California Resident, But Out-of-state UC Transfer, Confused

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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Background:
I am a Math-related major from a 4-Year University on the East Coast. I graduated from a California High School and am a California Resident. Currently sophomore, credits: 70+

My GPA is 3.8/4.0 and GPA for the major-specific classes is around 3.9/4.0. I am planning on transferring back to California via the UC System and have applied to various UC’s with my majors being Applied Math/Computational Mathematics.

Would I be considered an Out-of-state applicant?

I have tried calculating my odds for various scenarios using public data, but since they don’t provide the average applicant GPA/range it makes it a lot more difficult to estimate.

What are my odds in both scenarios (in state/oos)?

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If your permanent address is in California, you are a California resident. Make sure that that address is on your application. They can check. You also attended and graduated from a California high school, so it should not be an issue.

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Although you are a CA resident for tuition purposes, you are transferring from an OOS school which makes you a low priority transfer. You have a competitive GPA which helps your chances.

Best of luck.

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There are 2 aspects of residency according to Residency Requirements - Office of Undergraduate Admissions

  • residency for admission
  • residency for tuition

You seem ok for admission according to the link above since your parents live here and you graduated from a CA HS

Where it may be trickier is tuition. According to https://www.ucop.edu/residency/

The UC Residency Policy and Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) currently provide that students must be physically present within California for a year prior to the Residency Determination Date (RDD) and that absences of six weeks or more in a one-year period disqualify a student from receiving in-state status.

Similar information is given at https://registrar.berkeley.edu/tuition-fees-residency/residency-tuition-purposes/in-state-tuition-undergraduates

If you are dependent on a California-resident parent, both you and your parent must be in an eligible immigration status and satisfy the “Physical Presence” and “Intent to Remain in California” requirements.

I am not an expert on this, but if you have been attending school in-person this semester or plan to next semester then it seems you’d be OOS more than the six weeks allowed. Best to check with the Registrar’s Office at a UC, especially if you’ve been doing distance learning this semester but plan on attending in person during the spring. Failing to qualify for residency would mean another $30K in OOS tuition your junior year; to many families this is significant.

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