<p>Hello College Confidential, I am an incoming freshman at Los Angeles Valley College and my transfer goal is to get into (as an English major) Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Irvine, etc. Any of these colleges that I will feel comfortable at two years from now will be good enough for me.</p>
<p>Right now my main worry is getting classes. I had priority registration for my first Fall semester as I was on my college's Track and Field team, but my parents told me that I'm expected to work twenty-four hours a week. I told my coach that I would have to work Friday through Sunday and he said that it would not be ideal to work, do Track, and expect myself to earn top marks.</p>
<p>Yeah, it was upsetting to have to drop something I loved, but I'm more concerned about getting the grades that are necessary for top universities.</p>
<p>But now I'm worried that I won't be able to transfer in two years. I've always dismissed how hard it is to get classes at community college because I assumed that I'd have priority due to being an athlete. Now that is over and I'm on equal footing with everyone else.</p>
<p>I know I bypassed the hardest time in getting classes (the incoming freshman part), but to all those who have taken or are currently going down the path of using a community college to transfer to a UC, how tough is it to get classes after the first semester? I'm talking about Winter sessions, the Spring semester, courses over the Summer, the Sophomore year, etc. After my first year at LAVC I will have taken 14 units, so as a returning full-time student, do you think that would help bump me up on the priority list? I'm hoping that as long as I communicate with my counselors and eyeball the time when it comes to register for the next semester (not procrastinate) that I'll get all the classes I need. It felt so great to pick and choose my courses for the Fall semester at my convenience; being able to choose courses for any reason and get them (like if the professor is awesome, whether I really like the subject, or if I specifically want the scheduled time, and then there is all of the above!). It sucks to have had to give that up.</p>
<p>It’s still tough because registration priority depends on your units completed. So, the more you have the more early your priority registration will be. After your first semester, you will not have enough units completed to get the early registration date so it’ll still be hard for you register unlesss you get the priority registration (which I recommend sticking with)</p>
<p>It also depends on your college and how many students and classes there are.
After my first semester, it was still hard to get the classes I wanted even though I took 16 units that semester. But it wasn’t hard to get on the waitlist and then eventually into the class. And if a waitlist is full for a particular class, I’ll constantly check if a spot becomes available.</p>
<p>It really depends on your school. My first year of CC, I got every class I wanted, with the teacher I wanted, and every class I crashed I was able to get in easily. Then, I moved and now go to El Camino College which has been horrible as far getting classes. I just finished up my first year here and basically took 27 units in social sciences because that’s all I could get and it forced me to stay here another year. Even after my first year I was waitlisted to an Econ class I need for my major and I’m taking a couple classes at another school this summer/fall.Thankfully, I got my English/Math out of the way at my first CC. </p>
<p>Considering your major, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get the classes you need, but consider joining the honors program which gets priority and boosts your chances to get into UCLA/CAL and allows you to apply with an alternative major. However, considering you only have 14 units after 1 year, I’m guessing you have 2 years left anyways which should be plenty of time.</p>
<p>I dont know how hard it is to get into classes at LAVC, but the CCC I went to had about 8k students. When it came to registering for my second semester, I was still at the lowest priority but got into all the classes I needed (UC transferable English, Pre Calc, General Chem, and two Psychology classes). Spots were very limited by the time my enrollment window but I also was open to taking classes at times other people didn’t want (I had 8am class Mon - Thurs -__-")</p>
<p>My advice: check waitlists constantly to see if spots open up, have back up classes just in case you dont get into your first choices, and if all else fails sit in on the first day and try to snag an open spot.</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC Evo 3D using CC</p>
<p>Also, check the schedule on the payment deadline, anyone who misses the deadline will get dropped from their classes.</p>
<p>Oops, I’m sorry, I actually meant that I will have taken 14 units after my Fall semester. Planning on taking advantage of a Winter session and the Spring semester as well. (my CC never has Summer sessions :/) And I’ll have about 12 units from high school due to AP scores.</p>
<p>Also, it turns out that I might be able to pull off staying with Track and Field. Everything might work out after all. (which means I’ll have actually taken 17 units)</p>
<p>And we have close to 21,700 students at Valley 0_o. Yeah, I need all the priority I can get if I’m to get out in two years! There are no wait-lists at this place now that you mention those. Students are expected to constantly check online and notice if a full class suddenly has an open spot.</p>
<p>Thanks for the payment deadline advice. That would definitely be a great time to scout out any openings.</p>
<p>@andrewexd</p>
<p>I o to El Camino too, are you in the HTP? If you are you’ll get a really good registration date. I was able to register for my classes the day after they became available.</p>
<p>If you have a late registration date then you may have an issue getting the exact schedule you wanted, but you won’t have a problem getting enough classes to do IGETC and be full time. The amount of classes that fall under IGETC is so expansive, and many classes (like English 1a) have multiple sections available. So if you are flexible and are willing to take early morning classes (which generally don’t fill up till well over the last registration time), night classes, or saturday classes, then you should be able to get the classes you want.</p>
<p>@Discosteve, no I’m not in the Honors program, I probably should have joined when I got to El Camino but there’s no point joining now. I’ll be finished with IGETC and my pre-requisites by the end of this fall semester. I would have joined for sure If I was planning on attending UCLA or Cal but I’m pretty much set on UCSB.</p>