<p>California community colleges represent a very good path to entry to the UCs. To quote from the UC website:</p>
<p>Priority consideration: The University gives junior-level community college students first priority over other transfer applicants, including those from four-year institutions and UC’s own intercampus transfer students.</p>
<p>As for the other “disadvantages” cited above, many students at CA JCs live on their own in apartments - often in large clusters of students, not unlike college dorm life. </p>
<p>As for sports, some UCs are division one but others have very weak sports programs. The CA community college also have sports programs - with active student participation. I also know that many JC students will attend the events at the UC that they are targeting. E.g attend Diablo Valley college and go to UC Berkeley events. </p>
<p>Is it the same as going to a UC? No - but it isn’t the end of the world.</p>
<p>I’m not a parent but I am a student who was in this exact circumstance. I had a 2.91 Unweighted when applying to UCs and a 3.2-3.3 UC GPA because of the limit of weighted classes. When I finished my senior year though, I had done 11 APs and 2 Honors so I had quite a rigorous courseload. My ST was 1970 with two Subjects at 710(Lit/Math2). The only EC I had was hospital volunteering. I was rejected from SD/LA/Berk/Davis/Irvine/SLO/NYU and accepted into SB(Wow, I was surprised) and SDSU(Its where I live). I feel as if I got very lucky getting an acceptence into SB due to my low gpa. I’m not really sure yet if I want to transfer, but if I do I’d probably try to transfer to Berkeley.</p>
<p>to the original poster regarding CC and living at home. In our area many students attend Santa Barbara City College. They have a great program and have dorms available. Would your son consider that option? I have nothing against UCSC but perhaps SBCC would be another option. A friend’s son who went to SBCC just finished his junior year at UCLA. He was easily accepted as a transfer and would not have been accepted as incoming freshman. The year he would have been a freshman my son applied to UCLA with a 4.3 weighted GPA and was rejected.</p>
<p>Our neighbor’s daughter really wanted to go to Cal Poly SLO, but wasn’t accepted. So she plans to go to the CC (Cuesta). They have a cluster of apts. called Mustang Village where CC students, as well as Cal Poly kids live. I’m sure she’ll get to know a lot of Poly students in the next year or two. Not sure when she plans to apply as a transfer. But, she definitely was willing to go the CC route so she could have a better chance to get into the college she wanted.</p>
<p>SCUALUM wrote:</p>
<p>California community colleges represent a very good path to entry to the UCs. To quote from the UC website:</p>
<p>Priority consideration: The University gives junior-level community college students first priority over other transfer applicants, including those from four-year institutions and UC’s own intercampus transfer students.</p>
<p>As for the other “disadvantages” cited above, many students at CA JCs live on their own in apartments - often in large clusters of students, not unlike college dorm life. </p>
<p>As for sports, some UCs are division one but others have very weak sports programs. The CA community college also have sports programs - with active student participation. I also know that many JC students will attend the events at the UC that they are targeting. E.g attend Diablo Valley college and go to UC Berkeley events. </p>
<p>Is it the same as going to a UC? No - but it isn’t the end of the world.</p>
<p>Yup,Cuesta is a major gateway to Cal Poly just as SBCC is to UCSB or UCLA. I’m dealing with a similar issue with my niece now, she is realizing she didn’t do enough to go to the school she thinks she wanted. Not the end of the world, time to regroup and make a new plan.</p>
<p>If my S hadn’t gotten into UCI he probably would have moved to San Luis Obispo and attended Cuesta to transfer to Cal Poly (he was rejected --engineering).</p>
<p>I think that’s a great option. But, you still have to make good grades! It’s not an automatic acceptance just by taking required courses at the CC. Look at the schools website for transfers (the particular school you want to transfer to) AND the intended major.</p>
<p>Oh, I should say my older son graduated a year ago from UCSC. He graduated in 4 years. After a period of adjustment, he loved UCSC and actually misses it.</p>
<p>He may go back there for grad school after he earns some money!</p>
<p>I am a UCSC alum but have spent a lot of time on the U of A campus and there is no comparison between U of A and UCSC. UCSC has the UC rep, the location, the climate, the slectivity if that appeals to you and oh…the UC rep. About all U of A has over UCSC is D1 sports. UCSC’s computer science major is top notch. They offer a brand new video game design major, the access to internships in the Silicon valley are is unbeatable. </p>
<p>My twin Ds both applied to UCD and both were denied, one with similar stats to your S one w/ slightly better (a 4.04 UC GPA). I was astounded but it was a weird year in the middle of a weird cycle. One D also applied to UCSC and was accepted there. I would have happily sent her but she has decided on a smaller, private campus closer to home.</p>
<p>If I could have done the picking for my daughters they neither would be attending the campus they have chosen. So I understand wishing that they had chosen differently as well as the WTH? emotion that accompanied the denial to UCD but the truth is that if your son will be fine with UCSC it is a far better option for his experience as well as his post grad opportunities imo. His fine will likely turn to love for the beauty, the accessibility of professors, and the chance to live in a funky CA beach town that is in a class of its own.</p>
<p>OP I gotta second sorghum re UCSC=weak in sciences??? check your facts and you will plesantly surprised Biological sciences are top notch…heard of the human genome project? Computer Sciences are cutting edge. Just curious where you are getting your info.</p>
<p>My sense …& I could be wrong here, sorry if I offend…is that you may be worried about UCSC’s hippy reputation and fear a) that your S won’t fit in and/or b) that he will.</p>
<p>There are plenty of places on the UCSC campus where the drug scene is a major part of social life but there are many other paces where they are not. I know that my D, had she chosen UCSC, would have been able to find ample social life, in spite of being a really quiet kid devoted to sub free living. There are lots of like minded-kids on campus who are thrilled to find alcohol and other drug free activities every day of the week.</p>
<p>Quick update for anyone interested. Everything was on track for UCSC until about a month ago. Son on his own, decided to enroll in CC without telling us apparently after further discussions with his friends (many are going to CC). As you can imagine, the you know what hit the fan when he told us. We’ve been going back and forth since then and at this point, I’m truthfully on the fence.</p>
<p>Without a doubt the stats favor CC transfer to UC over any other circumstances, and you really can’t beat the TAG programs. He seems confident he can maintain a good GPA and I believe him based on his work ethic for the last two years of HS. His plan is to apply next winter Nov 2010 for transfer in fall of 2011 to all 10 UC campuses and check TAG where possible. The real goal is now UCLA or UCSD. In addition, he will apply to another 10 colleges or so covering both reach and safeties. Can you really apply TAG transfer to UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSC, UCR, and UCM simultaneously ?</p>
<p>We did visit an admissions counselor at UCSD and his overall message was very positive indicating as long as the 3.0+ gpa is achieved, admission is guaranteed to non-impacted majors (or no Engineering or Bio). However, he also said the UCSD TAG program is being reevaluated with possible new requirements this fall such as reducing the number of participating CC back to local area instead of all of California and increasing the minimum gpa threshold. Is there any catch to the TAG program not known to the general public ? I’m also concerned about the California budget mess further reducing UC enrollment targets in the near future.</p>
<p>I’m aware of SBCC as a seamless path to UCSB. Son would like to move out and has ask we apply his college funds for a small apt and living expenses to address my concerns noted in the OP. I’m on the fence on this issue only because he has a serious girlfriend. In fact, I believe a big part of the reason he applied to CC is because of his girlfriend who btw is also enrolled in the same cc.</p>
<p>Side note regarding his UCI appeal. It wasn’t rejected nor accepted. The response was that they will keep his file open and will contact us if a spot opens up in the future. What does that mean ?</p>
<p>Again, comments, perspective or advice would be appreciated. UCSC or CC?</p>
<p>Can you really apply TAG transfer to UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSC, UCR, and UCM simultaneously ?</p>
<p>Yep, you can TAG as much as you want without penalty. I think TAG is a great system, and with the GPAs ranging from 2.8-3.0, it’s honestly very easy too. I wasn’t the greatest student at a community college but it was still really easy for me to transfer (UCSB in my case).</p>
<p>I think you should weight the options and his goals on this decision. One advantage (especially if he lives at home) is that we will save a tremendous amount of money, and will give him a shot at more UCs.</p>
<p>In my case, I have to say I was pretty miserable having to live at home for 2 more years (hence my transferring 5 hours away to UCSB), but this varies for everyone and if he has a girlfriend maybe it will be a non issue.</p>
<p>Agree with bluebayou. Not sure what will happen in two years. However it seems that your student has made up his mind. You now have a choice of providing funding for housing or not.</p>