Mechanical Engineer's First Year at CCC. I Need Guidance!

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I'm a M.E. major currently at East Los Angeles CC. I'm almost done with my first year but I'm still a bit loss on what classes or what paths to take towards transferring. I want to transfer to either Cal Poly Slo, Cal Poly Pomona, CSULB, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, USC. My top choices are USC, SLO, and UCLA though, if that matters.</p>

<p>This is my coursework so far:</p>

<p>Fall 2010
Anthro 102 (dropped with a W)
Theater 505 - 3 units
Political Science 001 - 3 units
Badminton/P.E. 662 - 1 unit
General Engineer 101 - 2 units</p>

<p>Total: 9 Units GPA: 4.00</p>

<p>Spring 2011
General Engineering 110/Graphics - 3 units
Math 262/Calculus 2 - 5 units
General Engineering 221/Probability&Statistics - 3 units
English 101 - 3 units</p>

<p>Total: 14 Units GPA: working on it. I think I can pull off an A in all my spring classes EXCEPT calc2. I might get a B for calc2 ):</p>

<p>AP Credit: 5 on AP Calculus AB (6 units)</p>

<p>I plan to take either physics 011, chemistry 065, or math (calc3, linear, or diff?) for Summer 2011.</p>

<p>I need some guidance as to what classes I should take and what paths I should take to ensure a successful and timely transfer. I would like to attend a university during Fall 2012 but I will gladly take an extra year IF it increases my chances significantly. Should I sign a TAG agreement? Does Community service count? Should I join a club? Take baby steps with me :(</p>

<p>Like I said before, I'm totally clueless about everything and I'm unsure of what I should do. I feel like I've made plenty of mistakes already in my choosing of classes but I'm determined to right those wrongs. </p>

<p>So where do I go from here?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>bump? :smiley: TTT</p>

3

<p>See a CCC counselor, that is exactly why they are paid. The office should also have individual CSU transfer sheets for your major to act as a check list and should also have UC transfer sheets for your major as well to act as a check list. (For example, I know that Davis and Berkeley ask for different classes for the CS transfer degree plan–minor differences but they were there.)</p>

<p>Note that because you want to apply to CSUs, UCs and privates that you will have to make sure you take the required classes for all three tracks. While 90% will overlap, there will be lots of annoying things that do not and it will tack on anywhere from 1 - 6 extra classes to cover all the bases. For example, most the CSUs require the “Golden Four” classes which includes a Communications class–whereas the IGETC for the UCs doesn’t have that exact requirement. </p>

<p>The CSUs and UCs don’t care about how many years it takes for you to complete if all your units are from a CCC, so don’t fret about prior classes so much. Just figure out the speed you want to go from here. Again, a CCC counselor at your school is the best resource, though do double check EVERYTHING with actual documents because some CCC counselors are not on the ball.</p>

<p>Clubs and ECs do not matter one bit for CSU transfers - there is not even a place to list this work in the CSU application! They count a little bit for UCs and you want a good recommendation, but in the end, the biggest factor for getting into a UC (as much as they say otherwise) will be your gpa.</p>

<p>Extra year does not hurt or help unless you are short the actual critical/needed requirements. So apply when you have the basic requirements completed or planned/in-progress. You can always reapply later if needed.</p>

4

<p>Step One… Spend some time on assist.org looking up what classes will transfer where. Make a list of each of the classes they recommend for each school and see which ones overlap the most and follow that path. Though it is really hard to follow a specific pathway for your major since the schools are so diverse. But for Mech Eng you should really get done with your basic classes first because when you transfer, you will need these as prerequisites for Upper Div classes while some of the Eng classes you can probably take after you transfer. Since you don’t know where you’re going, you have to best prepare for all of them. FYI my school doesn’t even offer half of the Eng classes that your school does and I know people that are transferring as ME. So don’t worry that you can’t fit in all these random Eng classes. Alright so I looked up the particular schools you were interested in and I think that you should mostly focus on these courses…</p>

<p>CHEM 1 & 2
PHYS 1 2 & 3 (& 4 if you have time)
MATH 263
MATH 270 (& 275 if you have time)
MATH 173*
GEN ENGR 131*
ELEC ENGR 220*
A comp sci class (varies between schools)
The following courses are alsotransferable for one or two schools but you should really get your basic chem/phys/math done ASAP.
ENGR 151 -
ENGR 231 -
ENGR 241 -</p>

<p>So next Fall, make sure you at least take Physics 1, Gen Chem 1, and Calc 3. If you can get done with any of those over the summer take the next class in the sequence.</p>

<p>Work on your IGETC classes which you can talk about with a counselor but mainly focus on these science/math classes this year! Since they occur in a sequence, 3 years will definitely help you become a much better candidate because you will be able to take a lot more of the recommended pre-reqs and finish your IGETC.</p>

<p>And you should fill out as many TAG/TAP agreements that you think you can fulfill.</p>

5

<p>As post #4 says, [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) is your friend.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>[East</a> LA College to Cal Poly SLO Mechanical Engineering](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)</p>

<p>[East</a> LA College to UCLA Mechanical Engineering](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST[/url)</p>

<p>Note that if your community college does not have courses that articulate to all of the lower division courses needed at the destination university, you can try looking for those courses at other nearby community colleges. Otherwise, you will have to take them at your destination university (which may require an extra quarter or semester of school there).</p>