Local Community College or UCLA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
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<p>I got into UCLA (as well USC, JHU, and Berkeley), and I really want to go to UCLA, but...</p>

<p>My parents will have hard time paying for my college tuition. I would pay in-state tuiton, but don't qualify for any federal/state aid because I am an AB540 student. I will get some private scholarships and my parents say they will try to cover my tuiton with private loans, but I don't think I should put such severe financial strain on my family. I am trying to convince myself to go to CC instead of UCLA for the sake of my family, but I can't get over the feeling what I will miss so much by not choosing UCLA. </p>

<p>So here are some of the pros and cons (I think) of attending CC</p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<p>Save my family A LOT of money </p>

<p>Easier classes at cc</p>

<p>More time to help out my dad in his business (I work for my dad 20 hrs/week to support our family and I can't do that if I attend UCLA) </p>

<p>More time for fun?</p>

<p>Ultimately, the diplomas of those who started as freshmen at UCLA and those who started as transfers are same right?</p>

<p>Cons:</p>

<p>I have a feeling that most UCLA students would have settled into their own niches by the time I get to UCLA and I may have a hard time fitting in socially. Is this true? Can I still build connections/relationships with professors as a 3rd year? Can I still "network"?</p>

<p>How hard is it getting a dorm as a transfer student? </p>

<p>I don't know if this is a con but... I already have A LOT of units (~90 quarter units) from AP classes and college classes taken during high school. Isn't there a unit cap or something where students with a large number of units are disadvantaged somehow?</p>

<p>I know this is sort of immature of me, but I can't get over how my friends/teachers and other close to me would react at me going to a cc (they don't know about my immigration status). In any case this is not a very big factor.</p>

<p>Disadvantaged when applying to grad school or for a job? I assume that because transfers naturally took a fewer courses at UCLA than those who started as freshmen so they may speculate that transfers have had easier time maintaining a higher/same gpa at UCLA.</p>

<p>I would miss the entire experience of attending UCLA as a freshman..</p>

<p>So can you guys help me decide? I know I will make the ultimate decision, but any opinons will be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Also I have a list of few [more] questions:</p>

<p>Can you transfer after only 1 year at community college? I already finished most of my GEs. I am only missing 3 classes + 4 GEs required to admission to bizecon major. I think I can finish those classes in one year. </p>

<p>If it is possible to transfer after 1 year, will cc classes I have taken during high school be included in the college GPA? </p>

<p>How hard is it to transfer to UCLA? What are some admission consideration factors other than GPA? Do grades/activities in high school count at all?</p>

<p>Do classes taken at CC (even during high school) go on UCLA transcript when applying to grad school? </p>

<p>Sorry for so many questions. Thanks for reading the post. Any input will be appreciated.</p>

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<p>I suggest you go to your local community college and transfer to UCLA after one or two years. You will have the GREAT advantage of working for your father which is FANTASTIC for your future (job experience for jobs upon graduation). Do NOT have your family take on debt. IT is not worth it, especially since there are tons of kids going to community college and then transferring. It is now actually HOT to go to com. college because of the down economy. There is NO shame in going to Com. college. Talk to a UCLA admissions rep. to take the right classes to transfer and figure out your transcript needs. You might also want to go to UCLA summer school to get the UCLA experience (a nice compromise).</p>

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<p>I would agree that people tend to settle very quickly, but all is not lost. If you’re the social type, it shouldn’t be really a problem. As far as connections with professors, it doesn’t matter at all since most of the time, everyone in your class will be meeting them the first time as well.</p>

<p>Easier classes at CC may be a negative in that you’ll be less prepared to compete with nontransfers, which means you’ll have to work harder.</p>

<p>You’re guaranteed 1 year of dorming, I believe. They do tend to segregate all transfers to a certain building.</p>

<p>Large number of units shouldn’t be a problem.</p>

<p>And I would say you wouldn’t miss any important experience of attending UCLA as a freshman unless you really cared for a social life. Academic-wise, it’s the same routine quarter after quarter.</p>

<p>I think ultimately, the question you should ask yourself is: “Will I be able to keep up the momentum with academics and extracurriculars in a less academically challenging/supporting environment in order to get into UCLA (or similar school) and then work hard to overcome the slight disadvantage due to differences in rigor?”</p>

<p>And I disagree with taking summer session at UCLA because it’s more expensive and it’s different from the rest of the year.</p>

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<p>You will save a lot of money by commuting.</p>

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<p>There are always opportunities lost if you go to one and not the other. There are always advantages/disadvantages. But in this case, I think it would be better for you and your family if you go to CC and transfer to UCLA in your junior year (you can only transfer as a junior).
To answer some of your Cons:

Yes, you can still build connections and relationships as a 3rd year and can “network”. You probably won’t have as many UCLA friends or connections with professors if you skip your freshman and sophomore year, but in essence you can still fit in socially.</p>

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It’s a lottery with the other transfer students, guaranteed for one year, and you will have less rooming facility options to choose from.</p>

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True, that will be an opportunity lost if you chose to attend CC.</p>

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Normally, UCLA only accept transfer students as juniors. I never heard of anyone transferring as a sophomore. So unless you get a special exception, I doubt it.</p>

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<p>Fasttrack, UCLA determines your class level based on the number of units you have. I have had friends who transferred after one year because they were taking CC classes all through high school. </p>

<p>To transfer, you just needed the minimum units and fulfilled the requirements to get into the major.</p>

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<p>Not that I know of. At least accounting wise, they hire a lot of transfers. By the time you transfer and take classes, you would have at least some grades present. They can go based off that so don’t mess up like I did, haha. </p>

<p>It works both ways. You took less classes at UCLA but at the same time your GPA can easily be wrecked since you are only there for 2 years. </p>

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<p>Yes. All the CC classes you have taken will appear on one transcript that UCLA will see. </p>

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<p>I’d say it’s really easy. I’d say GPA matters the most. The rest helps but personally, I fulfilled the transfer agreement (TAP) and was in college honors so that was supposed to get me in here. I had only 1 EC which was volunteering with a homeless program for about 400+ hours. </p>

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<p>The classes do, but the grades don’t show. Your CC grades are not on your UCLA transcript. You basically have a blank slate when you start your UCLA career.</p>

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<p>Well on a completely rational and non-emotional level, i’d say go the CC route and transfer.
However, if you’re planning on doing something like engineering or law or medicine, then maybe taking on a bunch of debt wouldn’t be so terrible. You’d just have to guarantee yourself that you’d actually get into an engineering school, law school, or med school, respectively. UCLA is pretty awesome… lol I guess im playing devil’s advocate here.</p>

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<p>don’t go to CC…
you’re only paying instate tuition. Even if you’re paying full(don’t drag your parents into this), its only like what, 25k a yr? There are some who take out like 30k~40k loans per yr just to go to college.
though u’d have like 100k in debt(that’s alot >.<), don’t do it.</p>

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<p>I say go to UCLA. People will assume that you didn’t get in the first time if you transfer. I also think the freshman experience is important</p>

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<p>Thank you guys for all these replies. </p>

<p>mdcissp: Thanks, but I know what classes to take. </p>

<p>ucapplicant05: I am not too worried about the rigor of UCLA. I am pretty good at studying, especially at strong academic environments. Thanks.</p>

<p>fasttrack: Thanks for the answers.</p>

<p>altema: Thanks, I will take your word on that I can transfer after 1 year if I met all the prereqs. Do you think my activites in high school will count at all if and when I apply as a transfer? I mean I would have only had 1 year of comm. college experience, so I didn’t have much time for activities</p>

<p>nodnarb: I will do biz-econ. I am dead set on this. I can’t imagine majoring in anything else.</p>

<p>Ren the SAT’er: My family barely makes ends meet. I know my family’s financial status inside and out since I prepare their tax returns. I can’t let them take on private loans. That much loan will literally destroy my family’s finances.</p>

<p>fortify: Yes I really want that experience… but I don’t know if I can afford such luxury</p>

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<p>I actually have a board up on UC transfer forum too, and I am getting mixed replies in both boards haha</p>

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<p>I understand your situation. Congrats for being admitted to some fine schools. Just curious how you thought you could actually go to JHU and USC. Did you think private schools would meet full need given your immigration status?</p>

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<p>Business econ major huh? Do you plan on going to graduate school?
If so then that might put you in a position where you could pay back all those loans. It will be difficult once you graduate to pay back so much but if you go to a good grad school and get a good job then I’m sure you can make it. But yeah you’ve got to decide if you want to pay money for a good part of your life on 2 years of a good time versus not paying so much debt and missing out.
But if you transfer, you’ll still have to pay 2 years of UCLA…why not pay for 2 more?
eh, tough decision. good luck</p>

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<p>Why buy a Toyota Camry? You’ll have to pay 20k for it, so why not get a BMW 3 series for 35k? Because it’s still 15k more expensive and two years of school is 40k~ more money spent. His focus is money, everyone cares about the experience. I feel kind of bad that I did not get the full experience, but when you dont have money you have to make the best of the situation. </p>

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<p>They should. The application looks the same as your HS UC aps so you can list them. </p>

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<p>You really gotta find a better reason to encourage him. His parents barely make ends meet and you are telling him to basically get 50k in debt. </p>

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<p>Who cares about fact that people will assume you didn’t get in the first time? I honestly never cared, lol. </p>

<p>Freshman experience is important but if he’s going to be so much in debt and burden his family, it’s better to not cause more harm than is needed.</p>

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<p>Just saying, because i would care</p>

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<p>Why? The most impressive people I have met at UCLA were not people who got to UCLA straight from HS, they were transfer students. Maybe that’s why I don’t care. Or maybe its because I can score top 10 in a class being a transfer so I don’t feel any different than a person who came here from day 1.</p>

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<p>Here’s an idea that just might work:
The Department of Defense has this awesome scholarship called SMART. Basically if you do a science/technology/engineering major you’re eligible. You get paid tuition, about 25k/year stipend, and paid summer internships. After you graduate you owe the DoD four years of working in a DoD lab (or however many years they supported you).
-I know you want to do business economics but you could perhaps double major in a science to qualify.</p>

<p>-------- Umm…well maybe this wouldn’t work for you since you’re not a citizen. Non-citizens definitely can’t work for the DoD.
But if anyone else is having a hard time with money then go check out the SMART scholarship through the DoD.</p>

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<p>brassring: I applied to USC because I heard their aid program is excellent even for internationals (which I had to apply as) and the school is very close from my house… I applied to JHU (as an international) just to see if I can get in.</p>

<p>nodnarb: Yeah I plan on going grad school. Thanks</p>

<p>altema: Thanks for those insightful posts. I really appreciate it. </p>

<p>fortify: I do care for the freshman experience, but I don’t care if people assume that I didn’t get in the first time. I don’t think most people at UCLA are shallow enough to see me any differently just because I transferred. I am attending CC right now and some people in the class are smarter than me; I don’t judge people to be less impressive/slackers because they are at CC. And as altema said, I rather miss the freshman experience than be a burden to my family.</p>

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<p>Oh and I have a few questions</p>

<p>Are lower division courses harder than upper division courses at UCLA?</p>

<p>Are summer classes at UCLA cheaper than at winter/spring/fall quarters? </p>

<p>Can I take upper division courses before getting into the major?</p>

<p>Is it required to take some GEs at UCLA? Or can all GEs be taken at cc?</p>

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<p>And do classes like Econ 11 require strong foundation in Math 31b and macro/micro econ? I still haven’t ruled out the possibilty that I will go to UCLA as a freshman. If I do, I plan on taking Calc 2 and Econ 2 (I took econ1) during the summer this year at CC. But I am afraid those classes will not give me as strong foundation(?) for classes like Econ 11 at UCLA.</p>