<p>I'm an international student from Singapore. Finished my A levels but did horribly. Probably something like a 2.8 if converted to american GPA. I also took SAT reasoning test and got 780CR, 750Maths, 620Writing. </p>
<p>I'm looking to transfer to any of the ivy leagues/tier 1 colleges(wharton or columbia COLLEGE especially) or liberal arts college(banard, amherst, wesleyan) or UCBerkeley hass or NYU Stern. I intend to major in international biz if I do get into an undergrad biz school, but if not, I'm interested in political science and applied econs. Which community colleges should I look at that would help me with this? I'm looking at academics, honour programs and the transfer services and success rate of the previous colleges students in transferring to the schools i mentioned above or their equivalent. (also looking at things like ECs, and how easy it is to make friends and have a social life, sort of anyway)</p>
<p>So far, I've been recommended a few colleges. Santa Monica College, Santa Barbara, Mt. SAC in Cali. BMCC, SUNY Rockland in NY. If you know of other great CC, please let me know why you think they're great as well! I've went to the local US Education Info Centre and was advised that I should stay away from Cali because the state is bankrupt now and there are fund cuts all around, I might not get classes and I might take longer than 2 years to get transfered into a UC.(International so everything is more expensive for me, money is tight for 4 years as it is already)</p>
<p>Another dilemma is that I was advised that I should probably go to the same state that I intend to go for my 3rd and 4th years. Most of the colleges I'm looking at are in NY(Columbia, NYU Stern, Banard,) but they're also much harder to get into because they don't have any agreements with them. I MUCH prefer the UCs to the SUNYs/CUNYs. (But if I can't be guaranteed a place in UC...)</p>
<p>Well, i think you have to be realistic about getting into ivy leagues and top privates. Most accept a VERY SMALL number of community transfer applicants. If you don’t get into one of them, what would you do next ? All California community colleges have agreements with at least some of the UC’s. Most have the TAG program which is a Transfer Admission Guarantee (3.0 GPA and 60 units) with UCM/UCR/UCI/UCSD/UCSC/UCD/UCSB and TAP - Transfer Alliance Program for UCLA or CAL or both. I wouldn’t worry too much about getting classes - I didn’t get priority registration (at sbcc) but I got all the classes I wanted, but I have to take a couple night classes. </p>
<p>If you enter the honors program or TAP you get priority registration before the new students so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. As for CA vs. NY it really depends on what you want. Would you be happy atteneding a UC ? If you would, then I would just stay in CA. If you only want a private college you’re probably better of in NY. There’s also things like expenses, weather, local life, etc. BUT you also have to realize that tuition for UC’s is similar to a private school. </p>
<p>Personally, I decided to go to santa barbara city college over Santa Monica because it has a better social envirment. Most CC’s are dead, but I felt SBCC had an actual student life outside of school. </p>
<p>You should also know that some schools have already started class registration so you might not get any classes… I signed up for my classes last week and a lot of them are filled already.</p>
<p>Which is why I’m so torn. I completely understand that there’s probably too many CC transfers who are going to be more brilliant for too little spaces. I would definitely go for a UC(what about USC?) than a SUNY to be completely honest. Does the TAP for CAL extend to the Haas school of business also? what are the actual chances of someone getting into Haas from a CC?</p>
<p>@tcbb - no not fall 2010. summer registration HAS started already for most CCs but is not over. so you can still apply, register, and if classes are full try to add them. it will be frustrating but well worth it in the end. </p>
<p>yes it is true that there are limited spaces and LOTS of CC students, BUT that doesnt mean its impossible to get in. </p>
<p>ill start with CAL first since you seem to be interested in it. HAAS does apply to TAP. TAP covers all of CAL’s schools. chances of someone getting into CAL with TAP are fairly high. i say this because usually people who apply to cal and have tap are the following: 3.8 GPA +, lots of ECs, Honors graduate, PRES/VP of something, volunteer/mentor/internship.</p>
<p>if you have those, usually you are accepted. did u check the UC transfer thread? you can ask for HAAS students stats, and im almost 100 percent sure they will look like mine.</p>
<p>secondly, USC is a whole different story. USC only requires a minimum of 30 units to transfer (they want your money :D) USCs GE curriculum is also different from UCs. </p>
<p>that website will tell you what you need.
USC marshall school of business is similar competition wise. you have to be outstanding. the difference b/t UC’s and USC is that USC is a private; therefore, they can take in much more students, actually get to know you by reading your personal statement, and they are much more expensive. youll find that USC is not always based on stats but on character. someone got accepted to USC with a 2.67 GPA, but based on his/her essay and reasoning, that individual was accepted.</p>
<p>whereever you choose to go, mt sac/SMC are both great colleges. i would personally go to SMC because there is lot less hills. mtsac is a work out just walking aroudn campus haha</p>
<p>yes, registration for fall 2010 has opened for a month already at my school.</p>
<p>HAAS is completely different than the college of letters and science (or whatever its called). HAAS is more difficult to get into and most people who end up being rejected major in econ instead. HAAS does not follow IGETC courses so if you don’t end up in HAAS you could be at a disadvantage for other majors (i think?). Here;s the articulation agreement</p>
<p>Does the TAG program extend to internationals as well or only cali state residents? (on the rockland website, it says “An opportunity to continue full-time study at a four-year SUNY college is guaranteed to all New York State residents who transfer directly from Rockland Community College with an Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) degree. Although this program assures admission to a four-year SUNY college, it does not guarantee admission to a specific college or curriculum.”</p>
<p>I am not sure if you need citizenship or not, but if you are here on student visa, and stay for a year I think you m ight be able to attain citizenship.</p>
<p>NO that is not true, it is nearly impossible to gain reisdency (for tuition) unless you can prove you plan to be a permanent resident and can prove financial independece. ie. a student visa is not a permanent resident regardless of how long you stay in CA. </p>
<p>As for TAG being open only to residents, I’m not 100% sure. I put the link at the bottom and I don’t see anything about residency, but regardless, a 3.5 gpa will pretty much get you in at any UC except CAL and UCLA for MOST majors. If you are aiming for CAL/UCLA you should be looking at a 3.8-ish depending on your major. (and yes GPA is the most important thing by far)</p>
<p>yea andrew is right about GPA getting you anywhere. i actually have a friend from singapore and he is going to cal for econ. he had a 4.0 GPA, honors, and few other things</p>
<p>as for international policies, you should personally go to the college you attend to go to and ask someone there. im sure none of us want to, or intentionally want to, give you any wrong information. so always confirm it for yourself, dont take it word of mouth.</p>
<p>cuz most of us are not international students, so its different.
and@run2fly is wrong. its not that easy to get residency, unfortunately :(</p>
<p>and tcbb, you are aware that your tuition costs are gonna be really high right?
i hope you are aiming for USC, cuz you might be paying more for UCs or equal.
atleast USC can try to give you Fin Aid, but i dont think they can give you much, but def more than UCs are allowed to.</p>
<p>Talk is cheap but I’m going to aim to get a 4.0 GPA and join the honors program and participate in some ECs. I was really set on going to SMC or SBCC then Dainese made Mt. SAC to be really good and I checked and it was great. I’ve got more friends there, there’s a larger Singapore community at the CCC than at Rockland CC (RCC is pretty small. I went to rate my profs. there’s only 34 profs there? Not saying that that’s all there is but compared to CCCs profs which number in the high hundreds, low 1000s…) and CAL does have a good biz school USC is pretty sweet too…</p>
<p>But I can’t get over the nagging feeling that I might end up doing 3years of community college instead of 2 because of all the budget cuts, waiting lists and I’m pretty unsure if the UCs would take away the TAGs and TAPs because of budget cuts.</p>
<p>Hello. I have been attending California Community Colleges for three years now. Due to the previous budget cut towards public education, many classes are cut down. The California state governor, Arnold S., has deducted 21.5 billion dollars for the public education. I usually get to register before most students do and yet, not much classes are open. I’m not sure how NY is but I’d suggest researching into NY’s community college and their state budgets.</p>
<p>Ivy leagues universities accept very small number of students especially transfer. I suggest you to work on your GPA. You must have good essays as well.</p>
<p>@simon - budget cuts are bad in CA, we are all aware of it. from what i hear, students at PCC and SMC are having a much easier time getting classes than those attending mtsac. what do you want to know about the budget cuts? it does make classes harder to get but i really dont think it would set you back a full year. maybe 1 semester at the most, but then again the economy isnt getting any better :(</p>
<p>@tcbb - dont wrry, you wont do 3 years. my friend from singapore got a 4.0 and is going to UCB for economics and he did it in 1.5 years. be as determined as he is and you can as well :)</p>
<p>1) budget cuts are only an issue if you allow it to become an issue.
there are many students at ccc who enroll late, or don’t have a plan, and then are caught by the budget cuts. the fact that you have to take at least take 60 units over the course of 2 years at a jc, should not affect you as you should technically be able to find classes to enroll during the first term you are there, even if it means having to petition the first day of class. after the first term, because you hopefully will be a top student at your CC, you will probably end up receiving priority enrollment during future semesters.
2) don’t get caught up with the name of the community college. as long as it has an articulation agreement between it and the particular uc you want and the classes, it shouldn’t be an issue provided you have the requirements fulfilled and a high enough gpa.
3)if you’re looking to come to the So Cal area, also check out the LA Community College District. LACCD has multiple community colleges which you can cross enroll into during the same term. Depending on where you live, you could technically drive or take public transportation to two or three if you can’t enroll the classes you need(that way there’s no excuse for the so called “budget cut”). By attending two or three schools, you will have much more class options to pick from, including the possibility of taking online classes to some courses.
4) Ivy league acceptance rates for transfers is a lot a lot lower than regular freshmen admissions. So that 6-20 percent acceptance rate you might normally see for freshman will probably be 0-5 percent acceptance rate for transfer applicants. On top of this, these schools also take into consideration your high school record, not just your college record. There are some “top” schools that don’t look at your high school record, but it’s very very hard to find one that doesn’t.</p>
<p>PS, don’t get so caught up on attending so and so top business school. If you plan on living in the US, generally speaking the best business/econ schools in the regional area, (ie USC/UCLA for LA Area, Berkeley for Bay area, NYU for NYC, and so on and so on) will generally be recruited by top companies in that regional area.</p>