<p>Since the UCs and Cal States are so impacted and classes are hard to get into, it seems it might make more sense for students to transfer after two years. Can any parents speak to advantages/disadvantages of each?</p>
<p>In our particular situation, my son would qualify for the Blue and Gold Opportunity at UCs as well as Cal Grant A. In addition, my son gets priority enrollment at the local CC because he works through the disability office. Do disability students at the UCs and Cal States get priority enrollment?</p>
<p>Also, aren't most UCs and Cal States commuter campuses anyways, so perhaps the sense of community isn't as great as at a smaller school and therefore, a transfer student wouldn't be missing much as far as community building?</p>
<p>the character of each campus is really quite different. Some, like CSU Chico, SLO and UC Santa Barbara are quite residential - almost all students live within a few miles of campus and there’s far more bike than car traffic. Sac State, SJSU and UC Riverside are much more commuter schools. As you’d guess, there’s a spectrum between but, virtually all of them have resident students, sports teams, fraternities, clubs and a sense of ‘community’.</p>
<p>I’d suggest you visit some campuses that meet your basic criteria (distance from home, size and academic fit) - i think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>Tell us a bit about your locale and his academic qualifications and I’m sure you’ll get some suggestions. </p>
<p>I’d also say, the level of impaction at most campuses has subsided in the wake of recent tax increases. Right now, many CCs are really packed - your son can probably give you a read on your local one. Priority reg or not, an overcrowed campus is a pain.</p>
<p>I’d suggest you apply broadly and see what happens. If none of the schools that admit him catch his fancy, the local CC will remain a viable option. </p>
<p>I can’t comment on the priority registration for disabled students. </p>
<p>The impacted nature of the classes is going to depend heavily on what your son’s major is and on the particular school. It’s hard to make sweeping generalizations about this sort of thing. I went to UCSD (I recently graduated, so I was there during much of the budget crisis), and I had friends in different departments who never had to worry about getting into a class, whereas others may have had to wait a quarter or two to get into the classes they wanted. Sometimes, you can’t always take the classes that you want at the time or with the professor that you want, but in my experience, as long as you were on top of things and planned well, you could get the classes you needed in order to graduate on time. All of the people I knew who took longer than four years to graduate took reduced courseloads, had multiple majors and/or minors, and/or changed their major frequently during their first 2-3 years there. I don’t know anyone that took longer to graduate solely because they couldn’t get into the classes that they needed. But I would imagine that every campus is different and every major is different. For what it’s worth, I was in an impacted major and never had a problem getting into classes. Several of the students I had met in my classes freshman year (in impacted majors as well–some had even switched into engineering majors) graduated with me in four years (some graduated in less), as well. If you’re son is a good student and able to plan things out, I wouldn’t be overly concerned about this.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t think transferring in would fix this problem regardless. He would have just as much trouble getting classes as a freshman as he would as a transfer student. However, as a transfer student, he would have even less flexibility in his schedule in terms of when he can take classes. As an incoming freshman, he has the time to take a class later because he can’t get the time he wants or earlier if he comes in with AP credit to help make his schedule easier. There’s a little more time pressure as a junior transfer in terms of needing to get courses in this particular quarter in order to graduate on time.</p>
<p>I know some UC campuses have priority enrollment for students registered with the disability services office, but every campus does registration differently so you might want to check with the services of each school.</p>
<p>The feel and community of each school is going to vary greatly as well. Many of them are likely to have a very healthy residential life though, with some of the upperclassman moving to nearby apartment complexes off campus. Regardless, a transfer student may find it harder to meet new people than a freshman who lives on campus.</p>
<p>Santa Cruz is another UC which is very residential. Also Monterey Bay. I agree with NCalRent that the CCs are very crowded right now. Many students are having difficulty getting the classes they need. And diligent students at the UCs and CSUs are graduating in four years. They may have to take classes at inopportune times such as early morning, but they can do it. </p>
<p>A great dorm life can be had even at the so-called commuter campuses. My son had a wonderful experience as a freshman in the dorms at Fresno State, and he made friendships that lasted throughout college and beyond. But he was ready to leave the dorm as a sophomore. If a typical “college experience” is desired, the prime time to get it is the first two years of college, as students quickly outgrow the desire to live in a dorm. </p>
<p>OP, if your son has disabilities, it may be best for him to go the CC route. You are the best judge of that. But four-year schools are better for many students.</p>
<p>My D goes to UC Davis. A couple of things that have helped her get classes. She entered as a freshman but came in with a lot of community college credits. It is a help with registration times.
She also is now a registered student with the disabilities office. Disability students get priority registration which means she registers first during both Pass 1 and Pass 2. That is a huge benefit. It helps the student plan a schedule that accommodates their disability. So far she has not had problem getting classes. With an early pass 2 time you can usually be #1 on the wait list for full classes if you are locked out of a class during pass 1. Some classes are only open to certain majors during pass 1.
Davis is not a commuter school.</p>
<p>“Classes are hard to get into” is probably a worse problem at many community colleges, since the community colleges cannot regulate enrollment with a selective admissions process like the UCs and CSUs can. “Classes are hard to get into” is probably overstated as a problem; you may want to ask specifically on the campus-specific forums about that. Four year graduation rates have more to do with admissions selectivity than almost anything else.</p>
<p>However, if your son gets priority enrollment at the CC, that may alleviate the problem there. You may want to ask the UCs and CSUs of interest if there is something similar (often there is, since some students with disabilities need to schedule assistants like sign language interpreters for deaf students). Some CSUs (Pomona, Fresno, Stanislaus, San Bernardino) do have four year graduation pledge programs.</p>
<p>Regarding commuter versus residential campuses, take a look at each school’s “campus life” entry at <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com”>http://www.collegedata.com</a> . The percentage of frosh living in the dorms is often a good proxy for how residential (vs. commuter) the campus is (overall percentage in the dorms is not as useful, since many residential upperclass students live nearby off-campus). UCs do tend to be more residential than CSUs, although some CSUs like San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, Sonoma, Monterey Bay, and Maritime Academy are very residential.</p>
<p>Be sure to consider how the CC courses line up with the frosh/soph courses for his major at the target UCs and CSUs – see <a href=“http://www.assist.org”>http://www.assist.org</a> . In some majors and target campuses, the needed frosh/soph courses are hard to find at CCs, so the transfer student needs to take a lot of “catch up” courses after transfer, potentially delaying graduation. In such cases, it is more desirable to start as a frosh at the four year school.</p>
<p>If the student is academically advanced and is likely to take junior/senior level courses in frosh/soph year, that opportunity will not be available at a CC.</p>
<p>Well, one of the problems is that my son has no clue what he wants to do. Applying to the UCs and Cal States means you have to know what you want to do. It could be game design, animation, architecture, engineering, music or even computer science or some sort of media arts.</p>
<p>Re. impacted classes at the local CC: I have noticed this year that many more classes are not being filled. Someone mentioned our taxes being raised to open more sections, so perhaps that is why. I even see that it appears there will be summer classes offered at the local CC and that hasn’t happened for three years.</p>
<p>My son will maybe have about 30-35 units of CC classes upon graduation but they’re all over the board. I am letting him choose what is interesting to him rather than trying to check boxes (other than taking foreign language as a high school requirement and Calculus I if he wants to try for engineering).</p>
<p>His SAT is 2230. He will take two SAT II exams this spring and one more this fall. His strongest ECs are cello, where he has a long list of accomplishments including professional work, robotics, where his team finished first out of 74 and will probably go to worlds, NM commended (I assume), top bowler in his league (ha-ha) and a lot of community service with his music. (And a couple of national honors)</p>
<p>mom60, thank you for the info on UCD. That was very helpful. UCD sounds very interesting. I have also heard that UCB is very supportive of students with disabilities and health issues.</p>
<p>Calla, good point about the first two years being the time to have the college experience.</p>
<p>We certainly are considering community college to 4 year college. That’s why I was asking this question. It’s hard to know what kind of management skills my son will have in another year and a half. He’s only just beginning to think about full time college and has very limited experience of four year colleges other than two local schools and MIT where his brother goes.</p>
<p>“OP, if your son has disabilities, it may be best for him to go the CC route. You are the best judge of that.”</p>
<p>^^that. That element we can’t speak to at all.</p>
<p>However, if you get priority registration at UCs for a disability, that might help offset the tendency of UCs to give priority to Juniors who had been on campus their first two years over transfers who just came in (at least I have heard that about UCSB and wouldn’t be surprised if it were universal.) I agree that generally the ‘typical college experience’ is freshman year, and somewhat sophomore year, and then it is more like grad school. understand there are a couple of CCs where you can actually have an away at college experience, but other than those, I personally would prefer the UC or Cal State. BUT price is a big difference and if you are thinking of costs, or of adding graduate school, taking general ed classes at the CC can make real financial sense.</p>
<p>As for having to know what you will do at UCs or Cal States - not so much, UNLESS you decide to apply for an impacted major. If you don’t do that right away, it is hard to do later. But I don’t see how going to CC would help with that. People can apply ‘letters and sciences, undeclared’ for example, and do.</p>
<p>Berkeley registration for fall semesters is done in the spring semester, so continuing students have an advantage over incoming transfers in terms of having earlier time slots to register. However, common and otherwise-popular courses taken by incoming junior transfers (e.g. intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics taken by incoming junior transfer economics majors) have reserved space specifically for incoming junior transfers, so that they can have an opportunity to register for them.</p>
<p>Based on such a wide variety of possibilities, it sounds like there are pros and cons to both freshman status and transfer status. Of course, I suppose the biggest pro to transfer would be that it is much less expensive to attend CC for 2-3 years and then transfer if one is talking about a UC or Cal State school. Much food for thought.</p>
<p>One of the understated pros of starting at CC is that an undecided student is not really “on the clock” to decide and declare a major, since extra semesters at CC are less expensive than extra semesters at a four year school (and many UCs and CSUs do not like it when students stay too many extra semesters, taking up space that they want available for incoming students). The disadvantage is that some of the more unusual subjects may not be available at CCs (limiting the opportunity to sample the subject, or requiring catch-up courses after transfer to the four year school), and junior/senior level courses are not available if the student wants to take them early.</p>
<p>You might want to check if the individual UCs and CSUs have possibility for dorming for transfer students. If so, he would still get the dorm experience for 1 year. It would still be a new and likely fun experience for him even as a Jr transfer student.</p>
<p>One nice thing about attending a cc is that your grades don’t transfer; so the final GPA might not have lower frosh grades bringing it down.</p>
<p>Just commenting on the difficulty of getting classes at a CC. My daughter is a California CC student. She has had no problem getting classes (and is not picky about the day/time). In the middle of her first semester she got her student education plan, which raised her priority for class registration. The only students she knows who really have problems getting classes at the time they need them are those with scheduling limitations due to work/family obligations/etc. (and those students are part time, and do not have priority registration). </p>
<p>Sbjdorlo- adding that the Student disability center at Davis has been great. They are responsive and helpful. In most cases my D has received a response to her question via email the same day. Students are assigned a specific contact within the disabilities office.
In my D’s case she has extra time on exams, exams in a quiet space, note taker, they have provider her with a Smartpen and priority registration. The disability office also can authorize a reduced courseload if the disability prevents a student from taking a full load. This can be especially helpful as the student adjusts to handling academics without the support of a parent. When illness made completing the quarter difficult they assisted her in her interaction with her college dean. My D also has friends who have needed accommodations due to Lyme disease and another after a concussion. The school has been helpful.</p>
<p>Very good news, mom60. Just curious-was your D a top student in high school? Did she have weaknesses/struggles because of her disability? Why did she eventually choose UCD?</p>