attend CSU as an open university student?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello all. I am currently a first year college student at a community college. I started school with 15 units already under my belt from AP test and in addition to that, I took one college class while in highschool and a summer class before this semester began, leaving me with 21 units already completed. I have planned out my entire community college schedule because I am one of those freaks, and if all goes according to plan I will have a total of 69 units (including the 21 units) by the end of my third semester of school. By the end of this semester I will have all of my GE's completed, major prep courses done(poly sci major) and even my BA required classes completed(three semesters of a language). I do not want to waste an extra semester at a community college if I dont need it. The only issue is that Csu's do not accept early transfers and Id rather take more classes then take the semester off. I even played with the thought of taking on a minor in philosophy, but that was only because I thought it would make me look better for law school. I dont want to take on a minor and end up doing horrible in the classes. Too big of a risk and I cant even be sure Ill have that upper leg for law school with a minor of any kind.
I want to begin my upper division classes during my fourth semester, but the only problem is that community colleges dont offer upper division classes. I want to do open university at the csu I plan on transferring to but the tuition for that isnt covered by financial aid. As you can tell, im in a big dilemma. I keep thinking to myself that if i were attending a university, this wouldnt be an issue at all. Sadly, SDSU, UCSD, and USD put me on their wait list when I applied last year as a high school senior, and I never got off either wait list. I dont want something like money to hold me back from advancing in my college education, I already feel held back with my options after being denied everywhere I applied too. </p>

<p>Aside from my ranting, (which I apologize in advance for) would it be of benefit for me to take classes at state as an open university student during my fourth semester of college and take upper division classes, and then officially transfer as a student for the rest of my college education?</p>

2

<p>I had your exact dilemma this past spring. I actually applied to a CSU that was open for admissions in the spring. They offered online classes and the program was fully covered under financial aid. I took A full load of classes during spring 2014 and 2 during summer 2014 at the CSU as a fully enrolled student. I am now transferring to UCLA for the fall of 2014. If all goes according to plan I can finish UCLA within four quarters, rather than six.</p>

<p>Here’s the trick. In order to be still considered a community college student for admission purposes, you have to take at least one class at a community college. So during the spring I took four classes at a CSU, and then one class at my community college. They still consider me a community college transfer student.</p>

3

<p>wow! I have never heard of that! That’s pretty awesome! I will have to look into this a little further to be sure it can work for me in my situation. Thank you so much for the help and congrats on your future success! UCLA is no joke and graduating in four quarters, rather than six is an accomplishment. </p>

4

<p>Do your best to try and find UC transferable courses at the CSU. You can’t know for sure, but take classes that have similar names and descriptions as courses at your target UC. </p>

<p>Last thing is to be careful with unit caps. If you take any classes at a 4 yr school, then your subject to unit cap. For UCLA it’s 86.5. I’m transferring 85 units (127.5 quarter units) so I cut it close.</p>