California Community Colleges with many AP Credits

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>Instead of a four year, I'm going to be attending a community college and transfer to a UC or an Ivy League (Cornell, Yale, UPenn). </p>

<p>High School (10-12): 3.67/3.94
SAT: 2120
Subject Tests:
US History (800)
Biology M (730)</p>

<p>Advanced Placement Exams (as of now, all passed)
SCIENCE
-Environmental Science*
-Biology
-Chemistry
-Physics I</p>

<p>SOCIAL SCIENCE
-United States History
-United States Government
-Comparative Government*
-Macroeconomics
-Microeconomics*
-Human Geography*
-Psychology*</p>

<p>ENGLISH
-English Language
-English Literature*</p>

<p>MATHEMATICS
-Calculus ab
-Statistics*</p>

<p>ART
-Art History*</p>

<p>As of now, I only know 6 of my AP scores as I've done them prior to Senior Year.</p>

<p><em>=self studied (3s on all self-studied *night before procrastination, lol</em>)</p>

<p>High School ECs
-Debate Captain (11, 12)
-Advanced Peer Counselor (11, 12)
-Jewish Student Union <em>Elected Chapter VP</em> (12)
-BBYO Chapter Elected Chapter Educator (11,12)
-JV Football (9,10)
-V Football (12)
-and many more cool, leadership stuff.</p>

<p>Reason for CCC instead of UC: Financial. Rejected from Berkeley. Can't see myself spending 144,000 on UCSB if worst comes to worst, I'll transfer there.</p>

<p>Basically, I know that the Ivies and USC look at High School grades and ECs/SATs when transferring. Am I solid high school wise?</p>

<p>Also, I want to be a Poli Sci major. Can I complete my 2 years at a CC in a year or less? I have a ton of APs, if it matters.</p>

2

<p>So you have passed all the APs you listed here ? </p>

<p>When you say CC are you talking about a institution that grants bachelor’s degrees ? </p>

<p>If you can get AP credit for all of those classes you will have most of what you need to complete your freshman/soph years. Im nut sure what you hope to get from a CC. Go to a 4 year school and get your degree in 2.5 years. </p>

3

<p>CC as in an associates degree granting 2 year college.</p>

<p>But with this many AP Credits, can’t I just take a few courses (Feminist Literature, Bio III, Calc II), get a 4.0, and transfer to Berkeley? (And safe thousands of dollars?)</p>

<p>Would three classes be enough to put me at Junior standing?</p>

4

<p>You have to finish 1 year. Berkeley doesnt do spring admissions. </p>

<p>Think of it this way. A 4 year degree for most majors involves about 2 years of core study. Most of that you have already in your APs. </p>

<p>The next 2 years is study in your major. </p>

<p>If you are at a CC you wont be able to work on your major (or will be very limited). </p>

<p>Go to a 4 year school and work on your degree. You can still apply to berkeley in November. If you get in next year, great, but if not you havent wasted a year. </p>

<p>My opinion. GL,. </p>

5

<p>I think I’d have a legitimate shot at Berkeley, USC, UCLA, and Cornell if I get a 4.0. I’d definitely get into at least one of them, right? Either way, I have 4 college-bound siblings. There’s no way my parents would pay $36,000 a year for UCSB. With a CC, I’ll save a ton of money and I could potentially graduate from Berkeley or USC!</p>

6

<p>

The people accepted at Ivies an other elite schools as transfer students typically would have been admitted as frosh but had some circumstance that prevented them from attending. Cal not taking you as a frosh is a barometer of your chances at these schools, IMHO. But you’ll never know if you don’t try. Hope it works out for you!</p>

7

<p>@mikemac‌, Berkeley doesn’t look at your HS records, though. My youthgroup’s advisor had a 3.5 HS GPA, went to a CC, got a 3.83, and got into Berkeley. They don’t look at pre-college stats at the UCs, so that doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>Anyway, what would the UCs think of a 4.0 in several electives and two real courses? (Bio II, Calc II, and a bunch of electives)? How about Ivy Leagues?</p>

8

<p>Most UC’s require 60 credits for you to transfer. Even with AP credit, it’s dubious you’d be allowed to transfer after only a year; you’d be wasting a lot of your time if you have that many AP credits and no classes to take to get you advanced in your core or major credits. Also, pay attention to prereqs, since not all community colleges have all prereqs so you’d need to juggle them all.
It’s almost impossible to transfer into Top 20 universities/LACs from community college. Most transfers there are “lateral” transfers, ie., students from good 4-year colleges.
If you plan to major in Poli sci, your classes wouldn’t be Bio II and Calc II but sophomore level history and poli sci classes + classes in humanities and social sciences. Calc II would be an elective and upper-level stats would be more useful.
See if there’s a Honors College at your CC and if you can get into it, it’ll help. See if they have a TAG with a UC (none for UCB or UCLA though).
Yours can be a good plan IF you can complete your prereqs in a year and transfer with the credits you need, but it’s only applicable to a UC, IF you’re sure they’ll let you transfer after a year, and if the community college offers the advanced classes you need.
Be aware that most transfers admitted to Cornell ARE NOT admitted to AS but to Agriculture (something like 9 admitted to AS for 350 admitted to Ag).</p>

9

<p>Seems you already made your decision. You are about to graduate HS.
Extremely doubtful you can transfer into an ivy from a CC.
As for the UC, if you got rejected the 1st time around to Berkley what makes you think you can get in the 2nd time around.</p>

10

<p>I could get into Berkeley second time around because I’ll get straight As at a CC. I’ve already taken two classes at my local CCC, and they were pretty easy.</p>

<p>I could tag into UC Santa Barbara, and transfer alliance into UC Los Angeles. You guys actually believe that Berkeley would reject a 3.9+ at a CC? I’ve seen a lot of people get in with a 3.7+!</p>

<p>So, I’d be taking Sophomore level history, foreign language, poli Sci, and humanities classes and then transfer? I should have approximately 50 credits entering a CC, so I just need to take these few classes? Doesn’t seem that bad. Why is my plan bad? It seems fantastic! Save money, and go to a UC!</p>

11

<p>Ivies are not going to give you a bunch of credits for APs. They will generally just let you skip to the next level if skipping is even involved. For instance, I notice at Brown that AP Chem is just a prerequisite to the Intro Chem course, you cannot get exempted from taking an intro course, AP is just not comprehensive enough. (If you don’t have it, you have to take a remedial no credit class (which I think you can do online.))</p>

<p>Talk to the transfer advisor when you get to the CC. Read everything available about transferring on ASSIST and the UC pages and your CC pages.</p>

12

<p>Lol. With those of you asking why I didn’t get into Berkeley first time around, look at my GPA. Haha</p>

<p>But yeah, anyway, so I just need around one year of classes (get straight As), and then transfer in? Doesn’t seem that bad! Since you apply during the fall, will I be applying fall of this year?!</p>

13

<p>With respect to your AP credit, check the transfer target schools on their AP policies, since they do vary. You may have to make sure that your combination of AP credit and CC courses fulfills the major preparation requirements for each school that you are targeting to transfer (see <a href=“http://www.assist.org”>http://www.assist.org</a> for the UCs).</p>

14

<p>Off assist, I’d just have to take… (for Berkeley)</p>

<p>-American History from the Civil War to Present
-Introduction to American Politics
-Introduction to Political Theory</p>

<p>I don’t need to take a year of math because I have AP Calc ab and Statistics.
English would be taken care of with AP English Lang/Lit.
I’ve taken 3 years of Language, so foreign would be out.</p>

<p>It doesn’t make sense that I’d have only three required classes, yet have to wait two years?
Should I (re)take a bunch of (easy) classes like:</p>

<p>-Macroeconomics
-Environmental Science</p>

<p>and other classes that I’ve already taken as AP?</p>

<p>There’s really no way I can not get a 4.0?</p>

<p>So, just in one year, I’d have something like 60 credits. What would I do with my second year?
It really looks like this is going to be my Freshman schedule…</p>

<p>(semester one)
-American History from Colonial to Civil War (got a 5 on the AP test…)
-Introduction to American Politics (took AP US Government)
-Introduction to Political Theory (took both AP Comp. and US govt)
-Environmental Science (took AP Environmental…)</p>

<p>(semester two)
-American History from Civil War to Present (again with the 5)
-Macroeconomics (took AP Macroeconomics)
-Political Science II (Isn’t required… just running out of classes)
-Political Theory II (isn’t even required… I just don’t know what I could take…)</p>

<p>Actually though, if I don’t get a 4.0, that’d be sad, given that I’ve practically already taken all of the required classes… I’d be off the hook with English, Math, and foreign Language.</p>

<p>What do I do with my second year?
Would Berkeley be able to see that I’ve already basically “taken” these classes? lol</p>

15

<p>If you are looking at other UCs besides Berkeley, look up what they require.</p>

<p>Of course, you will likely want to complete IGETC or each campus’ breadth requirements.</p>

<p>Cornell, Yale, and Penn may each have its own requirements for the political science major and breadth requirements. Look them up and then try to figure out what CC courses cover the needed courses at each.</p>

<p>Yes, if you can get to 60 semester units (may be 64 at some non-UC/CSU schools, which may also give different numbers of credit units for AP scores than UC/CSU/CC) and cover all of the political science preparation and breadth courses for all of the schools in one year, applying to transfer after the first year is certainly possible. Don’t bother wasting time retaking AP credit, unless it is for a requirement at a school that does not accept AP credit for the requirement.</p>

16

<p>1st you need IGETC certification for Berkeley or UCLA. Check your local CC for what credits they’ll give you for your AP tests.</p>

<p>2nd you will need 60 units. For this you need to check Berkeley or UCLA or w/e and see what credits they’ll give you for your tests.</p>

<p>3rd make sure you have the min admissions req done. It’s tricky when you are using AP units because the UCs or your CC may grant you subject units but you may not meet the admissions requirement. For instance "English Literature: Score of 4 satisfies first half of Reading and Composition requirement; score of 5 satisfies entire Reading and Composition requirement.</p>

<p>Language: Score of 4 or 5 satisfies first half of Reading and Composition requirement."</p>

<p><a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;

<p>So if you didn’t get a 5 on English you will need to retake english at CC to meet the min. requirements. </p>

17

<p>Because I got a 5 on Lang, I’m assuming that I got a 5 on Literature. English is my forte. I looked at breadth requirements and basically, I have math done, Language other than English done, Physical and Biological Science (w/lab) done, Arts and Humanities is done, and Social and Behavioral Sciences is done. So again, I’d be done with Breadth before I even step on a CC campus, and I’ll have my Major Requirements done in one year.</p>

<p>Should I/Do I apply to the UCs in my first year? If not, what do I do my second years?</p>

18

<p>By the way, thank you, everyone, for all of your help. I would be so lost in my academic path if it wasn’t for your assistance!!</p>

19

<p>Basically, taking all of your advices this would be my course load for one year? Note, only the first three courses under “Semester One” are required for admission. I’d already have over 60 credits with just these three. The rest of my courses are just me not being bored.</p>

<p>Semester 1
-American History (Colonial to Civil War) <em>ive taken apush</em>
-Introduction to American Politics <em>ive taken ap us govt.</em>
-Introduction to Political Theory
-Sociology</p>

<p>Semester 2
-American History (Civil War to Present)
-American Politics II
-Political Theory II
-Sociology II</p>

20

<p>First, you’d be taking 5 college classes per semester (or 3-4 per quarter). You can’t just take the basic minimum. Since the UCs you’re interested in don’t have TAG, the minimum is just what you need to be considered but to be selected you need to prove you’re qualified academically but also specifically for the major you’re interested in, otherwise you may be admitted to another major '(this happens a lot). You need to show a decent amount of “advanced” classes in your future major (because you’ll start right away as a junior).
The issue is that, indeed, if you can’t apply after your first year (or if you don’t get in your first year, which may well be the case since you won’t have a CC transcript yet), you’ll be stuck wasting time your second year.
Also, choose a CC that has a proven track record of sending students to UC’s, such as SBCC, DeAnza, DiabloValley, etc.</p>