backdoor way to get into UCSB

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
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<p>(1) I'd recommend living in one of the private dorms 1st year if you can afford it. A link to the 2 private dorms is Santa</a> Barbara City College -- dorm housing As for living in an apartment, you can see what the UCSB housing office lists for typical rates at UCSB</a> Community Housing at the bottom of the page. Note that the rates they list are for the whole apartment; typically students live 2 per bedroom, so you're looking at $500-$600/mos for housing plus food. Note that landlords know that the demand for apartments only exists during the school year, so they only offer 12 mos leases.</p>

<p>(2) very close, if you live in Isla Vista. SBCC itself probably doesn't have all that much contact with UCSB, but if you live in Isla Vista (either the private dorms or an apartment) you're right where all the students are. Nobody will know you're a SBCC student until you tell them. And as I posted earlier, you can even join many UCSB clubs, play sports, join the UCSB gym, etc.</p>

<p>You might want to also post in the thread "ask a current student anything" to get a current students' take on things. I expect the students there will agree that having SBCC students live in Isla Vista is ordinary and that they take part in the social life of UCSB.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Hey Mike, I've been reading the entire post, and I must say you're a savior. See, My Girlfriend and I have had plans to go to UCSB and have our own apartment [fall 2009]. Sadly, UCSB accepted me, but rejected her. I have considered helping her file an appeal since many of the admitted are also students who might have been accepted to other schools like Berkeley or UCLA, leaving space, but not sure.</p>

<p>As for the SBCC, would it be possible for us two, to have our own apartment together? Me attending UCSB, and her attending SBCC? Could we both live on IV or something? Let me know, very much appreciated, you're our savior.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
As for the SBCC, would it be possible for us two, to have our own apartment together?

[/quote]
Sure, people live together all the time. That said, since this is an advice thread I'll give you mine. There are a lot of adjustments going from living at home to living away at college, of getting used to the challenge of college-level classes and the pace of the quarter system. Many people find it helpful to have the buffer of a year in the dorms to get started out because it provides some support systems: meals taken care of, an RA, an instant network of friends on your floor. It might actually be better for your relationship to spend the 1st year living near each other but in the dorms, which would still leave you with 3 years to share an apartment.</p>

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<p>Thank you MIKEMAC, very much appreciated. We're planning to go up to Santa Barbara in 2 weeks to check this SBCC stuff out. You don't know how happy you made us. Thanks a lot!</p>

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<p>^^ Awh. Yeah. My bf goes to SBCC so if I go to UCSB next year that'll be perfect.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
We're planning to go up to Santa Barbara in 2 weeks to check this SBCC stuff out

[/quote]
I hope it works out for you. BTW in the original post I should have used bold and emphasis more often, but one thing I'd suggest anyone considering this route do is look into the guarantee program at SBCC. Available for most majors, you take classes that have been pre-approved for the program. Complete the program with a GPA of 3.0 and you are guaranteed admission into UCSB! See SBCC</a> Transfer Academy</p>

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<p>The LA Times just did an article on the growing trend of dorms at community colleges. There are others besides Santa Barbara. Definitely an interesting option.</p>

<p>[Community</a> colleges add dorms to boost appeal - The Envelope - LA Times](<a href=“Awards”>Awards)</p>

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<p>Great post! </p>

<p>I would like to add a few points to what you said for students considering this option.</p>

<p>This plan works not just for UCSB. Any student can attend junior college and transfer over to a UC.</p>

<p>1) You must get good grades! Universities of California (UCs) actually give preference to junior colleges transfers over other types of transfer students. But there are limited number of seats reserved and it can get competitive. Don’t plan on getting the minimum GPA required by the UC school and getting in. </p>

<p>2) Check out [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org). It assists you with IGETC (a program that helps you get your general ed requirements out of the way at the junior college). This site helps you plan your classes so that you only take courses that will transfer over to the UC. </p>

<p>Good luck to all of you looking to start at the junior college and transferring over to a UC!</p>

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<p>Just took a look at this old post, very interesting concept…get UCSB atmosphere but not go to UCSB for the first 2 years! You could save a lot of $$; however, I looked at those private residence halls, they are close to $18,000 for the year…Ouch!!</p>

<p>I was wondering if anyone had taken this route to get into UCSB and how was the experience…</p>

<p>Thyanks</p>

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<p>SLO does NOT offer the same thing with cuesta. the difference is that UC’s offer a TAG- Transfer Agreement Guarantee- to CCC students who complete IGETC - a set of GE requirements- and their lower division course work. there are only 2 CSU’s that usually offer a TAG, and that is Humboldt State and Sacramento State. </p>

<p>If cuesta started to offer TAG then let me know, however I have been told over and over again that the do not offer TAG programs. even by a Cuesta student</p>

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<p>With the budget troubles in CA, admission may be even more dicey than in the past few years. I plan on bumping this post up annually so that students with their heart really set on UCSB know of a plan B should they not get in as a freshman. And given the economy these days, even some who are admitted to UCSB might find 2 years at a CC to be financially attractive.</p>

<p>To reply to SockherMom, be sure to compare the total cost of the 2 options (UCSB vs CC). The UC registration and fees is going to add up to about $10K, which exceeds the savings of living in the UCSB dorms for UCSB students instead of a private dorm (13K vs 18K). If you contact the SBCC Transfer Academy they can give you more info on what the experience is like for the students doing it, and may be willing to put you in contact with current students to get their take on it.</p>

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<p>Mike: You have been posting this same post year after year- and while this certainly is an option, you should stress- for the high cost of living in Isla Vista a parent should be sending a student that would have qualified for UC right out of HIgh School, or barely missed it because of one bad semester or year in high school. Sending the slacker, trouble maker, losers who never picked up a book in high school, nor did they care about grades at all, who suddenly when everyone else goes off to college now “wants to go too” so as to cover their total failure in high school. Some parents are willing and able to pay for this option to sweep the mess out of their house with hope junior will mature.</p>

<p>You should also publish the horrible transfer rates of community colleges as a whole- somewhere around 80%+ do not transfer and drop out. Add the distractions of living in IV and good luck having your student who arrives with next to no study skills and no work ethic and the failure to transfer numbers are even higher. Most have to do remedial math and english the first year, plus a study skill class so they are not able to tranfer for at least 3-4 years on average. Most just age out.</p>

<p>Parents should understand that if a student did not take advantage of their FREE education in high school, sending them away for about $20,000 for 9 months of schoo. Summer school is extra, and you must pay 12 months for a room in IV (and Mike you have to add more then room and board tuition and books, it is expensive to live in IV.) </p>

<p>So if the kid wasn’t close to being accepted by a UC, why shouldn’t that student live at home, go to the home cc, and when they have proven themselves as students, then the parents can finance the last 2 years of UC. SBCC living in IV cost more or about the same as attending a CSU for goodness sakes. These kids want to have it both ways, not do the work, but not miss out on the fun, and after 2-3 years (no such thing as flunking out of cc) the parents have spend major bucks and no degree is in site. </p>

<p>Your advice is for the lazy kids, not the hard working parents that struggle to put there kids through college. There are much cheaper, more effective ways for a High School student who did not prepare for college to get a degree.</p>

<p>And BTW, the saying is " is he/she UC of CC? Right off the bat, so yes there is a bias. You need to update in this new admissions era. They need more then plan B even, because most wont finish their general ed in CC. Those are the statistical facts.</p>

<p>Sorry, I know you mean well, but parents should not feel pressured to send their student to such an expensive cc experience. Most parents expect a degree will come out of that kind of money, but most time it is just 2-3 years of avoiding working and supporting themselves. Have you taken a cc class lately? I have…talking, no note taking, not turning in work, material repeated several times because the same kids who did not work in high school are still not working at SBCC. Now if they can live at home and go to SBCC, then that is a different story. Otherwise most are just posers. Thank god it is geeting harder for these non students to back door into UC’s they drag the academics and peer experience down.</p>

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<p>OlympicLady, your comments that parents (who are presumably footing the bill) should consider whether their child is ready to live away at college is well taken. That said, your post does not supply the facts needed to help make an informed decision about the merits of SBCC for those that are ready.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>horrible transfer rates of CC’s in the entire country or state are not relevant – what matters is the rate of those enrolling at SBCC with the specific intention of transferring to UCSB. I don’t know that number, but I do know that about 1/3 of the transfer students at UCSB come from SBCC which suggests they must be doing something right.</p></li>
<li><p>Have I taken a CC class lately? No, I haven’t – but for every anecdotal report like yours I can show you one raving about the small class size and personal attention at a CC in contrast to the sink-or-swim 300+ student lower-division classes offered at the UCs. Furthermore I suspect that the class(es) taken by someone like yourself, an adult in her 50’s, is not typical of the lower-division class taken by a student preparing to transfer.

I do not know what accounts for your hostility towards CC transfer students, nor do I particularly care. In fact UCSB reports that xfers are actually more successful at getting a 4-year degree than entering frosh! The 3rd year after they entered 81% of the transfers have their diploma (they don’t report the number after 2 years). The comparable number of years after entering for those starting as frosh, 77% have their diploma. See <a href=“http://www.catalog.ucsb.edu/current/general/gradrate.htm[/url]”>http://www.catalog.ucsb.edu/current/general/gradrate.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
</ul>

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<p>Mike: The transfer rates of CC students is dismal, Living in Isle Vista IS very expensive as advertised by the rates posted on the private dorm sites. Or it costs $600-$800 for a room in a shared house plus utilities (again on the rental boards in the area). Food not included.</p>

<p>As for me taking classes- whats with the age thing? 50? oh well your off base, but my remarks come from my experience in 2 Lit classes, a history class, a dreamweaver class, a digital photo class, and video class- all taken during the day class times. So, yes you should go take a class at a cc to stay current, and while you are at it talk to the teachers and how they feel about the texting, talking, no note taking and not turning assignments in. And forget group projects. These classes have to be small because very few students are independent learners unless they are paying for it themselves or they are older, as in 23 yrs+. Have also taken extension classes at University and have a BA from a University. The difference is stunning.</p>

<p>My point is if the student lives at home around SBCC it makes sense of course, but paying for a student to pay at least $12,000-$15,000 for 9 months at SBCC, not to mention the 12 month leases required- well this is one expensive backdoor. Whats wrong with their local cc and then transfer in? </p>

<p>BTW, I have only known one student transfer from SBCC to UCSB and graduate in 4 years- and that was a international student. All others were out in 1-2 years. If the kids can finance this themselves great, but in this economy, not a good value or solution for parents. </p>

<p>As for saying the transfers from SBCC graduate at a higher %, then UCSB Freshmen really does not gel. You need to measure the first year students at UCSB and first years students of SBCC., and the percentage that return for the second year, The UC web site puts it at about 97% for UCSB. </p>

<p>This is just a parents view. Many of my points are topics discussed by parents in depth during the high school years and the pro’s and con’s of UCSB. That’s all.</p>

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<p>If someone went to SBCC and got good enough grades to transfer to a UC they might as well apply to UCLA. UCSB just wouldn’t be worth it in IMO.</p>

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<p>I agree with olympicLady, to an extent. It’s not really worth the money to live in IV unless of course money is not a problem.</p>

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<p>bumping this up one last time for this season now that decisions are out and this approach may have become a lot more important for some people…</p>

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<p>MikeMac</p>

<p>You literally read my mind
I was just thinking about posting the same thing, i had no idea you had been posting this for that long.
I think the SBCC route is a great option, saving 8000 a year with smaller classes and the same social life, pretty sweet deal, especially for those who know they should/could have gotten into UCSB and still really want to go there.
I am taking full IB and I found a sheet that SBCC posted that talks about the units I get for doing the IB, something like 20 semester units for a total score of 30 (pretty easy) and 5 extra units for Higher Level courses, this means a total of 35 units. UCSB only requires 60 units to complete the transfer program, so I can transfer after the first year if I want, and i know that the same applies for APs!!</p>

<p>Good work man</p>

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<p>Why bother going to SBCC?. You can go to any CC and get in. If you need to go through the backdoor should you even attend UCSB?</p>

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<p>It’s amazing how ignorant people are acting on this post. First of all, this is UCSB we are talking about, not Harvard or Yale. Not to be insulting, but a majority of the students are spending more time worrying about where to get there next plastic handle of Popov Vodka than they do worrying about their actual coursework.</p>

<p>Olympic Lady- Your a joke, understand what Mikemac is saying, there is a TAG system at SBCC that guarantees acceptance into UCSB. Also you may not be aware of this, but many people favor the lifestyle of UCSB students, rather than the actual school in specific. Living in Isla Vista is almost like the “college dream”. Complete freedom, tons of attractive girls/guys, and a lot of partying. </p>

<p>Living away from home helps sculpt a person into a more mature, independent state. It can be extremely beneficial, and those people that think they are above others because they got accepted as a freshman rather than a transfer are just ignorant and lame. Both degrees will look exactly the same.</p>