CSU-UC or CSU-CC-UC Dillema

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

Hello,

I’m currently a freshman computer science major at CSUN and want to transfer to a UC (UCB, UCLA or UCI to be exact). Would I have a better chance of getting in if I go to a CC with a TAG program my sophomore year? Or should I stay at my CSU?

The way I see it, since I am local, if I don’t get into a UC I can easily transfer back to CSUN, but if I don’t go to a CC then I may never have a chance of getting into a UC. It is going to require a lot of convincing in regards to my parents since they are both CSUN alums, but I have dreamed of attending a UC since I started high school, but I just didn’t have the grades at the time. I just want to make sure my logic isn’t flawed. Is there any reason to stay at CSUN my sophomore year if my goal is to get into one of the UC’s listed above?

Thanks for your time.

2

UCs give priority to CCC transfer students over other students. However UCB and ULCA do not participate in the TAG program. Irvine does participate in TAG, and I do not think CS is one of the currently excluded majors.

3

Sorry for being unclear. The CC I would attend has an honors program that feeds into UCLA as seen here: http://www.piercecollege.edu/offices/honors/

4

or would it be better to do this program: http://lavc.edu/tap/index.aspx

Is TAP better than TAG?

And I realized Pomona college is on there, which is where my cousin goes. It is hard to believe that a college like Pomona, which is basically as good as Stanford, would have a TAP agreement.

What do you guys think?

5

You are correct that you can (currently) transfer back to CSUN, with minimal risk due to comp sci not being impacted. That said, assuming cost is not a significant factor, I think you need to decide which is more important to you: your major or the school you attend.

If the former, your probably better off staying at CSUN and attempting to transfer into a UC directly. The major is not as impacted in CSUN and you won’t have to deal with the headache of getting the necessary Comp Sci prerequisites at a CC.

On the other hand, If you value attending a UC over being a computer science major then the risk of an extended stay at a CC and / or eventually transferring in as a non-comp sci major seams manageable.

Also while Pomona does give TAP “consideration”… past admissions results only average around 18-20 transfers per year with the majority of them coming from other small LACs. TAP consideration for Pomona (or any of the 5C’s) is a very small piece of the puzzle and one that, logistically, shouldn’t even be factored into your decision of whether to go to a CC or not.

6

@SDGoldenBear Thanks for the info. I am curious as to why you say that I would have to transfer into a UC as a non-comp sci major. I am only interested in going to a UC if I would be studying computer science. Are comp sci majors ineligible for the TAG/TAP program?

Thanks again.

7

My apologies. I didn’t realize the TAG program is only for the college of letters and science. But Community College transfers not in the TAG program still get priority right? They just aren’t guaranteed admission.

8

As long as budget isn’t a big concern, I’d suggest you stay put, do your best, really engage in the campus environment. If you still want to transfer, apply as a Jr from Northridge. Contrary to much of what you read, people can and do transfer from CSUs to UCs every year. The required courses and GPA threshold are about the same as transfering in from a CC. Select the CSU radio button on the Transfer by Year and Transfer by GPA tabs on this UC reporting tool to see for yourself.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school

At this point, you have to take the classes and earn the GPA to be a competitive transfer applicant. CS is a very difficult curriculum just about everywhere. If you come up a little short of the 3.5+ GPA you’ll need to transfer to UCI (significanrtly higher for UCB and UCLA, you’ll still be at Northridge. A solid school.

Good luck

9

@NCalRent Thanks for the input. I’ll probably take your advice.

10

@nobelcollegekid: The only issue I see about staying at CSUN is that you will not be able to use the TAG program for any of the UC’s. You need to have 30 semester/45 quarter units taken at a California CCC to be eligible for TAG and prior to applying. Just something to consider.

Good Luck.

11

@Gumbymom Yea, the problem is that I would only be eligible for the TAG program with UCI, since my major is computer science. I don’t find it logical to transfer to a CC just for one school. I will probably try to transfer to other colleges outside of the UC’s anyway so it’s not like I’m screwed if I don’t get into any UC’s. I was just concerned about being at a major disadvantage since I’m not at a CC. Now I’ve realized that I’m really only at a disadvantage for UCI.

In case any of you care. The reason I want to transfer is mainly because I wish to go to grad school and I want to have a real college experience. Currently, I am living at home since I am a local and I am pretty depressed and I don’t really fit in with my school (First world problems, I know). I got into some great schools with great computer science programs (Harvey Mudd and USC to name two) but I just couldn’t afford it. However, I can swallow two years of loans, but I just couldn’t do four. I’m hopeful for that future and if I don’t get in anywhere I guess it isn’t the end of the world.

Thanks.

12

I will post a link that you can use to look up by school, the # of transfer applicants and # admits to the UC’s by year.

For 2015-2016, there were 57 applicants from CSUN and 6 admits.
If you look up a local CCC like Pierce College, there were 514 applicants and 339 admitted.

http://universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school

Just something to think about.

Good Luck and thank you for the explanation which was not needed but it shows that you have a good head on your shoulders and will succeed where ever you end up.

13

@Gumbymom Thank you for this. It is troubling that nobody has successfully transferred to UC Berkeley since I was born. Which makes my decision more difficult.

14

I am not trying to be an ass but, UCB accepted just 47 CS transfers last year from all sources, that’s 7% of applicants. That is more selective than MIT’s freshman admission.

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major

Your odds of transferring into UCB for CS are really long, no matter where you study freshman and sophomore year. There simply aren’t many seats to be had. A 4.0 and killer ECs from Northride still might not do the trick - but, that is also true of any CC in the land.

If you were interested in UCSC or a more accessible school, switching to a CC for TAG might make sense but, it sounds like that’s beneath you.

All that said, you are at a very good school, stop pining for what might have been and make the most of the opportunity you’ve earned.

Good luck

15

@NCalRent Thanks for the most ignorant post ever.

Did I say that UCB was the only school I was interested in? No, I named others. Particularly UCI, who accepts a ton of transfers and 95% of them are from CC’s.

What’s wrong with trying to improve my situation? Again, the only reason I chose CSUN was for financial reasons. Is it a long shot for UCB? Yes. I realize my life isn’t over if I don’t get in. Which is something you would have known if you had bothered to read my post. However, there is no question that I have a better chance at getting into any UC if I attend a CC. By looking at the data linked by Gumbymom, it appears that applying as a transfer from CSUN is a disadvantage. That is where I am making my decision from.

16

Your immediately preceding post expresses only your concern about UCB - anyhow…

The internet is a great place for anonymity but, just so you understand my perspective; I am a working professional with an AA from a CC and a BS and MBA from CSUs and 2 kids, one on track to graduate from a CSU in 4 years this spring and another applying to colleges as a HS Sr now. I have hired lots of people over the years with the skills you are trying to build now and am pretty tuned in to the job market and college admissions.

I am suggesting that, by switching to a CC, you are likely to delay your graduation, and risk not being able to transfer anywhere better than you are. Time out of the work-force, especially with a CS degree is really expensive. (I am not making this up, a classmate of my son’s is interning at Google for something like $9k a month) A year of tuition/room/board + lost earnings could reach $150k+ so, it is no joke.

CS at Irvine is also really competitive with a transfer admit rate around 30% about 325 acceptances and a 25/75 GPA range of 3.5 to 3.8. That floor is kind of set by the TAG applicants. So, if you are confident you can earn the 3.5, take the courses and meet the timelines and units earned at a CCC requirement, without delaying your graduation then perhaps it would be an advantage. I think you’ll find it would be a pretty big detour, even if you leave next semester. (you need 30 CCC units to apply to the TAG program) http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/tag-matrix.pdf -

One other thing about TAG is, they can exclude majors, as UCI recently did with Business. Will CS, their highest GPA threshold be next? will they raise the threshold to 3.6? Who knows…

My son’s friends relate that it is really difficult to maintain a 3.5 in a CS curriculum at any school (he has friends studying CS at our local CC, UCSD, CPSLO and a host CSUs up and down the state.that he stays in contact with). I don’t know your capabilities and work ethic but, for most it is a tall order.

If you look at the tool linked above, you’ll see that just 27 students applied to transfer from CSUN to UCI last year (not statistically significant). The average GPA was 3.4 and who knows what the distribution was - no wonder just 5 were admitted. If you look at the average transfer GPA from CCs, you’ll see 3.5 is a pretty consistent threshold across most higher volume CCs. (CS is, of course more selective so, a 3.6 may be required) - Also keep in mind, ECs and essays are evaluated for non TAG transfers. A non-TAG 3.6 from a CC will get the same consideration as one from a CSU.

Can that be you? I don’t know…

I’d also note that UCSC has a much more relaxed transfer standard (Tag and non-tag) and has an outstanding CS program that’s heavily recruited in the Valley. It may be worth a look.

I do wish you luck regardless of the path you choose.

17

There are some ignorant posters on CollegeConfidential, but @NCalRent is not one of them.

@nobelcollegekid, there is nothing wrong with trying to improve your situation. I just understand @NCalRent’s rationale in that he/she just wants you to be aware that there is a i* high probability of you just spinning your wheels. (Especially if you are adamant on being a computer science major.)

You probably already know that Cal and UCLA are crazy hard. (Berkeley had 47 L&S CS admits last year and UCLA had 31.) I wont break that down further, but the point of contention seems to be centered around UCI.

UCI had 326 ICS CS admits last year.

Okay. Good numbers at first, but only 133 of those admits eventually enrolled. (A red flag in itself, but more on that later.)

Delving even deeper into the raw numbers show that of those that completed the matriculation process:

Only 1 ICS-CS enrollee at UCI came from Pierce CC last year.
From the last five years, only 7 ICS-CS enrollees at UCI came from Piece CC in total.

Even if you take the other nearby community colleges…

The College of the Canyons has sourced only 6 ICS-CS enrolees at UCI in the last five years.
Moorpark CC (a well known CS feeder school) has only 5 ICS-CS enrolees at UCI in the last five years.
Only 2 new ICS-CS enrollees at UCI came from LA Valley CC in the last five years.
There have been no UCI ICS-CS enrollees from LA Mission CC in the last five years.

Even the super large CCCs don’t fare well:

Santa Monica CC sent only 7 ICS-CS enrolees to UCI last year and only 33 total in the last five years
Pasadena CC sent 12 ICS-CS enrollees to UCI last year but also only 20 total in the last five years.

Now back to that low yield rate for such a competitive and popular major…why aren’t those students attending UCI despite getting in?

There are multiple explanations for this phenomenon but the most common ones thrown out in the professional industry are that:

  1. The difference between a CS degree from UCI and a cheaper comparable school (CSUN for instance) is relatively small a few years down the road.

  2. A lot of admitted CS transfers find out late that that it’s unlikely for them to finish the CS curriculum at UCI within a two year time-frame and opt to spend an additional year at a CC or transferring to a CSU versus attending UCI for more than the initially expected 2 years.

  3. They got into UCSD/UCSB/Davis; which, in your scenario, looks like it reiterates back to point #1.

I have to ask again: which is more important to you, being a CS major or finishing your undergrad at a UC?

If the former, then it’s definitely more conducive to stay at CSUN and attempt to directly transfer from there.

(Plus the UCs are still an option for Grad School should transfer admissions be unfavorable to you.)

18

Thank you for the responses.

What about this scenario?

What if I take an academic leave of absence from CSUN as defined here: http://catalog.csun.edu/archive/2015/policies/academic-leave-leave-of-absence-undergraduate-policy/index.html

And enroll in a CC instead? I would take all the classes I would have taken anyway, just at a CC instead of CSUN. If I don’t get into another college (again, I am open minded about what college to attend, I just want a college experience with a decent CS program) I get to stay at CSUN. I don’t really see any risk in doing that since I have a back-up school already in place.

19

Other than not paying CSU tuition, I don’t understand how that is any better than taking the courses at CSUN.

You note you are looking for a college experience and a decent CS program - that’s what you have now. All you need to engage in the campus, join clubs, pledge a frat, go to campus events and hang out on campus - you’ll find less of that at most CCs as most students view them as transitory. As a 4 year student at a single campus, you have a chance to get multi-year internships, multiple leadership roles in clubs, etc. That will make the place feel like home and can really set you apart in the job market. If you attend 3 schools in 4 years, you simply won’t have time to set down the roots needed for the classic college experience.

20

@NCalRent a large part of the college experience for me is living in dorms and not having to commute to school every day.

And while CSUN’s CS program may be good, it just isn’t challenging enough for me. I am often bored and have started to skip class. I feel like I’m not learning anything (I’ve been self-studying languages since I was 13). There is no question that they are dumbing down the curriculum in CS because of the high fail rate. I see where you are coming from, but CSUN just isn’t for me despite it being a good school.