<p>Re: the California system. It’s a tiered system, with the UCs meant to take the highest 12 percent of grads (although it may be more like 10 percent). Among the UCs there are different levels of prestige and difficulty of admission. Berkeley and UCLA At the top in terms of difficulty of admission and, in many fields, national reputation. UCs are research universities that award doctorate degrees and recruit some of the top faculty from around the country. </p>
<p>The Cal States are 23 universities across the state that offer bachelor’s and MA degrees (there may be some exceptions with PhD programs). They are not as research-intensive as the UCs, and the Cal State faculty is expected to teach more than at UCs. These universities are easier for admission than the UCs, although some of them can be very competitive (e.g. San Diego State).</p>
<p>In terms of transferring, students who complete a certain number of units with a certain GPA are eligible to transfer to UCs as juniors. Students from cc’s in CA are given priority for admission as transfers.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>