I’m going into my 3rd year at UC Santa Cruz and I want to transfer to UC San Diego, UCLA, or UC Berkeley due to their stronger cognitive science programs.
My problem is that I’ve already hit 114 quarter units at UCSC. 3 more quarters at 15 units/quarter will put me at 159 units by the time Spring 2018 rolls around.
Is it still possible to transfer to another UC? I read the handbook about high-unit junior vs. senior, but I’m still confused about the distinction.
I’m also considering withdrawing from UCSC for a year. Would this help get around the cap?
High unit junior means 80-89 semester units, or 120-134 quarter units. Senior is 90 or more semester units, or 135 or more quarter units. Note that AP/IB/A-level units are not counted for this purpose.
Hey, ucbalumnus! Thanks for responding. I read the handbook more carefully this time, and I’m a bit worried. Have you heard of any high unit juniors or seniors who successfully transferred to UCs?
Regarding cognitive science at UCSC, it’s a relatively new major and doesn’t have a lot of support. My focus in particular (AI/HCI) is notoriously difficult to attain due to its design. You need an upper-division computer science/engineering course to get the AI/HCI concentration for the major, but A) the pre-requisites are extensive for these courses, B) they’re impacted by the school of engineering, and C) the school of engineering and the psychology department don’t have a good relationship and blocked each another’s students from enrolling in certain classes.
Also, there is a lack of undergraduate research labs that specialize in cognitive research. Finally, UCSC doesn’t offer some classes I think are key for cognitive science, such as classes in C++, web development, human-centered design, user interaction, etc. The cognitive electives are usually hard to get into, and the most interesting cognitive science topics are restricted to senior seminars (such as Human-Robotic Interaction).
Hope that clarifies things! Thanks again for replying
One issue you have, besides the high units, is to successfully transfer you need to fulfill the pre-reqs for the major at each UC. And ideally have your GEs completed at UCSC. Unless this has been handled, it’s only going to add to your units.
https://psychology.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/cog-science-major/Cog%20Science%20Major%20Worksheet%2010.01.15.pdf says that you need 8 upper division courses for the major. 7 of these are psychology courses. “If you did not take 1 upper division interdisciplinary elective you will need to take an additional upper division Cognitive Psychology course.” It looks like there are several eligible lower division courses for this concentration; taking 1 extra upper division cognitive psychology course would need fewer courses than the CS prerequisites for the upper division CS/E/M courses.
If you transfer to another school, you may have to take additional courses to cover requirements that your UCSC courses are not exact equivalents to; this may additionally delay graduation (and possibly run into other credit unit limitations at those schools).
@Ohm888 I’ll be done with all my GE requirements after this quarter, is that too late? Also, it looks like I fulfilled the pre-reqs for Berkeley (Intro to CogSci/Calculus/Intro to Programming). San Diego, however, requires Design, Methods, and Neuroscience classes, which I’m not sure how well my courses match up.
@ucbalumnus Tying into what I mentioned above, I would most likely need to see if any of the PSYC/CMPE/CMPS classes I’ve taken can be used as analogs to the pre-reqs. And about the major, thanks for looking into it! When I spoke with my major advisor, she advised against going for AI/HCI concentration due to the upper division CMPE/CMPS requirement, but I guess I could get around it by taking another upper-div cognitive course. That’s good to know.
