By: Tom

Social Science majors are the most competitive L&S majors at UCLA and Berkeley with significantly lower admission rates than Humanities majors or Biological or Physical Science majors.
UCLA transfers from California Community Colleges who are certified by the Transfer Alliance are given a certain amount of preference.
http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/adm_cco/tap.htm
If you have not yet applied for Transfer admission, the nearest transfer date is Fall of 2013. UCLA and Berkeley only take transfers for the Fall and applications can only be submitted during the month of November.
Also might want to consider Berkeley.
http://students.berkeley.edu/files/Admissions/12626_5.Info_TransAdm.pdf
http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/transfer.asp
US News Undergrad Rankings consider elements that greatly bias them to favor private universities. They do not directly consider the quality of the faculty which is the most important factor. At most universities including the UC’s, the same faculty teach graduates and undergraduates. US News Graduate rankings do consider the quality of the faculty and are helpful.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/history-rankings
http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/reputation-rankings.html
Strongly suggest checking if the Algebra class meets IGETC requirements if that is where the required Math class requirement stems from.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/transfer/requirements/additional-requirements/igetc/index.html
Linear Algebra does but Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra do not meet the IGETC Math requirement. Two semesters of Calculus are a prerequisite for Linear Algebra.
Good Luck!