Is transferring from CSU to UC difficult?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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I am currently a senior in high school and I got into CSU Long Beach. It was my safety school and I still want to go to Berkeley (my dream school) so bad…

So I want to transfer from CSU to uc after 2 years. I heard that transferring from CSU to UC is not easy as transferring from CC to UC. Is that true? If so, should I just go to CC and transfer to UC?

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Transferring to UCB is generally difficult, as shown at Transfers by major | University of California .

Starting the transfer path at a community college may be easier because https://www.assist.org will show you which courses do and do not transfer for the subject requirements needed by transfer applicants. In addition, the UC model is that most transfer students come from community colleges, so there may be a preference for applicants from community colleges.

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Yes, it’s true. As Cal says

So they say CCC students have priority.

Your decision is a difficult one. If you go to a CCC for 2 years you won’t have the same college experience you’d have if you attended a 4-year college such as CSULB. And even then the odds are against getting into Cal. It’s a personal decision and there’s no right answer, deciding if the chance to attend Cal is so important that you’re willing to accept the chance of an alternative outcome.

It’s worth mentioning that Cal does have an allied program that says it is very successful in getting CCC xfers into Cal. It appears to be aimed at low-income and minority students but if you qualify it may be something to pursue. See TAP | Center for Educational Partnerships

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However, CSULB is a predominantly commuter college – before COVID-19, only about 31% of frosh lived on campus. So attending as a resident student may not give as full a residential college experience as attending as a resident student at a predominantly residential college.

The main advantages of attending CSULB or other four year school from the start (rather than starting at a community college) are that:

  • you can stay there until BA/BS graduation,
  • there are no issues with possibly missing lower division courses when moving on to upper division,
  • you can take upper division courses before junior year if you are ready for them.

However, these advantages are mostly lost if you transfer to a different college.