I am currently a freshman attending an out of state university and I am looking to transfer back into my home state (California). The out of state tuition is too much to handle and the financial aid given does not really help at all. I was thinking about transferring to a UC (preferably UCSB or UCSD), but I hear that community college students get priority over those already in a four-year. I was considering finishing two years here and then transferring, but now I feel like I should drop out and attend community college after this year. My friends tell me I should be fine because I am a Linguistics major with a current gpa of 3.85, but I honestly don’t know if I should risk it. I can’t get stuck here. What should I do? Should I drop out after this year and attend community college? Or should I be fine and just finish out the two years here? I was planning on applying to UCSC, UCSB, UCSD, and UCD.
California Community college transfer applicants do get priority over UC to UC transfers, CSU to UC transfers, 4 year in-state privates and finally OOS transfers (lowest priority).
If costs are an issue, I would finish off your Freshman year at your current college and start taking courses at a California community college in the summer.
6 UC campuses offer TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee) which guarantees admission to one of the 6 participating campuses (UCSB is one but not UCSD) if you meet all the course and GPA requirements. You have to be attending a California CC to TAG to the UC’s.
The TAG application needs to be submitted in September (year prior to matriculation).
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/_assets/files/transfer-requirements/tag-matrix.pdf
Best of luck.