How to transfer?!

<p>I recently graduated high school and didn't get accepted to any UC's. My parents are pretty angry with me and threaten me to get out of community college within one year or else im on my own. They want me to go to UC Davis.</p>

<p>I graduated with 10.6 units from AP credits. I loaded up my summer with about 15 units.</p>

<p>I took</p>

<p>English 1A
A communications class
Calc 2
and a music class
This brings me to a total of about 25.6 units</p>

<p>I loaded up my fall schedule with about 24 units.
I am taking
the 2nd semester English required to transfer
Calc 3
Linear Algebra
Psychology
Chemistry 1A
and the first semester of a physics series.</p>

<p>For an engineer, i understand that I cannot complete the physics series as it consists of 3 parts. However, I decided that... as long as i get into UC Davis i should be safe. this leads me to my question.</p>

<p>Am I even able to transfer at all?!?!
if i apply as a certain major with a bunch of engineering prereqs, will they allow me to change majors when i'm there?
which major should i pick in order to ensure my admission to davis given my classes?
should i drop my physics class because i cant finish the series anyways and take it at davis?</p>

<p>Thank you so much for reading this wall of text. I appreciate any and all helpful answers!!</p>

<p>Can you transfer? Sure. Keep your GPA up, do your pre-reqs, and have at least 60 transferable units and you should be good to go.</p>

<p>Changing majors: Yes, you can. Though engineering (selective majors?) might be a bit tricky to change into. [UC</a> Davis : Admitted Transfers](<a href=“http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/admission/transfers/tr_admitted.cfm]UC”>Admitted Transfer Students)</p>

<p>What to take: Go to assist.org and put in your major and schools… it’ll show you articulations and what you’re expected to have completed.</p>

<p>Physics: Ask your professors about doubling up, maybe. Generally speaking, the topics in physics classes are more or less unrelated (physics 1 in mechanics, 2 is E&M, 3 is heat/waves…) so taking two at the same time might be allowed. Also, make sure that you actually need to take all 3 for your major… depending on your goal, you may only need part of the series.</p>

<p>Units: 24 in one semester? Ouch. I hope you’re ready to study hard… keep in mind it’ll be MUCH harder to get in if you don’t keep your GPA up.</p>

<p>Btw, I’m a Berkeley EECS student, and didn’t look into Davis before transferring… so, sorry if any of this is inaccurate. :P</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply! Hmm given the classes I have taken which majors would these classes fulfill? Thank you so much for the physics reply! I will check in on that. 24 units does seem like a lot. Do you think I should drop any or would it jeopardize my chances of getting admitted? Thank you again!</p>

<p>Well, it sounds like you’re clearly leaning towards engineering. If that’s the case, the best thing to do would be completing as many relevant pre-reqs as you can. If you’re not sure exactly which type of engineering you’d like to do, pick courses that are relevant to the majors you’re considering (math and physics are a good start). Don’t try and tailor your schedule to a major you don’t intend to follow through with… it’ll only hurt you in the long run. Anything random that you have in your schedule (communications, english, various APs) can probably be applied to GE requirements.</p>

<p>In terms of credits, I think AP counts towards the 60 transferable. You said you had 10 from AP, plus 15 from summer. So in theory you would only need 18 credits per semester at CC. Of course, pre-reqs are still really important, so if you need to overload your schedule to do those, I guess taking a lot of credits could be the best option. If you were okay juggling 15 over the summer you could be okay, but having math, math, physics, chem, and some GEs all together could be a real nightmare. Part of this depends on you, of course, different people handle classes differently, and different schools/courses have different workloads.</p>

<p>Have you talked through the one year thing with your parents yet, from a logical point of view? If they’re not the sort you can approach about this sort of thing disregard this bit, but staying a second year could be better financially in the long run. CC classes are much cheaper, and staying longer could mean getting out of UCD earlier, which would mean less tuition there. And graduating in 4 years total is considered fairly normal. It would also mean not having to overload your schedule, a lot less stress to finish pre-reqs (and probably a higher GPA), getting some more GE stuff out of the way, and possibly having more transfer options (since you’d have time to meet UCB/UCLA pre-reqs or whatever as well). Just, something to consider, if your parents are open to talking about things.</p>

<p>Good luck, with whatever you decide to do. :)</p>

<p>A lot of students from California didn’t get into the UC’s because of the sheer numbers of students applying. </p>

<p>Twenty-four units is a lot of units for one semester. How will you keep up? If your GPA is not high after a semester of 24 units, your acceptance to the UC’s will decrease in chances. Chem and Physics will have labs and Psych may as well. </p>

<p>You really need to follow a series of classes that articulate with the Davis TAG. Have you spoken with an advisor at your CC? Do check Assist to see which classes Davis will accept. </p>

<p>I’m assuming your parents are Asian? The UC thing is a status issue which I don’t understand, but I guess that’s for their “pride”, not your issue. Do they realize how much money you are saving them by going to CC first? Tell them to start saving their pennies because it’s gonna cost them a LOT when you start Davis.</p>

<p>I think that 24 it’s is suicidal…even me (UCLA senior) would be intimidated by that course work and I got A’s in 3 of those classes.</p>

<p>Remember that for engineering it quality over quantity. Realistically it takes engineers 3/4 years to transfer. I would suggest that you stretch it out another year. Tell your parents that by waiting an extra year you will:</p>

<p>Have a higher transfer GPA
Transfer to a top UC (any of the brother bears)
More likely to earn a scholarship</p>

<p>The money you will “save” by transferring earlier is not worth it if you sacrifice a scholarship from a top UC’s. I myself had an average GPA and managed to get a 2k scholarship, had I had a higher GPA I could have easily had 10k scholarship.</p>

<p>Blame the transfer project on budget cuts… Let Jerry Brown be the fall guy. I’m sure that your parents will be much supportive if you explain that you have a shot at a scholarship.</p>

<p>The advice you probably don’t want to hear, but I hope you really take. First off, I hope that YOU want to go to a UC school, and I hope that YOU want to go to Davis. But that all depends on the first part of my advice: it is time to grow up. School won’t teach you this, but life surely will if you don’t learn it soon.</p>

<p>Sit your parents down and talk to them like an adult. Tell them the realities of what you are going to be working on to get into a UC (again, if YOU want to go there), and let them know that they can give you an unrealistic timeline or they can support you in your studies. In order to speak to them intelligently - you are going to have to do your homework; just like an adult would. Get TAG and TAP agreements, look up the course plans that would have to take in order to get to a UC. Use Assist.org to help plan some of this out. This is how responsible, accountable people approach problems in their lives. So, in essence, when you speak to them without being prepared you are speaking to them like a child, which means they are going to treat you like one. </p>

<p>When you have your plan all put together, even if your parents have a problem with you, YOU will still have a plan for YOUR life. And if you follow that, you will usually come out of things just fine. </p>

<p>Also, I would seriously reconsider 24 units in a semester. That sounds like the course load of a kid trying to please his family. You should ONLY take that many units if YOU want to do it because it fits your plan to get out in X amount of time.</p>