First Quarter Experience at a UC

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>Like others on this site, before I transferred, I liked reading the “Your first semester experience at UCs” thread. I only have one final left, and have a decent idea of the grades I’ll get, so I thought I would write a little about my transfer experience. Plus, I need a little break from studying.</p>

<p>I transferred to UC Davis. I had the choice of going to UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz. I was really tempted by Cal, but for those of you who will be on the fence between two or more schools, I just want to say that I have never regretted my decision. I picked UCD because I loved the town and knew I would be happy here, and I was right – that definitely made my transition easier.</p>

<p>Well, orientation sucked. I mean, it was great until it came time to pick our classes. Continuing students had higher priority over transfers, so at first, I only got one class I wanted. It was incredibly frustrating, but during Pass 2, I managed to get in all the classes that I needed. </p>

<p>I was a little worried about getting used to the 10 week system, but I actually didn’t have any trouble adjusting. As it turns out, I actually prefer the quarter system better, as I don’t get burnt out during Week 13 or something.</p>

<p>Although there is more reading at the UC level, I think I’ve been pretty lucky. This quarter I had four courses and read two textbooks, two novels, and many, many articles. In all, I think I only read about 100 pages a week – which is more than I read in community college, but easily manageable. I was a fairly good student, but I was never very good with time-management. I ended up attending a Time Management workshop and they gave us a mini-calendar of the quarter. It all fit on one page, so students could mark off which days they had essays due, midterms, etc. That way, a student could see ahead of time that he or she would have two essays due on the same day or something and prepare for it in advance. This may sound stupid, but being able to see all my deadlines really helped. If you’re a procrastinator like me, I suggest either getting or making something similar for yourself when you transfer (or even now, it’s still useful).</p>

<p>I didn’t make many friends at my CC, so I resolved to get more involved after I transferred. I joined MSU (Mixed Student Union), volunteered at the Cross-Cultural Center, and was a volunteer Outreach mentor (went to high schools & helped prepare minority students for college). Getting involved made school much more enjoyable (although, I already loved UCD to begin with), so try to find something you like once you transfer.</p>

<p>I’m a French major, and due to a very interesting Linguistics Course I took, am currently torn between double-majoring in American Studies or Linguistics. These were the courses I took Fall Quarter:</p>

<p>FRE 23 (5.0) – Intermediate French (last course before upper division)
LIN 01 (4.0) – Intro to Linguistics
NAS 01 (4.0) – Intro to Native American Studies
FRS 02 (2.0) – First Year Seminar</p>

<p>Of course, it’s not necessary to take a seminar, but they do come with benefits. My seminar professor gave the class tickets to plays, concerts, etc. at UC Davis’s Mondavi Center, which was awesome.</p>

<p>This quarter, I wrote a total of eight essays, including two research papers. I’ve gotten A’s and B’s on my essays. I only had two midterms (LIN and NAS), which I received 88% and 100% on, respectively. I’ve spoken to three of my professors during their office hours; they do seem harder to reach at UC’s, but TA’s are pretty helpful.</p>

<p>Registering for classes does seem to get easier. I just had my Pass 2 for Winter 2011, and I got in ¾ classes I want, and I’m only #2 on the waitlist for the last class.</p>

<p>Let’s see…I transferred with a 4.0 and right now, I know that I will get all A’s, all B’s or something in between depending on the results of my finals. The average transfer student drops in GPA during the first quarter, so I’m actually pretty happy with my grades. Also, it does help that I did not work during my first quarter here. However, I plan on doing research next quarter, as well as starting an internship, so we’ll see how my grades fair then.</p>

<p>I can’t think of anything else to mention, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.</p>

2

<p>Wow, that turned out much longer than I intended, lol.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for that write-up, it was very informative. It sounds like the transfer system has complemented you very well.</p>

4

<p>great write up about the transfer experience.hey,i just got to ask:did you TAG for UC Davis?</p>

5

<p>i seriously cant get enough of these…but thanks so much! and YAY no stories of horror…yet</p>

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<p>Nice. I hope to transfer to Davis as well except as a political science major. Hopefully I get the classes I want considering how impacted my major is. I would not want to end up with some obscure class like Latin American studies.</p>

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<p>ty for putting in time to describe uc experience. Hopefully there are more to come from others.</p>

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<p>@ray50117 No, I didn’t TAG. Actually, when I applied, I was thinking about moving to the east coast, so I didn’t think much about my apps and just threw them together last minute.</p>

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<p>oh.okay.have you met any transfer students in science?im majoring in chemistry and I wonder if chemistry is an impacted major in Davis.</p>

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<p>The only transfer I can think of who is the science is this girl double-majoring in Biochem & Genetics. We’ve never really spoken about how hard science classes are to get into though.</p>

<p>But to give some idea, look at these:
[Open</a> Courses List](<a href=“http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/ocl/opencourses.html]Open”>http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/ocl/opencourses.html)
[Index</a> to the Winter 2008 Schedule of Classes](<a href=“http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/CSRD/Winter2011/indexw2011.html]Index”>Class Schedule Archive)</p>

<p>Those are the Course Offered by Subject and the Open Course List; we’re in the middle of Pass 2, so a lot of things are already taken, but that gives you some idea of the availability of classes.</p>

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<p>@christian612: UCD political science is popular but definitely not impacted. I am also curious why you would transfer to Davis over Berkeley for that major.</p>

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<p>I applied to Berkley, but I’m just working on the assumption that I won’t get in. Academics/prestige aside, I’ve heard that Davis is a better campus in many other respects.</p>

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<p>I applied to almost all UC’s and think that even if I’d get into Berkeley or LA, I’ll go to Davis! I recently visited the campus and fell in love with the atmosphere at Davis. Definitely had a better feel than both Berkeley and LA (I’ve been there too). Plus, Davis gives its transfer students many more options than other UC, like change of major, taking a third year if necessary, etc.
I have some questions for you michellaneous:

  1. Does Davis require any upper division GE or other courses you need to complete prior to transfer (when you’re IGETC certified)? Or can you just start taking major/minor/elective courses?
  2. What is the maximum number of units you can have before you have to graduate? Do AP units count towards the maximum units allowed?</p>
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<p>I was wondering because I am currently a Davis ps major but was thinking of transferring to Berkeley. I agree, Davis does have an awesome environment and its proximity to the Capitol is what attracts many students interested in politics. I’m still really conflicted about this decision so if anyone can weigh in it would be a great help.</p>

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<p>@deanzatransfer </p>

<ol>
<li><p>As long as you’re IGETC certified, you’re done with the GE stuff. The only requirement left besides those of the major/minor is the upper division writing requirement, which all students - transfer or not - have to do. You can test out of it, which is what I’m going to attempt during my winter quarter. I’m not sure how hard the test is though, but I have heard that getting into an upper div writing course is super difficult, so get it out of the way as soon as possible.</p></li>
<li><p>The unit cap at UC Davis is 225 units. As for AP units, I’m not completely clear if they count or not. I thought they did, but someone else on this site said they didn’t. On SISWEB, it says - for my transfer units - that I passed 91.5 units but completed 107.5. I’ll try and find out more, but if anyone knows for sure, it’d be much appreciated if you could let us know =] Also, if you hit the unit cap, you have to petition to take more courses, and fill out a plan on what you’re going to do to graduate. You also have to petition each quarter, so the school can make sure that you’re on track.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>@jusray91
Have you visited the campuses yet? If you’re able to, that can really help. Also, before I chose Davis, I remember I looked over what classes were available in my major department at both Davis and Berkeley. The courses at Davis appealed to me a little more, so just something to keep in mind.</p>

16

<p>May I ask about your housing situation? Did you opt for housing Davis offers, or found your own place? What about financial aid…</p>

<p>Thank you :)</p>

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<p>Ok, I just called Admissions and found out more about AP scores and the unit cap.
They said that AP units can only help you, not hurt you, and that although you can get credit for them, the do not count towards your unit cap (which is great because that means I get a little more breathing room).</p>

<p>I also found this (btw, for anyone considering UC Davis, Davis Wiki is incredibly useful):
[225</a> Unit Limit - Davis Wiki](<a href=“http://daviswiki.org/225_Unit_Limit]225”>http://daviswiki.org/225_Unit_Limit)
According to that, a hold can be placed on your account once you hit 200 units, even though you haven’t hit the cap yet.</p>

<p>@mytime09
I got married the summer before I transferred, so my housing situation is a little different from other transfer students. I live in an apartment in Central Davis and just bike to school, which takes 10-15 depending if I’m rushing or not. I know some transfers who opted to do student housing and they all seem happy with it. There are pros and cons to each, but personally, I like having my own space, and I’ve met plenty off people on my own, so it’s not like student housing is necessary.</p>

<p>As for financial aid, I’m poor, so FA covers all my tuition fees and some other stuff. I also sent all my forms pretty early, so my awards were update/approved during the first wave, which made it much easier to see if I needed to send anything else in. I do have some friends who are in the middle bracket of too poor to pay for college, but too rich to qualify for FA, and they both are taking on student loans which is going to suck after they graduate.</p>

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<p>^I qualify for Blue + Gold Opportunity so fortunately, I’ll have my fees covered. :smiley:
Thanks for answering my Q. Have a good holiday break after your first quarter! :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for all your help michellaneous! Do you happen to know, by any chance, how hard it is to change your major after transfer? I’m thinking of switching to English which is a non-selective major.</p>

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<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I just transferred to UCI (Psychology and Social Behavior major, Public Health minor), after a long stint at community colleges. I have a final in an hour but when I get time I’ll post my impressions of my first quarter at UC, since so many people seem interested to hear the stories. Best of luck to you all and I’ll be back later! :)</p>