Best community college to transfer into Berkeley?

<p>So... I'm an OOS high school junior living in VA. Can I move to CA and attend a community college for a year, get state residency, and apply to Berkeley to get instate tuition?
What is the best bay area community college to attend if you're looking to transfer into Berkeley?
Is it difficult to do? I really don't want to attend a community college and then not be able to get into Berkeley and end up graduating from a CC. But yeah, any advice would help, thanks!</p>

<p>I have heard De Anza is</p>

<p>Mt. SAC .</p>

<p>^They are asking for a Bay Area one, 88888888</p>

<p>Establishing residency is no cake-walk. Check this page:</p>

<p>Legal</a> Residence Information - Office Of The Registrar</p>

<p>Be aware that living in California and going to a CC are NOT enough to establish residency.</p>

<p>To answer your direct question, however: the Foothill-De Anza colleges are widely considered the most challenging/"best" community colleges in Northern California. Diablo Valley College is also well regarded. </p>

<p>It is difficult to quantify which is the "best," however, as Berkeley, unlike UCLA, does not have a transfer agreement with ANY college, so you're technically on the same ground as everyone else in a CCC. There are some colleges, however, that are considered more capable of catering to the prospective university student, and those are your best bets.</p>

<p>ETA: I know Berkeley is actively recruiting applications/has Cal student ambassadors working to recruit from the following Bay Area CCs:</p>

<p>1) Chabot College, Hayward
2) City College of San Francisco
3) College of Alameda
4) Contra Costa College, San Pablo
5) Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill
6) Napa Valley College, Napa
7) Canada College, Redwood City
8) De Anza College, Cupertino
9) Solano College, Fairfield
10) Los Medanos College, Pittsburgh</p>

<p>Santa Monica College is always ranked #1 in transfer rates to UC's so I would look into SMC.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of your guys' answers. :)
Hey I found this chart when I was surfing online...
<a href="http://www.dvc.edu/international/pdfs/DVC%20No.%201%20in%20transfer%20to%20UC%20Berkeley_as%20of%20Nov%202008.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dvc.edu/international/pdfs/DVC%20No.%201%20in%20transfer%20to%20UC%20Berkeley_as%20of%20Nov%202008.pdf&lt;/a>
According to this, Diablo Valley College has by far the most transfers into Berkeley.</p>

<p>Its not because Berkeley takes more students from DVC, but because students from that area ALL want to go to Cal. If you look at SMC, it has the highest for UCLA because students in LA want to go to UCLA.
You have to still put forth a great amount of effort to get into Cal. Depending on your major, it maybe super competitive even with a 3.8-3.9 gpa. Also its not that simple to gain residency in California. Without residency, you are still considered an OOS student when applying to UC's.</p>

<p>Maybe this might explain why DVC has a high transfer rate dating back to 2000.</p>

<p>Prosecutors</a> allege grade scandal / Diablo Valley College students face conspiracy charges</p>

<p>I live in Santa Rosa, so I can speak up for the Santa Rosa Junior College (which appeared on the top 10 transfers list). The reason there aren't more transfers to Berkeley is probably mostly because they're aren't many more students who want to transfer to Berkeley, not because they aren't able to. I know a lot of people who have gone to the junior college, and all of them have been able to transfer where they wanted in the end (granted those with lower grades only wanted to transfer to a csu). </p>

<p>If you get a high gpa at any of the schools mentioned here I don't imagine transferring being very difficult, so you might want to look into the cities the junior colleges are in and which offer the most courses in your area over which have more transfers.</p>

<p>Okay thanks for the help.
Btw, I used to live in Santa Rosa, I love it there. I may go to the JC, not sure.</p>