Community College vs. Gap Year vs. 4 yr. University vs. Vocational School

[ucbalumnus]

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@juillet

I see a lot of people advising HS seniors taking a gap year “Don’t take ANY classes!” with the threat that they will surely lose their freshman applicant status. That’s not true! The vast majority of colleges only consider a student a transfer applicant if they have a certain number of college-level credits taken after high school graduation. That number is usually 24-30 (which is about 8-10 courses), which is equivalent to about a full-time year of college. At some colleges, I’ve seen it be about 12-15, but I’ve never seen one less than that.

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<p>University of California: “You are a transfer student if you enrolled in a regular session at a college or university after high school. (Summer sessions don’t count.)” <a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>California State University: “The California State University considers you an undergraduate transfer student if you have completed coursework at any community college, college or university in the first regular school term following your high school graduation.” <a href=“http://www.calstate.edu/transfer/”>http://www.calstate.edu/transfer/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;