Hey guys im a highschool senior, an AP student with 3.5 gpa, that got rejected to like every UC. I decided to take the CC route and was wondering wht the best/easiest CC out there. I currently know of Santa Barbara city college,OCC, And santa monica college. Does anyone have any recommendations or tips because i found these schools based on transfer rates. I also want to go through TAG and need some info on that because ive been reading posts and ppl are stressed on Their TAG admissions when i thought it meant guarenteed admission. Im so stressed pls help 
From what I can recall, each UC has a feeder school (including Berkeley and UCLA).
UCI: Irvine Valley College/Saddleback Community College
UCLA: Santa Monica College
Edit: Attending these schools is NOT an automatic admission to whatever UC it’s associated with, but you do have a slight edge based on statistics
TAG is 100% guaranteed admission, but it’s up to you to meet AND fulfill the requirements. All of those kids who had their TAGs rescinded did not keep their end of the deal. They either failed a math course, forgot to take a planned/required course, or flat out omitted a crucial detail which would explain why their TAG was rescinded.
I was given 100% guaranteed admission to UCSB by meeting the requirements, and fulfilling my math course by the end of the Fall quarter.
If you can achieve at least a 3.5 GPA, you should be admitted to a UC. It may not be UCB or UCLA, but you will get into a UC somewhere.
I would attend whatever CC is closest to you because moving 100+ miles to a CC that’s known to send more students to UCLA is a waste of time and money.
I got into UCLA last year from Irvine Valley College. It’s 50+ miles away, but I still managed to be accepted.
Attending a CC isn’t anything to be embarrassed about either. I understand you’re upset because you were rejected, but look on the bright side. Not only do you save a crap ton of money, but you have a higher chance of being admitted into a UC and the one of your choice!
Lots of kids end up getting accepted to just UCR after graduating highschool, and most of them take it just because it’s a UC. If they waited 2 years, saved money by attending a CC, they probably would’ve been able to go to their dream schools like UCB, UCLA, UCSB, etc.
UCSD has like 5-10 schools that it accepts a transfer guarantee from in San Diego county. TAG is accepted from more schools. If you have your eyes on SD, and can maintain a 3.5, you should attend an SD community college that offers ulink and sign the agreement as soon as you get there. You can also tag into Irvine and Riverside and use TAP and honors to increase your chance at LA from a San Diego community college.
You should look around at community colleges in your area first, and use ASSIST.org to see what classes your CCC offers that can articulate to the UCs you choose. The more prereq classes you take, the more likely UCs will accept your transfer application. I’m assuming those colleges you listed have a high transfer rate because they offer more classes to fulfill prereqs, so hunt around and see what colleges nearby offer.
Regarding TAG, it has some strict rules in order for it to be accepted, but it shouldn’t be difficult to follow. You’re going to save a lot of money by taking your lower division classes at a CCC, so don’t feel bad! My high school GPA was also 3.53 and I was in the IB diploma program but got nowhere, but I’m currently in my first year at CCC, and while my social life is pretty dead, it’s what you make of it!
UCLA admitted only about 9-10 students from my CCC, myself included. It’s about the work you do, not your school. The main advantage that svhools like SMC has is that they offer better counseling and they have better knowledge of their local schools. They also offer more Prereqs for certain majors. But I agree with the previous poster who said that moving 100+ miles for CCC isn’t worth it. Do well in your classes, make sure you’re clear on all requirements for each school you’re interested in and in your major. Be aware of all deadlines. Your school matters way less than what you bring.
@yeheun , it doesn’t really make much difference where you go except maybe the lowest of the low ranked CCCs, only because, depending on major, they might not have enough of the required courses for your major, and some of the advisors might not be the best.
In terms of all the others, I agree with @burntcorpse, pick the one closest to you. Isolated stats are misleading. While there are feeder schools, the percentage of applicants vs admits from those feeders are eerily similar to numerous other CCCs. In fact, several CCCs from the Bay Area had a higher transfer rate to UCLA then did SMC, albeit way lower numbers. For instance, I’m saying this from memory, but SMC transferred about 588 to UCLA in 2014 but over 1100 were rejected. (I know 2/3 were rejected.) A school that transfers 10 students may have had 20 applicants, so that’s an admit rate of 50%.
I think you need to look at the CCCs around you, and go to assist and make sure their list of articulated courses for your major more or less matches, say, SMC or SBCC.
BTW, the one area where SBCC really excels is that you can have the full college experience, as you are immersed with UCSB students.
UCSD terminated it’s TAG program in 2014. UCLA doesn’t use TAG, but uses a somewhat similar program: TAP. “The UCLA Transfer Alliance Program (TAP) gives you the opportunity to enhance your ability to transfer to UCLA at the junior level from a California community college. Students are certified after completing the honors/scholars program at their community college and given priority consideration for admission to UCLA College of Letters and Science.” – taken from UCLA’s undergraduate admission pages. Note that “priority consideration” does not equate to “admission guaranteed.”
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Freshmen acceptances come out earlier than transfer acceptances, and are way tougher. He also might not have applied to merced.
@MaMoi77 That’s true, I don’t think that’s possible to be rejected by Merced. As in, I believe they have a program where if you’re rejected by all other UCs, they offer you admission. At least that’s what they did for me.
@nirvanemesis, yeah they do have that program. But I’m not sure how it works in terms of when they offer enrollment. They might wait till it all shakes out. You do have to be competitive, though, and depending on his major 3.5 isn’t all that great as a freshman. And Merced doesn’t accept everyone. I think it’s around 67%, although I’m just grabbing this from memory and could be wrong.
@burntcorpse Whoa, do you have a source of what you stated on post #1? I go to Saddleback and I’d like to know.
Are we doing this thread again?
@yeheun if your going to TAG or TAP it doesnt matter what CC you goto.
If you’re gonna U-Link it does
It does have impact if you want TAP for UCLA or Berkeley, plus there’s that other program, I forget the name, for under-financed students. I forget the acronym. Anyway, these three are only offered at certain CCCs.
I understand @glara11 but im just concerned with the prices/environment/teaching at this point
THE UC’s I applied to were UCI UCSD UCD UCSB and UCLA got rejected to every single one 
Thanks for the help so far guys i love reading ur guys comments and understand better