Going from UC Davis to community college, back to a UC

<p>Hi, I'm new on college confidential and I've been searching all over google and can't seem to find a good answer. And I'm hoping someone, anyone here will be able to help me figure out plans for my future.
So as of now, I'm a freshman, in my first year as an undergraduate at UC Davis in the College of Engineering, majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. Due to personal reasons, I'm considering going back to community college for a few years, get my GE's out of the way, and hoping to transfer back into a UC, hopefully UC Berkeley.
I was wondering if that is realistically possible in any way shape or form or would I be better off staying at Davis.
I am, or will be, in good academic standing after this quarter (Fall 2013) so it isn't like I'm leaving UC Davis because my grades are bad. Some questions I have is:
Will I still be eligible for TAG?
Is going from UC to CC back to UC possible?
Is readmission to UC Davis difficult if I leave on good academic standing?
Will it be harder for me to apply and get into another UC like Berkeley through this process compared to students who went straight to a CC and are apply for transfer to Berkeley?
Should I stay at Davis?</p>

<p>The whole purpose of this is so I have a better shot at getting into UC Berkeley. I've concluded that Davis may have not been the best choice for me and wish to go to Berkeley. Is it too late for me to do so?
And if I do have a shot at Berkeley, what would be the best way for me to achieve this.</p>

<p>Any and all responses would be helpful.</p>

<p>I don’t know a whole lot about that type of situation but I do know that because you have attended a 4 year you will be ineligible for TAG. Berkeley and UCLA don’t have a TAG anyways though. Chances of getting into Berkeley are slim for anyone so my advice would be to stay at Davis. You can always try to transfer from Davis straight to Berkeley but most UC to UC transfers are not accepted.</p>

<p>@Maxsays, students that have attended a 4 year can still be eligible for TAG. Take a look at the TAG Matrix: <a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;

<p>It is correct that UCB and UCLA do not offer TAGs. Being admitted to an Engineering major as a transfer student to many of the UC campuses is extremely touch and students often find it challenging to find and take all required courses at the CCs. It could certainly add additional time to finish your degree. Also, Engineering majors generally should not pursue GE completion as major courses are far more important to prioritize and usually Engineering Colleges require far less GE’s. If you already have these courses available to you at Davis and or want to continue to pursue your major then I would consider sticking it out. If you are dead set at transferring to UCB then I would consider talking to an admissions counselor over there to get advising on the best path to take.</p>

<p>Oh, my mistake. I had heard that from a counselor but she must have been talking about the international colleges to UCSD. Sorry if you were mislead.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply guys. One thing I forgot to mention that regardless of whether I’m staying at Davis or attempt a transfer to Berkeley, I’m moving out of the College of Engineering and into the College of Letters and Science either way as a Computer Science major. Would that change anything?</p>

<p>Also if in the end I decide to leave Davis on good academic standing, and the rest of my plans end up not working out, would applying for readmission to Davis be difficult for me? No one seems to have answered that just yet.</p>

<p>Well, since you can TAG all you would need is the 3.2 GPA to get back into Davis. This might be higher by the time you graduate CC though. Possibly 3.4-5ish. Just keep in mind that you need 60 units to transfer to a UC and they only accept for fall. So if you don’t get 60 you would have to wait another year just to apply again. Since you are changing majors and such you may have a lot of classes to take and this might come into play. The GPA shouldn’t be too hard to achieve unless you find the CS classes to be more challenging than you thought.</p>

<p>I read that you can’t TAG to a campus you were previously enrolled to? I think it mentions that somewhere in the matrix.</p>

<p>you can do it but good luck getting into your courses. CC is no joke when it comes to how long it’ll take for you to transfer. btw, transferring is all a numbers game</p>

<p>DavisStudent is correct. From the TAG Matrix
“Students who have previously enrolled at a UC campus during a regular term (not including summer session) cannot submit a TAG application to return to that campus.”</p>

<p>Thanks guys. The main concern I have is applying for readmission to UC Davis after a year or two if a transfer to Berkeley doesn’t work out. I don’t plan on doing any of this unless I’m sure the readmission process wouldn’t be difficult for me to continue studying at Davis after I’ve left for a year or 2. This way, atleast I have Davis to go back to with minimized consequences.</p>

<p>to reapply, you need all of the minimum transfer requirements. like
somebody else said, 60 units, 4 GE, math, eng and some other classes. it may be impossible to transfer back within one year. you’ll be treated like any other transfer when applying for Davis. so no special privileges and no guaranteed admission.</p>

<p>So readmission is basically just a transfer request and it’d be as if I was a CC student in the first place without the help of TAG. Thanks!</p>

<p>hello davisstudent18, remember that UC’s give priority to community college students and other UC’s.</p>

<p>I dont know your GPA but the chances to getting admitted at the Berkeley School of engineering are real low. be grateful that you can get your degree from Davis, if you were to go back to community college you would go back to a semester system and getting your computer pre-requisites will take you forever. It took me forever to transfer because it is so hard to get classes, they are always full. </p>

<p>since your backup is to go back to davis if berkeley doesent work out then why dont you stay another year at DAvis and apply as a transfer student to Berkeley. you will still be given priority consideration (less than community college but better than everything else). </p>

<p>in your case you can have your cake and eat it too.</p>

<p>I think the reason the OP is considering transferring from Davis to a CC is to increase the chance of being accepted to Cal. Since s/he is definitely transferring from COE to L&S, that means s/he is planning to apply to UCB L&S. That’s easier to get into than COE. If you really want to get into Cal, you’re right, your best shot is probably to transfer in from a CC. Davis is a good school and they have a good, solid CS program. It seems like a lot of trouble to transfer to a CC and go through the application process again … and have all the angst associated with it. But if you don’t mind all that effort AND you can be pretty much assured of getting back into Davis, then there’s very little risk in you pursuing your dream school. I’m not sure Berkeley is going to be everything you think it will be, but I guess there’s no way to know that ahead of time.</p>

<p>Good luck. I hope everything works out well for you.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply guys. I guess my main concern is that readmission process at Davis. I have yet to find information on how it works in detail, like if people usually are allowed back in or not. And another thing that concerns me is if i do go to a CC and after a couple years I’m back at Davis anyway, would I be way off track on units and meeting the requirements to still graduate in time.</p>

<p>TO CLARIFY because I think some people might’ve missed this part but:</p>

<p>Although in the original post I mention i’m in the COE, I am planning on transferring out of the COE and into the College of Letters and Science as just a Computer Science major regardless if I stay at Davis or attempt a transfer to Berkeley.</p>

<p>“Due to personal reasons, I’m considering going back to community college for a few years, get my GE’s out of the way, and hoping to transfer back into a UC, hopefully UC Berkeley.
I was wondering if that is realistically possible in any way shape or form or would I be better off staying at Davis.”</p>

<p>Have you talked to your parents about this already? I honestly don’t understand why you want to go to JC anyways. Money? Prestige? Don’t like UCD? If you do go the JC route I’m sure you could enter a UC again. You’d save a little money but likely be in school longer.</p>

<p>As a current CC student I can tell you that getting classes can be pretty difficult. Generally speaking STEM classes are harder to get into than Liberal Arts one (besides reading composition.) </p>

<p>Priority is given based on how many units you have completed. For instance last summer I had about 30 units. I took 7 in the summer and 19 this fall. Because of this my enrollment date jumped up a week. Even so when my time to register came in, the math teacher I wanted as at 69/70 enrollment. Luckily I copied and pasted the registration code and hit enter 5 sections after my enrollment started. I checked 2 seconds later and 5 people were on the wait-list. Even if I didn’t get the teacher I wanted, my enrollment date was good enough for my backup choice. But if I was a fresh new student I would have had to take the bottom of the barrel calc teacher. </p>

<p>What I am trying to say is it’s a hassle to goto CC. You should just get a good gpa at davis and apply as a UCtoUC transfer.</p>