Is it smart nowadays to go to a community college first and then transfer ?

Not going to happen. The xfer admit rate for CS at UCLA is 5%, probably about the same at Cal. The OP is a middling student, only managing a B average unweighted in HS. What are the odds this person buckles down and does well enough in a CC to get into Cal?

The odds are about zero. CC’s in Calif are mostly the domain of kids that want to give education one last shot before quitting. My hat is off to those kids that are strong students but due to finances or family situation need to start at a CC. For the OP, though, going to a CC likely means hanging out with the kids he knows who go there. And his friends hanging around town and going to a CC are from the lower end of the barrel. Only 23% of CC kids manage to xfer to a 4-year college in 6 years. The peers the OP will surround himself with at a CC are going to be the ones that do the homework the nite before its due, never visit the prof in office hours, study for a test the nite before.

It gets worse, IMHO. CS is a skill that is easily assessable in interviews. Even if you go to the lowliest CSU, if you learn the material and get internships you are going to be a good candidate. So why won’t the OP consider that? The reason the OP writes of Cal and CS after attending a CC is a symptom of his issues. Put things off until 3 years down the road, so no need to make any changes now. In fact the OP will take the next 1.5 years in HS even easier since all you need to enroll at a CC is to be 18 and breathing. No doubt the OP promises himself he will burn up the track once he starts at the CC, a promise that won’t be called in for well over a year.

This post reminds me of the ones we used to see 7-10 years back of kids writing “didn’t do so hot in HS, want to go into i-banking or consulting, can I transfer to IVY if I get good grades?” Looks like CS is the i-banking of today. And guess what… There’s a thread by the OP

The fantasy of tomorrow lets him avoid facing the reality of today.