I've made my bed...UCR, CCC, or CSU?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My dream is to go straight to a four year university. It quite literally kills me inside to think that I might be stuck at a California Community College for two years. But I have made my bed and now I have to lie in it. For two years...
I want to go to a UC, my absolute dream being Berkeley. But my grades definitely don't reflect that. I could get in to almost any CSU...but do I really want to go to a CSU? The only two that I'd be happy at would be CSULB and Cal Poly SLO, and even then it wouldn't be Berkeley.
So what do I do?
Go to UC Riverside and try to transfer to Berkeley later?
Go to CSU LB, where yes, I will probably be happy, but know for the rest of my life that I might have gone to a much better school?
Or go to a community college, where I will be extremely unhappy and miss out on the college experience?</p>

<p>I guess no matter what I won't be happy. But what do I do? Will I really miss out on the college experience living with my parents for another two years?</p>

<p>I want to be a computer science and engineering major.
I have a 3.76 weighted, 3.46 unweighted, 3.67 UC GPA.
1760 SAT (600 CR, 590 W, 570 M).
SAT II Lit 600
SAT II USH 580</p>

<p>I'm president of CSF, NHS, and Key Club, secretary of the Animal Protection Club, and a member of MESA.
I did a 5 month unpaid marketing internship at an insurance agency (100 hours).
This summer I was accepted and will be attending a paid summer computer programming research program.</p>

<p>My freshman year I screwed up. C- and a D in Geometry, F in a hip hop class.</p>

<p>Sophomore year, I took no AP classes. Average grades, all B's.</p>

<p>Junior year, I took two AP classes and both tests. I worked hard and now I really really care about my future.</p>

<p>Senior year, I am taking five AP classes.</p>

<p>I have taken community college courses, including public speaking and sociology.</p>

<p>I have been doing ballet, tap, and jazz for 14 years at a private studio and a community college.</p>

2

<p>just go to CSU LB and transfer out for sophmore year…it’s just a year more…do VERY well on your senior year finals to get ur GPA up a bit…and 7 APs is well…alot…im sure a string of 4s or higher would make up for ur GPA…oh and do the SAT again in october.
your ECs are pretty good…I don’t see any reason why you wouldnt get into berkley or maybe…UCLA (if it dsnt work out…berkley rejects many good candidates)
and at least at CSU LB u’ll have fun…its just 8 months anyway till you transfer out…right?
wishing you all the best…</p>

3

<p>oh you got into riverside too? thats good then…i just noticed that.lol.
just choose were u’d feel happier till you transfer…LB or riverside…
CC is just…depressing</p>

4

<p>My advice to you would be to check out each UC website and what they require for transfers…and transfers in your program. That might help you reach a decision.</p>

<p>UCs take Community College transfers first, then they take transfers from other UCs. It’s harder to transfer from a Cal State to a UC.</p>

<p>Cal Poly is a great engineering school, but my son had better scores and grades than you and did not get in but your internship could put you over the top (if you apply as an Engineering major). (He did get into UC Irvine). </p>

<p>You have a solid school record. Apply to all the UCs you might want to go to and a couple of Cal States. You may even want to apply to a couple privates. Check out the majors and how they are impacted and DON’T apply in those majors.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>My son had a 3.8 uw gpa
2000 sats
tons of ecs, awards (in physics, calculus and Latin, ap scholar) and did not get into Ucla or Cal Poly.</p>

<p>That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply. You never know why they pick one good candidate over another.</p>

6

<p>Do not go to a CSU or UCR if your ultimate dream is Berkeley. It is almost impossible to transfer from CSUs to the UCs – that’s what community colleges are for. So you may have to bite the bullet and do a cc for a while at least and then give Berkeley a try. </p>

<p>But if community college is really something you DON’T want to do – even for a shot at Berkeley – then I’d recommend CSU. You will get the four-year university experience on at a good school and possibly in an interesting part of the state. You could do a lot worse.</p>

7

<p>This is all great advice. Yasmin, I should have included this, but I’m currently a junior.</p>

<p>My dream is Berkeley, which is why I agree with Katliamom. But then again, I feel like a lot of other students feel at this point: I’m “too good” for a CSU but “not good enough” for a UC.
Like I said earlier, I do community college classes now, and it’s just depressing. It’d be like doing two more years of high school. How would you feel, watching your friends go off to UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford…and you’re stuck in high school for two extra years!</p>

8

<p>I thought UC schools only use sophomore and junior grades … is that incorrect?</p>

9

<p>No, that’s right ctyankee. But they still look at freshman year. And my grades during sophomore year were all B’s. =/</p>

10

<p>go to UC-Riverside and transfer next year, or go to CSu-Stanislaus</p>

11

<p>waitingforcal, I think you’re making a mistake thinking you’re “too good” for Cal State. ( I know you were just speaking metaphorically.) These schools attract excellent faculty and increasingly good students who in the past would have gone to good privates/UCs but chose Cal State because it’s cheaper and more flexible so that it’s easier to work while going to school.</p>

12

<p>Kataliamom, I’m sorry to have chosen those words to describe how I feel. I really want the research-oriented UC experience and I feel like students who come out of UCs have better job opportunities. Is this wrong?</p>

13

<p>waitingforcal I know that the CC can be very depressing and unmotivated but at the end of the day it is YOU getting into Cal through those classes. If you do take the CC route I think you can definitely get a high GPA and transfer to Cal to finish up your undergraduate education. </p>

<p>At times I do feel down that my best friend is going to UC Berkeley, and my other friend who took 0 AP courses is going to a four-year. I’m going to CC as a “second chance,” not because I’m giving up.</p>

<p>Good luck & hang in there.</p>

14

<p>Out of the places u got into, go to UCR or CSU Long Beach. Try for Cal Poly SLO if u do well in college or even UCB if u do fantastic. Just don’t go to CC, waste of two years even tho its cheaper with no guarantee you’ll get into the good school you’re looking for.</p>

15

<p>Actually TPL09 in california, provided you attend the right community college, you are guaranteed admittance into all CSUs and several UCs. While Cal is not one of the UCs that offers guaranteed admissions, it would be possible for the op to go to a community college and be guaranteed (with passing grades) a transfer to a good school, and the second chance at improving his grades would make it more likely for him to get into Berkeley.</p>

16

<p>I think TPL09 has a good point. There is no guarantee you’ll get into Berkeley, especially as an engineering major. While if you get great grades there’s a chance, but a few not great ones will know you out pretty quickly. You know yourself best, and whether you can maintain really high grades in GE classes to get the grades you’ll need.</p>

<p>And contrary to what many above seem to think, you can not transfer after one year. So if you want the 4 year college experience go look at the CSUs, you may like some.</p>

17

<p>why would you want to be at Berkeley if your academic skill is way below the average student there? You would be at risk of failing out. </p>

<p>Trust that if the adcoms don’t think you’ll thrive there, you probably won’t. don’t look for a back door. Find a place that wants you through the front door, where you will not be in the bottom 10% of the class – Based on your SATs and class grades now, it is possible that working as hard as you can might barely keep you above 2.0 at Berkeley.</p>

18

<p>You’re all making good points, thank you. DunninLA, that’s a very interesting perspective. I have never thought about it that way. Thank you so much for saying that, I feel better now.</p>

19

<p>I agree with DunninLA – I know a guy who ended up flunking out of Cal after he transferred in from a community college. His field was physics. He took all the highest math courses at the excellent cc he attended – and got As. But he says his competition at Cal had a much more rigorous math background than he did, and he simply could not compete. Engineering could well be the same. It IS something to keep in mind.</p>

20

<p>Kataliamom, that’s so true. I guess that what I have to do is apply to everywhere I can in the fall and then not take the rejections too personally.</p>