<p>My question is should I just stay at a local Community College then transfer to a CSU/UC or Cal Poly Pomona, which I got provisionally admitted a few days ago. Any advice? I was all set on going to community and it is quite last minute that they let me know. I am most likely to major in business administration but slightly still on the verge of it. Cal Poly is known for engineering but what is the point of going to a school if they're not that great at the major that I want. Initially I was planning to transfer to SDState, but would the reputation of party school affect me in any ways? Or is there any other school that I should consider if I plan to tranfer?</p>
<p>I’d say you should come back in 1.5 years and ask the same questions again. At that time, you will have a better idea as to where the ax will fall.</p>
<p>btw, don’t forget to read the UC transfer section to understand the process before asking a lot of questions</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/</a></p>
<p>if you can live in the dorms at Cal Poly Pomona I’d say go there. If living at home then I’d say you might as well go to the CC. A big part of college is the friends you make and the things you learn by seeing others do them; living at Pomona (or any college) lets you do this in a way commuting seldom does. But if you’re commuting anyway then I’d say go to the CC and then transfer, hopefully to a college with a stronger reputation. As for SDSU, it isn’t the rep that will affect your future; its what you do while you’re there. Same at any school, really. If you’re an active member of the college, taking part in clubs and events, doing an internship or two (this is really key, BTW) then you’ll come out well prepared for the job market.</p>
<p>You now realize how difficult it is getting into a CSU like Cal Poly Pomona. Don’t expect it to get any easier in the future. You can go through the Cal Poly Pomona threads here on CC and read all the horror stories of people who went to 2 years of CC only to find out they could not get accepted to Cal Poly. It used to be that going to a CC was a good investment in time and money, but I don’t think that’s quite the case today. First of all, you may not be guaranteed acceptance, and even if you get in, not all your classes may transfer. The continuity of doing 4 years at a University is still way better academically and practically to going the 2/2 route. I would consider myself lucky on getting accepted this late in the game and take them up on their offer. They’re currently building a brand new business school complex there, and it should be opening for your second year. I would say Cal Poly has a comparable program to SDSU. It was named one of the 296 best graduate business programs in the country by the Princeton Review.</p>
<p>[Princeton</a> Review on Cal Poly Pomona](<a href=“http://cba.csupomona.edu/cba/news/princeton_review_09.aspx]Princeton”>http://cba.csupomona.edu/cba/news/princeton_review_09.aspx)</p>
<p>According to the Common Data Set at Cal Poly, the admission rate for transfers this spring was 72%. </p>
<p>As for any worries about class credit transferring, that is not a problem to anyone who does just a small amount of planning. The website [ASSIST</a> – Pomona](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST) lists all the courses that Pomona has already agreed to give credit for; simply select your CC from the pulldown list and you’ll see the courses that are promised transfer credit.</p>
<p>Yes, they may have accepted 72 percent, but as the OP has experienced, things changed this year and the average student from years past is barely now getting accepted. Read the following thread.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-pomona/856393-anyone-heard-cal-poly-pomona-yet-45.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-pomona/856393-anyone-heard-cal-poly-pomona-yet-45.html</a></p>
<p>I do believe Cal Poly Pomona administrators have screwed up in not accepting qualified applicants that may end up going to other top CSUs and UCs instead, but the reality remains that it’s getting more competitive to get an affordable public education.</p>
<p>Also, though technically possible to transfer most credits, I still believe in the benefits of continuity. Having gotten my undergrad, I know that there aren’t many CCs that would have had the same rigorousness and philosophy as my CPP program. Cal Poly programs pretty much start at day one as opposed to UC programs where the first two years are mainly GEs. Many people think they’ll save money by going to a CC and then transferring, but this will be at a sacrifice of a complete college experience, both academically and socially.</p>
<p>The 72% figure I gave is from the most recent Common Data Set published by CPP, for the 2009-2010 year. They are at [Common</a> Data Set | Institutional Research & Academic Resources | Cal Poly Pomona](<a href=“http://www.csupomona.edu/~irar/dataset/]Common”>http://www.csupomona.edu/~irar/dataset/)</p>
<p>The OP should carefully consider the points brought up by mrsleonore. My take is that given a choice between 2 years at a CC and 2 years living away at college, or 4 years commuting to CPP, would be for the 2+2 because its going to give a fuller college experience.</p>
<p>While mrsleonore is willing to offer an opinion on whether CC’s have the same rigor as the CPP program, I’m not sure what that is based on as mrsleonore did one but not the other. </p>
<p>One statistic that is available is how many students from the 2 categories, 4-year students and transfers, complete their degree. If CC students were less prepared, one would expect to see fewer manage to graduate, no? The Cal-State system in fact has done extensive statistical analysis of this, and the results show that comparing transfers against those who completed the 1st 2 years at CSU results in absolutely no difference. See the tables at [CSU</a> | Analytic Studies | Comparison - Gradution Rates in the CSU](<a href=“http://www.asd.calstate.edu/gradrates/comparison.shtml]CSU”>http://www.asd.calstate.edu/gradrates/comparison.shtml)</p>
<p>The latest Common Data Set does not include the class that was just admitted for the 2010-11 entering class. Just go to the Cal Poly Pomona thread called “anyone heard from Cal Poly Pomona yet”. This thread has gotten over 40,000 views and 670 replies. I believe that’s the most active thread this year of any public university in California with maybe the exception of Berkeley. As far as admissions standards, something is definitely different from years past, and it’s not getting any easier.</p>
<p>I don’t believe the OP mentioned he or she would be commuting to CPP. CPP is one of the more residential campuses in the CSU and he or she could get the full college experience if he or she chose to live on campus. </p>
<p>As far as rigorousness, it’s my belief that professional colleges within 4 year universities are more focused on teaching majors, while CCs are more geared towards a general education. Many programs at CPP, in my case architecture, start from the first year with sequential prerequisite courses that take a minimum of 5 years to complete. In my case, if I took architecture courses at a CC, they would be more geared towards teaching me technical drafting skills so I can enter the workforce as opposed to academic skills to make me a more well rounded architect. This is a university wide teaching philosophy, which I believe would also apply to the business school. I’ve seen architecture major courses and professors at CCs, and they do not come even close to courses taught at a university. I don’t think anyone could make an argument against continuity. </p>
<p>As far as those statistics, the way I read them is that it takes transfers (starting with sophomores) the same time as freshmen students. That means that on top of how ever many years they’ve done at a CC, they would the have to spend the same amount of time as someone coming from high school. While the statistics for CSU students is certain, the statistics for students coming from CCs are uncertain since they don’t take into account how long they’ve already spent at a CC. If you ask me, those statistics say that it takes longer to eventually graduate if you’re coming from a CC.</p>
<p>
Probably we shouldn’t ask you 
</snip></p>
<p>I guess you’re not familiar with how graduation stats are reported. The reason they provide “6-year” rates is because in the education trade that’s the standard for for a college to report the percentage getting a bachelors degree. Go to any college website quoting graduation stats and that’s the measure you’ll see. For example
Unless you have some private knowledge to the contrary, there is no reason to conclude that CC transfers use all of those 6 years before they graduate. And any such private knowledge would be at odds with CSU findings. To wit:
In other words the median is 2 years shorter than that of the entering frosh, and 80% have completed their degree after spending 2 years less at the CSU campus than those entering as frosh – just as you’d expect for kids that have already completed 2 school years at a CC. They’re getting thru CSU just as fast.</p>
<p>I have one issue with those statistics. While it is certain that all CSU freshmen counted eventually completed 2 years, it is not certain that all CC transfers came to the CSU having studied 2 years. I would say many CC transfers attended 2 years, but that’s generally a minimum. I would suspect that there are more transfers that actually went to more than 2 years of CC rather than less, therefore somewhat tainting those figures. </p>
<p>Anyways, that’s splitting hairs. My main point is that both Cal Poly Pomona and SLO are not your typical CSU or University for that matter. The CPs have many unique professional programs such as aerospace, chemical, civil, computer engineering, architecture and landscape architecture, animal vet science and biotechnology. These programs have specific philosophies that are integrated into an entire 4 or 5 year package which prepare students to enter the real world upon graduation. By contrast UCs and research universities, students take mostly general eds for two years and major courses the last two. A UC education is more catered to those student wishing to continue into graduate studies such as med school. Doing general eds at a CC and then transferring to a UC makes perfect sense. </p>
<p>I can’t speak for the business program at Cal Poly Pomona, but if one is planning to go to the aforementioned programs, they should expect to spend more that two years at CPP due to the core course prerequisite structure. I can guarantee this is the case for architecture and landscape architecture. Only a few exceptional students have ever transferred into the third year of study and may have actually had to start in the first.</p>
<p>Sorry for veering off the OPs topic.</p>