I also watched many health care and mental health professionals on YouTube such as Jordan Petersen, Andrew Huberman, Kati Morton, Ali Mattu, Sadia Khan, and others who helped me to learn about the biological, behavioral, and other components that contributed to the overall health of individuals.
I have a genuine interest in people and their stories. My passion to help others in general, but especially those who struggle with mental health issues as I personally had struggled in this area for most of my life until my mid-20s, sparked a great interest in psychology. I realized how important quality relationships are for the overall health and satisfaction of life of every human on this earth.
How would you describe your experience at Cal so far — both personally and academically?
Mariano Vincent Salvador: It was initially very intimidating and difficult in terms of making that academic transition, but I went on to adapt and tap into the resources I needed. I learned how to not stress over school and how to succeed in getting almost straight A’s in my first year so far — after initially struggling to barely pass some, or even failing, some midterms. I now have a 3.8 GPA at Berkeley.
While I initially worried about building friendships and community, I’d say that this has been my biggest success so far, as I’ve connected with hundreds of people from freshman to graduate students across the country and around the world. I am blessed to say that I am very well integrated socially with reliable and high-quality friends who are compassionate, hardworking and ambitious. This is not only thanks to my personal decisions to be proactive in putting myself out there, but Berkeley has provided me with no shortage of opportunities to find community through student mixer events, clubs, student organizations, etc.
Which Berkeley professors have made the biggest impressions on you so far?
Mariano Vincent Salvador: Some professors that have made a big impact on me are Psychology Professor Arman Catterson, Sociology Professor Joanna Reed, Psychology Professor Silvia Bunge and Neuroscience Professor Lance Kriegsfeld.
What are your goals for the future?
Mariano Vincent Salvador: My goal for the future is to become a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT). However, I’d also say that I remain open-minded about what career I might end up in as I realize that more often than not, life, positions or opportunities often do not turn out as we expect them to be or how we may romanticize them to be. All I know is that I want to help people live a healthier, happier, more fulfilling life, and I’m open to accomplishing that goal in any way possible as I continue to grow my skill sets and perspective.
My faith has always kept me going through my process of transformation. I want to share a particularly Bible verse, John 13:34-35 (ESV), that continues to ground me in my aims of who I want to be and continue to grow into: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
