I’m a recent high-school graduate (c/o 2018!) and this past spring during college decision time, instead of choosing to go straight to a four-year university in the fall, I chose to enroll at my local community college. At the time, I thought it would be a great idea; I would be saving my family and myself some money!
Though, after seeing everyone go off to their colleges these past few weeks, and thinking about all of the opportunities I may have missed/may be missing not going straight to a four-year despite having the opportunity to do so, I am thinking about reapplying this year in hopes of transferring in the fall of 2019 as a sophomore. As of right now, I am for sure thinking about reapplying to Irvine and Davis, as I was accepted to them last year, as well as San Diego and Santa Barbara (both waitlisted); these are the only schools I’d really consider going to, but knowing me I’d probably reapply to Merced, Riverside, and Santa Cruz, just in case (also accepted).
So my question to all of you who have gone through this before/know people who’ve done it/have knowledge about UC transfers: WILL IT BE POSSIBLE FOR ME TO DO THIS, DESPITE ONLY HAVING ONE YEAR DONE AT A COMMUNITY COLLEGE (by transfer time)? Also, any advice for me as far as the transfer application process goes? Now looking back on everything, I do feel like I messed up making the decision to go to my local CC, even though I’d gotten into some pretty good schools.
First, if you no longer think that going to a CC is right for you, have you considered re-applying as a first time freshman? If you have gotten into multiple UCs and want the 4-year-experience your high school peers will have, that’s something to keep in mind.
Here’s the deal, though. UCs strongly prefer junior-standing transfers—students coming in with 60 semester/90 quarter units completed. You can use AP and dual enrollment credit to get you to the 60, so if you have a lot of that you can get to junior standing in one year of CC.
To have the most success as a transfer student, you must complete IGETC (or another GE/breadth pattern depending on major) and all pre-requisites for your major according to assist.org.
However! The UCs do allow for some Lower Division Transfers (sophomore standing) but it’s major and school dependent.
UC Lower Division transfers:
Lower-division transfer
While all UC campuses welcome a large pool of junior level transfers, most admit only a limited number of lower-division students.
However, it can happen. Here’s how:
If students had met the minimum requirements for admission to UC when they graduated from high school, they are eligible for transfer if they have a C (2.0) average in their transferable college coursework (2.8 GPA for non-residents).
If they had a minimum required GPA in high school but did not satisfy the 15-course subject requirement, they must take transferable college courses in the missing subjects, earn a C or better in each required course and have an overall C (2.0) average in all transferable coursework to be eligible to transfer (a 2.8 GPA is required for nonresidents).
Along with satisfying our admission requirements, transfer students — like all UC students — must fulfill additional requirements before graduating. Some, such as the American history and institutions requirement and the entry-level writing requirement, are UC-wide. Other requirements — such as major preparation and general education — vary according to the campus a student plans to attend and the particular college or school and major.
There’s no need to re-live the decision - you are where you are, at a CC. You will no doubt accomplish your goal of saving money.You made an adult decision and should be proud and forward looking.
You need 60 semester units to transfer to any of the UCs. They can include AP credits so, it is possible. Say you passed 8 or 9 AP exams;, you’d be starting with 24-27 credits - Many people take a couple of summer classes after their HS graduation, giving them 6 more, leaving a pretty imaginable 30-36 units to knock out in a year. The hard part is often meeting all the required classes in that short of a window. That’s especially true for STEM majors who have several series to knock out.
Take a look at the TAG required courses for Davis, here https://www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/undergraduate/transfer/transfer-admission-guarantee
and see how they map to the AP courses you’ve taken, Do the same for other TAG participant schools you are interested in (you will note slight differences). You may find you are in pretty good shape - or maybe not. It may also serve you well to meet with an admissions officer at your target school and see what they have to say.
It’s doable to try again in November. The key is to have at least 30 semester units of AP and dual-enrollment credits at a CCC, and a ton of planning to make sure you have the right classes. Hopefully you’ve registered already with this in mind.
Thank you, this is extremely helpful! I didn’t even know that some of the schools had major restrictions on lower-level transfers. I’m a declared bio major (that’s what I applied as to all of the schools last year, and it’s what I’d be applying as again), so I guess my options are pretty limited as a result.
Thankfully I didn’t see any bio major restriction on lower-level transfers for Irvine, as I wanted to go to Irvine ever since I was a Sophomore (lol).
@NCalRent Thanks. Back when I decided to first go to my local CC instead of going off to a four-year, I was so sure that I wouldn’t even look back. But I don’t know what has me rethinking it all now- maybe it’s seeing all of my friends that are going off to school?
Yes I did register with this in mind, I’m actually signed up for 18 credits this first semester, and will be registered for another ~18 credits next semester, so I’ll actually have more than 30 by the time fall 2019 rolls around.
On that note, do you know how only having the 18 credits in progress at the time of the application will affect my admissions? Would I put down the courses I have planned for the next semester in my application in as well?
Sorry, another question- I don’t know if you’ll know the answer to this, but let’s say that I do get into the schools, and then end up deciding not to accept their offers and then wait it out another year at my CC and then re-apply in hopes of transferring as a junior. Will turning them down a second time affect my chances of admission as a junior, to any of the UCs?
As a transfer, realistically you can only apply as a junior.
If you want to start next year, your best bet is to NOT GO TO A CCC and reapply as a freshman this November. You can apply as a freshman if you have not attended any college or if you only attended a college in the summer immediately following graduation.
Once you start in the fall at a CCC you’re considered a transfer and will need to apply as a junior.
@volunteeringteen that’s a toughie, by the time you submit your App, you may not know which classes you are taking. But if you wait towards the end of November I think you should know your classes, right? I know my kid was screwed slightly when he submitted last year. But he was still a HS student taking classes at a CCC and they wouldn’t allow him to register for Spring until early January. But he had a class list (of 1 class) that he thought he was going to be able to get into, so he submitted that one class. Note that there is nothing in the app that allows you to make amendments such as class adds once you have submitted. Another issue is that if you submit in November you won’t even have a GPA, not sure how that will work.
UCI does not have Biology as a closed major listed on the UC website as a Sophomore transfer but these are the requirements below needed as a transfer which basically means you need to be a Junior level transfer. The only UC’s which will accept a LDT for Biology looks like Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced.
Biological Sciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biology/Education UCI transfers:
Required:
-Meet all basic UC admission requirements with a minimum grade of C or better
-Complete 60 semester or 90 quarter UC transferable units by the end of the spring term prior to the fall quarter of enrollment
-Have a cumulative UC transferable GPA of 3.0 (3.4 for TAG)
-Complete one year of general chemistry with laboratory with a C or better in each course
-Complete one year of organic chemistry with laboratory with a C or better in each course
-Complete one year of biology courses with laboratory equivalent to UCI’s BIO SCI 93 and 94 with a grade of C or better in each course
I suggest you take a Gap year and reapply for Fall 2019. Best of luck.
There are layers of rules. While Irvine has rules about who is eligible to apply as a lower-division transfer, in the end it is up to the school whether they want to take any at all even if the rules allow applications.
The OP should contact Irvine and Davis to see if they are planning on accepting any lower-divison transfers next academic year (eg 2019-2020) when they would be applying.
If the OP decided to take a gap year then they need to check with UC to see if they still qualify. I imagine by this time the OP has enrolled in their CC if not already started class, but UC says
They need to make sure they will qualify as a frosh applicant if they withdraw from their CC and reapply.