I am applying for a transfer from one UC campus to another UC campus. The following passage is confusing. How are excessive units determined? Can you explain to me what is an excessive unit.
I saw the following passage in the site below:
Units earned at any UC campus (Extension, summer, cross/concurrent and regular academic year enrollment) are not included in the limitation but are added to the maximum transfer credit allowed and may put applicants at risk of being denied admission due to excessive units.
Students will be granted up to 70 semester/105 quarter units of credit for lower-division coursework completed at any institution or any combination of institutions. For units beyond the maximum, subject credit for appropriate coursework taken in excess of this unit limitation will be granted and may be used to satisfy requirements.
Units earned through AP, IB and/or A level examinations are not included in the limitation and do not put applicants at risk of being denied admission.
Units earned at any UC campus (Extension, summer, cross/concurrent and regular academic year enrollment) are not included in the limitation but are added to the maximum transfer credit allowed and may put applicants at risk of being denied admission due to excessive units.
Note: if all courses are completed at one or more 2-year (community) colleges, a student would never be in danger of having too many (excessive) units.
You are allowed a maximum of 70 semester/105 quarter units for transfer if they are all lower division from a UC. AP credits are not included in this maximum. Any UC credits beyond the 70 semester/105 quarter units are added to this unit number to reach a maximum unit for transfer. Many campuses have a maximum limits which can exclude you from applying.
If you were transferring from a CA CC, then all courses are considered lower division and you can exceed the 70 semester/105 quarter unit maximum but only 70/105 units will transfer and the rest be given subject credit. ALL UC units are cumulative so there is always a chance to exceed the maximum’s for each campus and not capped at 70/105 units like CC units.
What is the unit number you will have completed by Spring 2023. Are they all lower division and all taken at the UC?
As long as have 70 semester/105 quarter units or less which are all lower division classes, you are fine.
Add all non-UC lower division units (but not units from AP, IB, A-level exams for the purpose of “too many units for admission”). If greater than 70 semester (105 quarter) units, use 70 semester (105 quarter) units.
Add all upper division and UC units to the above number.
If the total is greater than 80 semester (120 quarter) units, you would be considered a “high unit junior”. If the total is greater than 90 semester (135 quarter) units, you would be considered a “senior”.
By the end of Spring 2023, I will have 70 semester UC units in which 16 are upper division I also have 21 Community College semester units that my present UC transferred/recognized/articulated. This totals 91 semester units.
In high school, I participated in the dual enrollment program and took 7 classes for 21 semester units, I also took 2 CC classes in the summer of 2022 to meet GE requirements at my UC. The summer courses totaled 6 semester units. At the end of this fall term I would have met all the lower division GE requirement at my present university.
Of the 7 classes I took in the dual enrollment program, 5 of those classes totaling 15 semester units were transferred/recognized/articulated to my present UC and the 6 semester units I took in the summer of 2022 to meet GE requirements, total 21 semester units.
According to assist.org, 3 of the 7 dual enrollment CC classes are accepted by UCI as are the 2 classes I took in the summer of 2022, so total of 5 classes with 15 semester units.
In summary I will have a total of 70 UC semester units in which 16 semester units are upper division. I also have 27 semester units of CC classes. How these units will transfer seems to depend on which UC campus.
My questions are:
With all the units I have, am I at risk of being denied admission due to excessive units?
How do the 16 upper division units I plan to take next term affect my chances?
At my UC they transferred/recognized/articulated 15 semester units, 5 courses, from the dual enrollment program How many will UCI recognize/articulate. From assist.org UCI only recognize/articulate 3 of the courses totaling 9 units. So how many of these CC units will UCI use in its decision making?
So the maximum # of semester units could be as high as 91 or on the lower end it could be 85 units? All UC units/credits will be counted regardless of lower and upper division which are added to the CC units (depends upon how many will actually be accepted by the UC’s??).
So based on this chart you may have issues on transferring. I suggest you contact admissions for all the UC’s of interest and see if they will give you a “pre-read” on your transcripts.
I’m not a UC admin, but yours is a quite complicated scenario and you really need to talk to UCI admissions. Seemingly beyond doubt is that you have 70 semester units since those were taken at a UC. The question is how many of the remaining units count? It depends on how UCI or the UCs count dual-enrollment units and whether they count against the unit cap.
I don’t think UCI is required to accept units from a CC even if recognized by your current school, but of course I could be wrong. If they don’t you are ok and you have 85 units which is under the 90 semester unit limit to be a high-unit junior at UCI. If they do then you have 91 units, but maybe you get a break if the dual-enrollment units don’t count.