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<p>Someone looking at this type of thing might want to consider the following:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If the student is advanced enough that s/he will be taking upper division courses in his/her first two years, then s/he is likely to benefit from attending UC starting as a freshman, where s/he will have fewer than typical large freshman courses while getting to smaller upper division courses soon.</p></li>
<li><p>If the student is not advanced, then s/he may find the smaller classes at the community colleges to be an inexpensive way to start out and prepare for transfer to UC as a junior.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Not sure how well doing the first two years at a LAC works. In the first case, the upper division courses at the LAC may be harder to match up with the UC being transferred to than the more standardized lower division courses; in the second case, the LAC would just be more expensive than the community college. Plus, UCs favor transfers from community colleges and provide pre-arranged course articulation, transfer acceptance guarantees in some cases, and other information for community college students (see [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) ).</p>