Current 4 year Student at the University of Nevada, Reno finishing with 29 semester credits after this semester. Planning to go to De Anza CCC starting 2016 Fall. Also planning from switching majors from Biology to Computer Science. Is it true that for UCSC I will have to be able to finish all the required courses within 60 units max? (At De Anza) To be considered for admissions? Accumulating me to 89 units. Also, is this possible to do within 60 units? I just need some help, it’s been driving me crazy. Also, if anything else knows if I can establish in state residency because I will be living with my biological father and use his address, while severing all my ties in Nevada. For example, registering my car in California, obtaining a California Drivers License, and registering for California selective service. I should be able to obtain in state residency after 366 days, right? And by all means, I do intend to stay in California as well as after college. I might just be in luck because I have my biological father living there. But, as of right now I am a dependent on my older Brother’s taxes. Would I have to relinquish that or not? Since he is my brother after all, and not my parent. Thank you all very much. If anyone knows anyone else that has been through a similar situation or knows anything to help answer my questions you will be putting my mind at ease. I do also plan on talking to a De Anza counselor which I have scheduled an appointment for next Thursday but problem is I live in Reno and it will take a while before I can actually meet with one, so if I’m trying to get some of my questions answered ahead of time. But big question is it possible to complete the Computer Science requirements for UCSC within 60 units and if for whatever reason I end up exceeding the limits, will I be considered for any other UC schools, or CSU’s and would I be considered a Senior if I did exceed the limits.
Are any of your units upper division?
@Briank82 Hello Brian and thank you so much for your reply! Currently I am not so quite sure if I am taking any upper division courses. To be honest at my University the only courses I’ve taken are 100-200 level which is the lowest levels possible for Freshmen, and maybe including one elective such as fencing. Would those be considered upper division?
@briank82 Actually I am positive I haven’t taken a single upper division course yet.
Upper division classes, even just one, is where it becomes a problem. You can have nearly unlimited amount of lower division courses, they’re just capped at 60 (or some other number) when you transfer. If you have upper division courses though, they aren’t automatically capped and you can easily be in danger of exceeding their limit.
For residency, I think you need 365 days prior to enrolling in school. Not 365 days while enrolled in community college.
Your post has a lot of questions and line breaks (hitting the enter key) would have made it a lot easier for people to read through and answer your questions.
@briank82 Thank you a lot. So basically if I haven’t taken a single upper division course yet at UNR then I will be okay if I did exceed the 89 unit cap for UCSC and still be admitted as a Junior?
Yes, I believe so. The cap major really doesn’t matter, I don’t think, unless you have upper division course. I’ve applied for UCSC as well and have 100+ lower division courses, and I don’t think it’s an issue.
Residency could be a problem though unless you take a year off from school. I believe that’s the case but someone probably has better insight.
You need 60 transferable units minimum to transfer. There is also a maximum, but it really doesn’t really apply if you have yet to take upper division units (Courses designated with numbers 300+) at UNR.
Unfortunately it’s not quite that easy. Renouncing your ties to Nevada and having your biological brother as a resident are huge for meeting the requirements, but it’s not quite foolproof. Your biggest issue will be showing a viable reason (that doesn’t include education at all) for the sudden change from living with your brother to moving with your dad. Regardless, you definitely have to relinquish your dependent status with your brother as residency is approved using federal markers such as taxes.
See: http://ucop.edu/residency/10-things-undergrads.html
Prior to meeting with your DeAnza counselor, I suggest compiling as many of the course syllabi as you can get from your past and current UNR courses as they will make any placement and transfer ability questions much easier to answer. Additionally it helps to look at the [Assist.org Transfer Articulation Agreement](http://web2.assist.org/web-assist/report.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=19&dir=1&sia=DAC&ria=UCSC&ia=DAC&oia=UCSC&aay=14-15&ay=15-16&dora=CMPS) to get a better idea of your time frame and a list of courses you need to transfer.
@briank82 @SDGoldenBear Sorry. I may have mistaken the whole process. Basically if I had let’s say from both institutions I only have lower division credits. I will be capped at 70 among transfer but if I were to have upper division courses then those upper division courses gets added among the 70 correct?
Also, aren’t you supposed to take a bunch of upper division courses at CCC. So wouldn’t that cause me to exceed the 70 unit cap? If I were to change majors towards Computer Science? ( I think they require you to take a bunch of upper division courses, but I am probably wrong ).
@SDGoldenBear Thank you very much! Honestly, you’ve relieved all the stress that has been building up in my head. I honestly don’t know how to thank you.
So what I am getting is that I will be able to go to De Anza and take the required courses for my dream school (UCSC) and changing my major to Computer Science without having to worry about exceeding the limit cap and being able to apply?
Correct. You would receive the maximum of 70 units towards the graduation unit requirements. The remaining surplus would be used as “subject credit” where you don’t have to retake the classes, but they won’t add towards the graduation unit requirements.
All CCC courses are lower division.
Yes as long as you don’t take any 300+ level courses at UNR or any other 4 year institution.
Also, I completely agree with @briank82 in that the only foolproof way to get your residency change approved will probably involve taking a gap year and not taking any classes – even from DeAnza.
@SDGoldenBear Thank you very much, would it be possible to complete my required courses at De Anza and then taking the gap year before transferring to my UC school?
Or when would you suggest taking the GAP year? Or would you just suggest taking out a loan to finish the last two years at the UC School. My tuition will be covered already while at De Anza. And I’m assuming a good amount of financial aid will be offered because my parents income are close to
nothing.
And if I were to take over 70 lower division credits and still be capped at 70 will ALL of my units be counted towards my final GPA towards admissions at my UC? Basically, will I be allowed to take more general easy lower division courses if I wanted to raise GPA for whatever reason?
Through which aid program are you expecting to get your tuition at DeAnza approved?
I currently don’t know of any aid offered for out-of-state students and the only only loopholes around this (that I know of) requires that you either graduated from a CA HS or are a recent green card immigrant.
For residency purposes, the gap year must be taken before any educational progress is made within California…so taking the gap year after completing the transfer requirements won’t help at all. That said I have to defer to other posters for the specifics on this as having your biological father as a CA resident despite being claimed dependent elsewhere complicates things (in a way that is advantageous to you.)
It’s important to understand though that the CCC residency determination is very different than the UC determination. You should schedule a meeting with a UC representative as they will give you the most correct information regardless of what DeAnza, or anyone else for that matter, says.
Technically yes, although for CS, your major GPA will be the main focus of their admissions review so a bunch of easy classes doesn’t necessarily help your cause.
@SDGoldenBear Thank you very much! I really do appreciate all the information you have given me. Now I am at ease knowing I can go to De Anza and take the classes I need to one day transfer to a school of my liking for CS. I will consider taking a gap year off and if I do take that route then I will most likely learn how to program on my own free time so I won’t be rusty when going back to school. Once again, thank you very much.
@SDGoldenBear I remember talking to an online counselor through email at De Anza and that person told me that every class I take at my 4 year school even if they are lower division courses will be added towards however many units I take at De Anza. Basically telling me that since I attended a 4 Year university first there is no such thing as a 70 cut off for me. Basically that person had no idea what she was talking about and got me freaked out for no reason?
She’s technically correct in that all your units will be combined and “counted” for your CCC transcript, but that doesn’t mean that you are exempt from the 70 unit cutoff. The difference is that once you transfer to the UCs (or CSUs), they will take that number and cap it at 70 under the label “units earned” and the rest as “subject credit.”
See the first line of the following PDF as well as guideline #1: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/uc-transfer-maximum-limitation-policy-chart.pdf
For example:
29 Semester units at UNR
60 Quarter units (equivalent to 40 Semester units) at De Anza Community
30 Quarter units (equivalent to 20 Semester units) at Foothill Community
29+40+20 = 89 total units/credits earned at CCC/UNR
Matriculation at the UCs will enable the cap and that 89 units earned will change to 70 credits earned and an additional 19 units as “subject credit”. All transferable courses will be counted towards your UC admissions GPA and noted on your transcript, but the courses excess of 70 units they can’t be used to meet any unit-based requirement towards graduation.
This is done so transfers who go through various major and/or campus changes prior to matriculating at the UCs have the opportunity to meet their program graduation requirements without prematurely reaching the UC unit caps.
@SDGoldenBear Thank you! Looks like I’ll be going back to the bay this summer.