IGETC qn

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

hi guys, i will be starting at santa monica college (SMC) this winter. I will be looking to transfer to UCLA as a computer science major. But after looking at the pre requisites(Math and physics requirements) that i need before i transfer, it will take me around 3 years to finish everything. So, i have 3 questions,
1st question Does it always take this long to transfer from a CC to a UC?
2nd question If i do not complete my pre requisites, how much will it pull down my chances of going to UCLA?
3rd question Is there any way i can more than 16 credits per semester for spring and fall?
thanks and with regards, kyler

2
  1. No, it does not always take long to transfer. There was a study out there saying something around the lines (cant remember) of hundreds of thousands of transfers who wish to do so, but only 30% of them actually make it. This probably has to do with lots of hard pre reqs which in turn unmotivates the student as it may take 3+ years. To sum it all, it depends what major, I'm a business econ major and it'll take me 2 years missing 1 pre req for all UCs
  2. If you do not complete your REQUIRED pre reqs as says on assist.org, then you have no chance at all. If missing 1 or 2 recommended pre reqs, your chances still fall even with a high gpa, as other candidates may have them all and a high gpa.
  3. Isn't the max units 18? I believe you can petition to have over the max units. Have you tried to take summer terms? They REALLY help.
3

where are you studying at? is it easy to get classes where you are at?

4

where are you studying at? is it easy to get classes where you are at?

5

  1. It depends, but on average, I’ve heard that CS/engineering students typically can spend 3 years in community college just because there is so much major prep. Transferring in 3 year sounds normal and is not a bad thing at all as you’ll actually be prepared for the coursework you’ll be taking :slight_smile: At my CC, I was told that students typically take 10 years to graduate/transfer, so it could be a LOT worse :stuck_out_tongue: SMC churns out a lot of successful transfers.

  2. As mentioned above, your chances at UCLA CS missing even 1 pre-req will drastically reduce your odds. If you’re missing 2 or more courses, your chances are pretty much zero. UCLA’s CS program is just too crowded. Not only do you (typically) need a 3.9/4.0 GPA, you also need all of the courses completed. You can try for other majors that might be more forgiving such as mathematics of computation or a joint major such as linguistics and computer science that will allow you to take CS courses. However, if you want to be part of the school of engineering/a true CS major, I can understand not wanting to make that compromise (and it could be a bad idea if you wouldn’t be passionate about these alternate majors). I’m not sure if you have any other UC’s in mind, but they might be slightly more forgiving than UCLA. Private schools (such as one on the other side of town), often don’t have problems with majors being “impacted”, so that’s also something to consider as a backup.

  3. I was able to enroll in 22 units for one of my spring semesters and it was pretty much torture :stuck_out_tongue: At my CC, I spoke with the dean of student services and he only approved my request to overload on units because I had a 4.0. I’m not sure if he was joking though. He literally said “I’ll approve your request only if you have a 4.0” as he was looking up my grades. It certainly might be different at other CC’s, but I’m sure there would be a similar process - namely that you need to have a history of good grades before such a request is granted. If they see that you are struggling with 16-18 units, it would be a bad idea to have you tackle more units. Taking winter/summer classes as mentioned above is also a good idea.

6

your post is a little confusing. You mention IGETC in the title but not anywhere in the text. Did you come up with the 3 year total by adding up the IGETC requirements and those for the College of Engineering?

Assuming that’s what you did,note that IGETC is not required for admission to engineering. In fact they don’t even recognize it as satisfying the engineering distribution requirements! See http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/hsseas-transfer-requirements. What they do list as required on that page can be completed in 2 years.

And while it is great to aim for UCLA, they accepted only 5% of CS xfer applicants in the most recent year they have info for online. So be sure to look into other colleges.