hi, so this is my first post on collegeconfidential, as a college bound senior…
with the options stated on the thread title. CPSLO, UCM or just CC.
i’m aiming to transfer out - preferably as a sophomore, but most likely as junior.
target schools are top notch ones - ivies, berkeley, stanford, and whatnots.
yes, i’m dreaming big, but who knows what will happen in the next one or two years, i might love my college and decide to stay.
for now i just want to get some reasonable suggestions for an option from which i’d have a better chance to transfer out to top notch schools. i know it may be a better option to transfer to UCB from a california CC, but UC isn’t my only option.
CPSLO is pretty prestigious, so a good coursework there may impress the admissions more than it would at a CC; UCM because of its infancy and great opportunities to be a part of major development (i.e. clubs); CC because of tuition, etc etc… i see good reasons for all three options.
i’d like some good suggestions. thanks!
Clearly you’re not happy with the schools that you have been accepted to. Go to the place that is affordable and where you can do well – it doesn’t matter where you go as long as you maintain a good GPA.
haha, i’m already in love with the vibe of san luis obispo campus, even though i haven’t visited, i know alumnae who went there. it’s got to do with my life challenge ethics, not necessarily because i’m unhappy.
Well then. if Cal Poly is affordable, go there. However, the odds of you transferring out and going to a more elite institution are rare, so you might be looking at spending all four years at Cal Poly.
You sound ambitious but I think it’s easier to transfer from CC to UCB. My daughters friend got 4.0 from UCSB and was rejected from UCB last year when he applied to transfer. This is a kid who got into UCLA and Wash U freshman year but he picked UCSB.
CC to Berkeley/ UCLA is reasonable, CC to places like Harvard, Stanford, etc is not. The top schools often accept less than 1% of transfers, and those students are remarkably accomplished. One poster last year was accepted to Stanford. He was a military veteran with a perfect GPA from a community college who had a host of other accomplishments. Are you a military veteran with a host of amazing accomplishments? No? Then you probably would be rejected by the top schools.
Cal Poly SLO is excellent in a few areas, others not so much. Personally I would choose between SLO and CC but with the caveat that you shouldn’t choose based on the tiny chance of getting accepted as a transfer.
@TheDidactic @DrGoogle @whenhen thank you all for reasonable advices. i don’t consider my ambition practical myself, so looking out for all four years i’d stay at cal poly.
i’m gonna bump on this later on so i can have more opinions and advices to consider.
Pick SLO and consider a more “elite” Grad school.
Is there any way you can visit the campuses? It is hard to compare w/o seeing them. CPSLO is a higher ranked school than UCM and at much less cost. For many this is there top choice school and they would be envious that you got in. Try to visit!
Did you know there is a backdoor to top school like Stanford? But that’s another topic. Do well at Cal Poly SLO and the door is wide open.
@DrGoogle what is the back door to Stanford besides enrolling in one of its full pay masters programs?
I think you can take up to 18 units without being admitted to the program and if you get mostly As you could apply to the master program easily. Master programs are the cash cows for Stanford. Tons of companies are paying its employees to take technical courses.
Ok but that’s not relevant for the OP, who’s a prospective undergraduate. I thought you were referring to something along the lines of Oxford of Emory, or Harvard Extension.
When hen, I thought we have moved on to discuss elite graduate school?
If I may express my preference, can I have more information about undergrad transfer. I still love being informed about graduate programs though.
It’s very hard to transfer to top programs for undergraduate. The UCs have better odds for transfers .
I do recognize that, and I take your post as advice, but still, if there’s more information I could have access to that’d be great. Besides it shouldn’t hurt too much to have good attempts!
It is very difficult to transfer between UC’s. If you started at UCM you would probably not be able to transfer to UCB or ULA.
@takeitallin great, that corresponds to what Dr Google said about the ucsb applicant to ucb! In many ways slo seems to be the ideal option…