Hi, I was wondering if you could stay 3 years after transferring to UCLA? So basically I start at UCLA this fall as a Junior, but I am wondering if instead of 2 years, do they allow you to stay 3?
There is a limitation in units which includes your cc transferable units. I do not know what the limit is, but if you exceed that limit, you can be kicked out.
I believe the maximum # of units is 216 but you are allowed to exceed this limit if you can complete your degree in 4 years. You would have to petition to exceed the unit cap. UCLA does not want you staying any longer than necessary. Also, financial aid might be an issue if you exceed more than 2 years post transfer.
http://newstudents.ucla.edu/studyarea/ says that the limit is 208 to 216 quarter units, depending on the division. Looks like 216 is most common, but check whichever division you transfer into. Note that 180 units is the minimum to complete a bachelor’s degree.
If you transfer with the minimum of 90 units, 216 units gives you 126 units before you reach the limit. Since a normal course load per quarter is 15 units, this is 8.4 quarters’ worth of normal course loads. If you transfer with the maximum of 105 units, you have 111 units, or 7.4 quarters of normal course loads.
Regarding financial aid, since it may come from varying sources and programs, the varying sources and programs may have different limits. It looks like the overall maximum limit is 150% of published length of program in terms of enrolled terms and units attempted (presumably including any terms that you received financial aid at your prior college), but some financial aid sources and programs have lower limits. See https://www.financialaid.ucla.edu/Portals/84/publications/2020-2021/FA_Handbook.pdf .
If you are bringing a substantial number of AP units then you can stay longer. UC policy says
So AP credit is like magic credit. You can use it towards earning enough units to graduate if you want, but you are not required to use them that way.accidental double post
But be sure to take into account the UC policy of removing duplicate credit if you have taken any college courses that cover similar material as what an AP score represents (e.g. taking calculus 1 after AP calculus).
If you’re a transfer student from a community college, the most units you can enter UCLA with is 105 quarter units (equivalent to 70 semester units). So what that means is that if you completed 125 quarter units at your CC, then you’ll get “credit” for everything you took that’s transferable but the number of units that will post on your UCLA record is 105.
So with the 216 unit limit, you’ll actually be able to take up to 111 units at UCLA if you came in with 105 or more units, so if you stay 3 years and don’t exceed that, then I think you’re still ok.
I’m a bit older, but I stayed 3 years. However, I did have to petition for extra units and had to be pretty strategic about my course load and basically sloughing off AP credits. Study abroad also took up much of a year and many of those units just weren’t really counted toward anything if I recall. But yes, some transfers do 3 years.