<p>Would it be worth it to leave De Anza in the Bay Area, and move down to Santa Monica to attend SMC? I really want to get into UCLA, and would like to sign a TAP down there. I'll be juggling school, work, volunteering, and some how find a social life. Good thing however, is I'll be rooming with 3 other friends, who want to go to SMC too and also have good motivation.</p>
<p>I know De Anza is a good school and all, I currently commute ~30min a day just to attend that school. But De Anza doesn't have a TAP which IMHO will significantly increase my chances into LA. Not to mention, I've been living in the same city for so long, and its about time I leave the house and start a life of my own.</p>
<p>Again, all opinions, advice, criticism are welcome! Thanks again CC!</p>
<p>I don't think it's worth it to make such a huge move. </p>
<p>As long as you <em>DO</em> TAP and keep your grades up you should have a decent shot. For UC's I don't think it matters so much what community college you come from.</p>
<p>Just how difficult are these Honors classes? My knees feel weak just looking at this list. Not to mention i have to retain a 3.5 gpa with no less than a B. I'd like to hear from those who is using TAP also. Even if u you aren't in TAP, but do know a lot of things about TAP, i'd like to hear! </p>
<p>ps. on average, how many students drop-out or get disqualified from TAP?</p>
<p>i think honors really depends on the teacher/class. my macroecon class had an honors cohort (that i signed up for). only difference between honors and regular class was an additional 4 pages on an essay....thats it.</p>
<p>feliks, de anza's honors program has to agreement with LA. west valley and foothill do, they are both 10 mins from de anza. thats the main reason i attended west valley and now going to ucla.</p>
<p>Personally, I would want to go to SMC, if I could afford it, because so many students go from there to UCLA. You'd make a lot of friends who you can continue on with as friends at UCLA. Plus Santa Monica is a wonderful place.</p>
<p>You could do the same at West Valley College (5 miles south). They have a TAP program as well. I've taken 7 honors courses (only need 6) and in some cases they seem easier than the regular classes because the classes are smaller and the professors are usually the very top notch who really care about teaching well. </p>
<p>Differences in courses has been minimal. Sometimes it has been an extra 10 page paper (that being the ONLY difference). Sometimes it has been reading an extra book/4 page review and a group project/presentation. Sometimes it has been completely loosey-goosey-do-what-you-want-I-trust-you-because-you are all honor students and let's cancel the final. Sometimes the course was, even by professor's admission, identical. So - it's grab bag. Never has it been (from my observations) a ton of extra work... by definition, the honor courses are to cover the same material, be graded on the same rubric -- the difference is the professor it to encorporate a deeper level of conversation and understanding and have that demonstrated via paper, presentation, etc. </p>
<p>Many WVC honor students get into UCLA, even in impacted majors. No TAP is a guarantee, so always have a backup plan!</p>
<p>Honestly 4 out of 6 of the classes I took for the TAP requirement were cake.</p>
<p>The other two took some work, but definitely manageable. The two that were a bit more difficult were English 11 (Poetry w/ Robbins) and English 48C 1949 lit - current I believe. The poetry class w/ robbins is SO worth it though. 48c bored me to the point where I had to drop it. </p>
<p>I took 14 honors units last quarter (I think?) and got A's in all of them while working full time + taking another class @ De Anza. And seriously, I'm not that smart...so you can do it.</p>
<p>SMC has a lot of transfers to UCLA because UCLA is so close. I think that moving so far just to go to a "better" community college would be a painfully bad idea, especially since Foothill and De Anza are both perfectly decent options for you.</p>
<p>Well, it doesn't sound the mildly increased chances are the sole factor -- if you want to move to someplace new, already have friends to move with, and it fits into your education plan too, you could do worse than SMC. </p>
<p>I'm not sure what major you have in mind, but if your primary reason for moving is the possible boost in your transfer chances, I'd suggest putting more effort into maintaining a good GPA, sharpening your writing skills, and cultivating relationships with professors who'd give you good letters of rec. I don't know whether some programs are so tough that any scrap of edge helps, but if the thought of maintaining a 3.5 and Bs or better is intimidating, getting your study skills up may be a better investment of your time and effort.</p>
<p>UCLA doesn't require letters of rec. for most majors. themovies is otherwise right though. It all depends on whether your major is impacted or not to determine what type of workload and extracurriculars and effort it will require to be 1)competitive and 2)admitted.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your input! I'm still not 100% set on going though.
You guys gave me a better understanding of SMC, difficulty of TAP courses, and other schools that offer TAP in the bay area. This certainly helps give me a better view of my situation. </p>
<p>If honors classes at a CC frighten you, why would you want to go to UCLA. Classes there will be much more difficult as will getting good grades.</p>
<p>Maybe I over exaggerated my fears of the TAP courses. Seems like most TAP courses just require more reading, and writing, but on the good side the professors are more dedicated. Now that I know what I'm up against, I'm pretty confident. Thanks!</p>