<p>I'm from San Diego, and my dream was to attend UC Irvine. Sadly, I did not get in and am planning on transferring. I did some research, and found that UC Irvine takes a lot of students from Orange Coast College (OCC), which is right next to UC Irvine.</p>
<p>I'm from San Diego, and really want to get into UC Irvine as much as possible. Would it be a good idea to move up to Irvine to attend OCC, since it has better transfer rates? It also has a TAP program (which some CC's don't have), and TAG. I also really want to move out of my house and San Diego in general and find a part time job while I attend OCC. My siblings also live up in Irvine as well. I also don't really like my local CC (San Diego Miramar and Mesa College). I know I will have to find a shared apartment next to the campus, but it'll still be relatively cheaper than attending CSU San Marcos (which I SIR'd but I plan to cancel the acceptance).</p>
<p>So, is it a good idea to move to OCC from San Diego? I really love Irvine and want to get away from SD and my parents. I would personally feel happier to be going to OCC because I would be independent and still get a great opportunity to transfer to UCI.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters which CC you go to, in terms of getting into UCI. You can TAG from any CC, and they’ll accept students from all over. I wouldn’t use “they take a lot of this CC’s students” as a reason to change schools, that could just be because people are choosing to stay close to home when they transfer to a UC. Coursework and grades will matter a lot more in admissions than what CC you’re at.</p>
<p>It sounds like the real reason you’re considering this is because you want to get away from home. If that’s the case, consider the costs, and whether or not it makes sense from a financial point. If you’ll be able to move (and it won’t be too expensive), it sounds like you want to do it, so go for it.</p>
<p>You do realize that the OC area can be expensive, right? You also realize that traffic is a pain depending on what part of orange county you’re in? You could go to palomar? It’s a really good school. The only problem I see is the 2-lane 78. I get that you want to leave and move out because most of your friends probably went away to school? I agree with mrandall. Get that GPA up!</p>
<p>Have you tried Grossmont CC or San Diego CC, or is that too far? I have a lot of friends that go there and they love it. Maybe try SDSU/UCSD/USD/Point Loma Nazarene University? It is fairly far from San Marcos… Maybe like 45 minutes if I’m remembering correctly. Live on campus or rent a room/apartment with other students to save more money. Like the others said OC can be VERY expensive and believe me the traffic to UC Irvine from/to OC in general is horrendous!</p>
<p>No. What you need to do is to work on your GPA and a couple of extracurriculars. Make sure to really focus on major requirements while keeping your GPA as high as possible.</p>
<p>I’d say all your reasons are good ones except for the transfer rates. </p>
<p>OCC is 4 miles from UCI; its no surprise that a lot of kids who want a 4-year degree are going to go to the UC that is just down the road. That does not mean they have any magic at OCC to get kids into Irvine. And in fact you have confused a “rate” with an “amount”. The amount of kids getting into Irvine from OCC may be high, but there is absolutely no evidence they are accepted with a lower GPA than kids from other schools (eg. the “rate”).</p>
<p>But bottom line it sounds like getting away would be good for you, and if you’ve explored the financial impact and think it is affordable then there is no reason not to do it.</p>
<p>It is likely that the main advantage of some CCs near the target UC or CSU is that they model their courses after that nearby UC or CSU, so that you are more likely to find uncommon courses at those CCs than at CCs not near that UC or CSU.</p>
<p>Use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to check if that is the case for the CCs, UCs, and CSUs in question and your major.</p>