<p>Does it make any difference where I complete my TAP certification for UCLA? I've completed the process of TAP certification at two different community colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District. Formally speaking, no difference should exist between the two. Yet there are significant discrepancies in the admit/transfer rates of both programs (i.e. College A has an 85% transfer rate to UCLA vs. College B with a 95% transfer rate). </p>
<p>Considering the pool of applicants at both institutions have similar average GPAs, would a specific college's reputation factor into consideration for admissions? </p>
<p>-College A, for example, is notorious with UCLA undergraduate admissions for students who "game" (or cheat) the system.
--Many of the more recent provisions put in place for transfer students have, in fact, been a direct response to these students manipulating and exploiting certain institutional weaknesses in the CCC-UC transfer system (e.g., declaring a non-competitive major and upon acceptance switching into a competitive major--Scandinavian Studies to Political Science).
--These students are overwhelmingly from a particular ethno-religious group, of which I have the (mis)fortune of being associated with during admission due to my similarly ethnic last name.</p>
<p>-College B, OTOH, is known to have a better quality of applicants and more rigorous programs of study.
--Professors are generally better-qualified, grade inflation is minimal, and I think the director of the TAP program has established a better working relationship with UCLA (the guy is somewhat of a d1ck, but he's good at what he does).</p>
<p>So whats your opinion CC? Does it matter where you are TAP certified if both colleges (on paper) have the same exact process and what not. Or, do intangible factors (like a colleges reputation) weigh into consideration for admissions (especially for an applicant with a borderline GPA to a highly-competitive major)?</p>
<p>I am a transfer student who was tap certified and successfully transferred to UCLA. IMO I think it doesn’t matter where the certification comes from. I’ve taken honors courses at different CCCs and the rigor of the courses was pretty much the same in terms of writing a term/research paper as a component of the courses. There are some honors programs that allow participants to substitute regular quantitative courses like Calculus I, II, or III for honors courses. So, not all CCC honors programs have the same requirements. But, I believe the tap certification at any CCC is regarded as the same by admissions officials.</p>
<p>I don’t think college reputation has anything to do with the admission process as well. Instead, I think the lower numbers of admits from a given CCC compared to another one is related to the strength of major preparation, which can be evaluated using assist.org. It seems that some departments at a given CCC seemed to better prepare students for transfer because their courses in the department better articulate to UCLA. For example, if you compare PCC’s biology departments’ major prep courses on asisst.org with a random CCC, whose courses perhaps do not articulate, the PCC courses seem better suited for a transfer student to complete. My suspicion is the discrepancies can be explained by strength of major preparation, but not something like “CCC reputation”.</p>
<p>Tons of other variables can also factor into the differences of transfer rates between CCCs for a given major. My advice is to complete the certification at the CCC where you have the most units.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your detailed reply Inch3102! It’s greatly appreciated </p>
<p>“My suspicion is the discrepancies can be explained by strength of major preparation, but not something like ‘CCC reputation’.”</p>
<p>Considering these two institutions both operate under the same district (the LACCD), the major preparation argument seems to hold little merit as an explanatory variable for transfer rates. Both colleges have a standardized curriculum developed by officials in the central administration (offices of the LACCD Chancellor, Board of Trustees, various deans, etc.) which are later reviewed and confirmed by local college shared governance committees and what not. Essentially, what one college has, the other college also has. There are exceptions to this rule, however, as you have certain major elective courses available at one institution which are not available at the other. Both colleges also experience a great deal of cross-over with their student populations (i.e., 40>% of people at College A take courses at College B and vice-versa). </p>
<p>So the discrepancy in transfer rates must be attributable to some factor other than (1) major preparation and (2) competitiveness of student applicants, seeing that (a) the curricula between the two colleges are largely shared and (b) the average GPAs applied with are similar for applicants in both colleges. Perhaps varying institutional resources between the two colleges and their Honors/TAP program is the reason (but I’d doubt it). </p>
<p>“Tons of other variables can also factor into the differences of transfer rates between CCCs for a given major. My advice is to complete the certification at the CCC where you have the most units.”</p>
<p>I agree. It’s difficult to isolate those variables, and, again, things like “CCC reputation” are intangibles and relatively hard to define. With that being said, I will follow your advice. I usually don’t over-think these things, but I’m really borderline with my GPA for my major, so even a difference of a tenth of a percent is meaningful and significant, lol. Thanks again! :)</p>
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