Need advise on cc transfer to UCs, USC, etc...help!

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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So I just graduated high school, applied to UCs, USC, etc, got declined by all, so I’m deciding to put my mind towards actually working hard before I lose another chance, going to citrus college in Glendora California for the fall semister, I want to major in political science, don’t know what sort of classes I need to take for general ed, major stuff, etc to transfer, looked into the IGETC, Trojan Transfer Plan, etc, any suggestions on what sort of english, math, and other course I need to take in order to transfer to USC, UCLA, UCSB, etc? how much my GPA should be and should I take Honors courses? And I’m worried if Citrus has all the courses I would need to transfer, anybody here went to citrus or is going to there right now? Any tips? How do I look up the CRN# ahead of time so I can register for classes faster? Thanks!

Btw how can I get my hands on the right textbooks ahead of time so I can do some previewing during the summer time? thanks!

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I don’t know anything about USC, so I can’t tell you.

For UC’s - The main things UC’s care about are GPA, completed prerequisites for your major, at least 60 units attained before you transfer, and the completion of general education. Do your best to get as high a GPA as possible. I’d say have a 3.8+ to be competitive, but just do the best you can, and of course, the higher the better. A friend of mine got into UCB’s Political Science major as a transfer with a 3.5 (but an upward trend) and minimal extracurriculars.

For general ed, just follow your school’s IGETC pattern, and take whatever courses you find interesting to satisfy them. Finish your math and english requirements as soon as possible, at least by the fall of next year. Honestly, the sooner you get these courses out of the way, the better. IGETC is around 39 semester units, I believe? Once you finish that, you can take whatever you wish to get to the 60 unit minimum. Make sure you take UC transferable courses - they generally say they’re transferable on course descriptions, but most standard courses (3+ units) are.

Regarding major prerequisites (the courses you need to be admitted into the political science major at a college you’re admitted to), check assist.org. It looks like your college has most of the courses you need to transfer, but you’ll probably have to take some at a UC. Don’t worry if some courses are not articulated - they won’t count it against you. If you want to take every single class, you might be able to find the course you need at a neighboring community college, but if you go to another school, make sure you take all the classes you need. You can attend multiple community colleges at once, it’s not a problem.

Here’s your school’s IGETC pattern - just follow that, and make sure you have it finished as soon as you can. By Fall 2016 is preferable, but plenty of people complete it in the spring before they transfer. Some AP units from AP tests satisfy IGETC courses and give you units, as well. Talk to a counselor about this as soon as you can. http://www.citruscollege.edu/stdntsrv/counsel/articulation/Documents/IGETC/IGETC2014-15.pdf

Here’s assist. This is an extremely important resource. Check it out, and compare transfer agreements with your school and other UC’s/schools. It has tons of information, and is seriously helpful. http://assist.org/

Use ratemyprofessor.org/ to look at reviews for teachers you may take. It makes a difference, and is REALLY useful. Look for your school’s course schedule (it’s probably online, but I’m sure they have a physical copy at your school) to see which courses you want to take and whatnot.

Other advice - plan everything in advance. I wouldn’t take more than 12-13 units your first semester - a sample schedule would be something like:

POLI 104 - Intro to Political Science
ENGL 101 - Reading and Comp
MATH 165 - Introductory Statistics
ANTH 212 - Physical Anthropology

You can take whatever you want, though. Honors courses are good if you want to be challenged more, but I don’t think they’re absolutely necessary. If you want advice about fun classes to take, I can tell you, but it’s mostly up to you to see what you’re interested in. All of those courses satisfy IGETC areas. Try to take classes at times that work best for you, get involved in some clubs, and try to meet people for study groups / as friends, if you wish.

Regarding textbooks, I’m not exactly certain. Sometimes professors post the textbook you need on the course information (kind of vague, I know). You don’t necessarily need it ahead of time. I recommend researching the material (you can watch lectures of different classes online if you’d like, or you can search up what a course involves, etc. - google is a wonderful thing) before the term, but it isn’t necessary. You won’t be expected to have your textbook by the first day of school. All of that will be explained in the syllabi your teachers give you.

I think you’ll have to take math/english placement tests before you can choose your classes, as well… Talk to a counselor at your school about that, or anything else you need to do before the term starts. Counselors are also good for helping you make a plan to transfer, and can help you plan everything out ahead of time.

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Thanks for the loooooong reply, really appreciate it. I took my placement test, they placed me in Pre-calc and english 101, but according to what the USC transfer plan says, I need English 102 or higher, which I didn’t see on the test result form I got from citrus, don’t know if you would know anything about that?
Would I need to apply for honors courses? or could I just take them?
I remember after taking the placement test they had a workshop/orientation thing and they talked about needing to take kinesiology and if interested a counseling course, two things, what is a counseling course, and what are the courses required by citrus and what are the courses required by a UC or USC, because I feel that the kinesiology course is something that citrus wants people to take but isn’t required for transfer? I don’t know.

And I really don’t know if I should be panicking right now, but how much stuff do I need to do right now during the summer since I’m enrolling during the fall? in other words how much time do I have?

wouldn’t 4 courses not be enough credits?

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Hey I went to Citrus!!! I’m transferring to Berkeley in the Fall, and got into UCLA and UCSD as well, so hopefully I can give you some advice. Brace yourself for a wall of text, amigo.

You don’t need to take counseling or kineseology. That’s just for an AA or AS. I didn’t take it, I have some friends that did, but that’s usually why a lot of people don’t walk at the end of their Citrus career. Honestly it’s a waste of time because you can take a transferable class rather than a nontransferable.

For English 102, it is offered, it’s just not needed for UC’s or CSU’s. After that you’ll have English 103 (needed for CSU’s and UC’s), and English 104, which isn’t required unless you’re an English major. If you took the AP English test in highschool and got a 3 or lower, you’ll have to take English 101 at Citrus for Berkeley. I think all other UC’s take a 3, but of course Berkeley doesn’t, hahaha.

This summer get familiar with Wingspan. You can look at past semesters and summer semester right now, and when Fall courses go up, write down their CRN, and get a rough outline of your schedule. I’m pretty sure that since you’ve already taken the placement test, your registration date is set. There ARE things to get you some priority, though. I remember when I first started I never checked my Citrus email, and I had an email about priority registration, so I ended up missing out. Also, make sure you figure out what your Citrus email is, because A LOT of teachers will be communicating with you through it.

With the 4 courses, I think the counselors meant “The Golden Four.” English, public speaking, math, and science, I think? Well those are required to complete IGETC. But you need to have 60 units overall, including those. Make that IGETC transfer pattern that goldencub posted your best friend. Like seriously, make several plans around that so that when a class is filled you don’t freak out. You’ll probably take some classes you don’t want to, but it’s community college, and when you get to a 4 year it’ll be worth it!

It sucks, but Citrus probably won’t satisfy all the courses UC’s want. But I’m a philosophy major, and there are literally 0 articulated courses at Citrus, and I got into Berkeley. I’m pretty sure Berkeley, and all other UC’s, are going to take it into consideration whether or not your CC offers the prereqs. Don’t worry about that yet! Take all the poli sci classes you can and get A’s, and you should be competitive for whatever schools you apply to.

For honors, the GPA requirement is like 3.5 I think. The guy in charge is a really cool guy, and will help you out throughout Citrus. I wasn’t actually in that, and didn’t take honors courses, but I’m sure it will help. I guess I just didn’t see the point of risking it for a B while I could take the regular class and get an A. However I was in Phi Theta Kappa. Phi Theta Kappa is the Honors SOCIETY at Citrus, and looks hella good on applications from what I’ve heard. There are meetings, but I don’t think you actually have to go. ASCC is the Student Government of Citrus, and I’d recommend doing that too. It doesn’t seem that hard to move up in it, either. This guy I grew up with went to Citrus for a YEAR AND A HALF and is now president! Get involved, and you’ll have a network of people who are going through what you are, and can help.

Okay, I think I adressed everything you mentioned in your previous two posts. I got kind of excited when I saw that you’re going to Citrus because you’re the first person I’ve seen on here who is. I wish someone would’ve helped me when I started, so if I can do anything just PM me, and good luck!

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thanks! All I’ve seen so far on my citrus/outlook email are two emails regarding my financial aid stuff. I still feel pretty vague about what sort of time frame I have right now, do I have a lot of time, do I have to start worrying right now? when do the crn numbers usually become available? Sadly I didn’t take any APs in high school, my 12th grade gpa was 3.5 but overall my gpa was 2.6 :confused:

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btw, I always feel nervous in new environments, now since most of my friends aren’t in the country or they’re already in UCLA, USC, I feel more lonely…any tips on how to make friends at citrus? How much time are you left with everday after class, homework, study, etc?

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I was actually in the same situation as you. I graduated hs last year but I got rejected from every college I applied to so I went to mt sac which is a cc super close to citrus! I’m going to start taking classes at citrus next spring as well. nediac looks like they covered most of what you need to know. Try to get into priority registration, it helps a lot! Look and see if citrus has the EOPs program, I’m pretty sure they do. They help a lot. And when it comes to the friend situation, I can’t really help you there haha I haven’t made any friends in this area yet but thats because I’m pretty shy. Joining clubs is what you should do tho, most people I’ve talked to are pretty friendly and open minded.

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Hopefully it wasn’t just a 2013 thing and you’ll get one too!

Don’t start worrying! The best thing to do is to get ahead of everything so that you won’t be freaking out about getting a class. For anything registration related, go here: http://www.citruscollege.edu/ar/Pages/ImportantDatesRoll-OutDates.aspx (sorry idk how to embed links haha). If you google a question like “citrus Fall 2015 registration dates,” it’ll usually come up. You’ll be signing into wingspan whatever day it says, and you find “view my registration appointment,” and you’ll see what day/time you register. Not doing well in highschool won’t affect you!!! I barely graduated highschool, honestly. Tons of people on here are in the same boat. CC offers you (prepare for cheesiness) a new beginning. I finished with a 3.75, which is SOOOOOO far ahead of what I had out of highschool. They base your admittance to honors your first semester based on HS grades I think, but you can apply in Spring of 2016 with your new CC GPA.

On making friends… let’s just say I got 3-5 people’s phone numbers in two years, all of which were only for classwork questions haha. It’s a really social campus with lots of clubs and nice people, but I live an hour from Citrus so I didn’t make any friends. You’ll be fine though! I have a lot of friends who have met a lot of people. And if you live near there that’ll be even better. When I graduated, I went to school with a few friends from highschool, but ended up going by myself and maybe getting lunch with them every now and then. I visited my friends away at schools like SLO and SFSU, or my girlfriend who went to Berkeley, and it kinda sucks at first because you aren’t there, but when you’re done, you’ll be too happy to ever think “man, should’ve done better in high school.” I don’t know if everyone agrees with this, but dedicate yourself to school at Citrus. Making a ton of friends can wait, grades and EC’s are your priority if you want to go to UCLA or USC.

On the amount of time I have: I worked 3 days a week, and was down at Citrus 2 days a week. The lowest amount of units I took was 11, but always had time on weekends. I didn’t have much on weekdays, but that’s because I live so far from school and work, so by the time I got home I just wanted to lay on the couch and watch TV then do homework. You’ll have a decent amount of homework, and you’re going to feel a little overwhelmed some days, but that’s normal. Citrus isn’t harder than any school.

ALSO, you didn’t mention this, but take classes over winter and Summer. That’s how you’ll transfer before everyone else. You won’t have to take 16+ units a semester if you take classes over these 6 week periods. I don’t know if you’re up for this, but I took 12 units over Summer of last year, and it was incredibly worth it because I was able to take a normal amount of classes over fall and spring.

Another addition to my wall of text! What math did you test into? If you don’t mind me asking.

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Isn’t there a limit to how many credits you can get for summer and winter courses? I placed into pre-calc, and while we are on that subject, maybe this is a stupid question, but the word statistics keeps popping up on the IGETC, Transfer requirements, etc, does pre-calc count? And what is the petition for priority registration thing? I checked the deadline for that and it showed that that June 12th was the deadline, which was weeks ago…

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Yeah, I think it’s 13 haha. Okay so you don’t have to take 150 which is nice. Stats is just the recommended because pre-calc and calc tend to be harder. Since you tested into pre calc, you can take pretty much all the classes listed under “quantitative reasoning.” I took PSY 103, elementary stats, and it was pretty easy. I don’t know what the petition for priority registration is, sorry. I never did anything like that. But honestly, you should be fine your first semester with your unit count. Goldencub recommended 12-13 units your first semester, and I agree with that. You’ll for sure be able to find some transferable classes, but might not get math, science, english, or public speaking right away, which is fine. But yeah, make a counseling appointment ASAP if you haven’t already, and you can ask them what you can do for priority if it’s still something you’re worried about.

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also, what is english composition? does English 101 count? sorry if I’m asking a lot of obvious and stupid questions… like I said I have no idea…also, what about the different disciplines that I need to fulfill the general ed courses like art, history, chemistry, etc…what sort of disciplines, subjects, etc do I need to do? Any recommendation on how I should go about picking them for each semester?

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@Nediac That’s funny, I’m applying as a philosophy major to Cal and my girlfriend goes there as well.

@Underdog95 Pre-calc is fine. I’d imagine stats would be necessary or more useful for your major, but that’s just a guess and my opinion. I really don’t know, you might want to ask a counselor which you should take, but I’m sure you can take either. You just need to satisfy the requirement for IGETC, unless assist.org tells you otherwise. As long as it’s written on IGETC, you can take it.

Summer courses are great, BUT they take away from your summer, and you can’t take too many at once because they’re really intense (it’s 18 weeks of material packed into 6 weeks - they might not be too hard, but it’s definitely at a quicker pace). I’d say take two classes at the most during the summer, honestly. I’m taking 7 units this summer, and that’ll be more than enough. But yeah - I only need to take 13-14 units per semester because I have 5.3 AP units + 7 summer units. Really glad it’s working out like that.

My school has a limit of 12 units for summer courses, I think? You can always petition to take more, but I wouldn’t recommend it. 18 units for the semester, but you can petition to take more. My girlfriend met someone who transferred to Cal in only one year by taking 30 units per semester and getting straight A’s. I have no idea how, but if you want to take that many units, it’s possible.

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@goldencub haha there are dozens of us! And 12 units in 6 weeks was hard. It was pretty intense, and I’ll never do it again unless I have to. But it did get me way ahead. The girl I work with who is going to UCSB has had to take 16+ units a semester, and I’ve been able to keep it around 12 because of last Summer. My grades didn’t suffer either (it was actually my first 4.0 haha), so don’t be too afraid if you’re pushed into that situation @Underdog95 , or even you, @goldencub , but you’re pretty much done, right?

@Underdog95 English composition is just English 101, I think. If you look at that IGETC link, they’re all listed there. Well for the certain parts, a lot of them are gonna be filled up with your poli sci classes. But with science, make sure you take 1 physical, 1 life, and make sure 1 has a lab. And everything is listed in the IGETC link. You’ll have to do social science, art, etc. I’d just pick what you’re interested in. I took a lot of history classes, and for someone who doesn’t really care for paintings, I took a motion picture appreciation class that I really enjoyed. Again, just do what you want. Those filler classes for 60 units are the classes you have some freedom with that isn’t choosing what professor you want to take.

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@goldencub Yeah, after this summer I’ll be done with summer courses, and am going to apply to Cal in the fall. I’m actually starting Cal classes this summer through UCB summer sessions (PHILOS 12A - intro to symbolic logic, expecting it to be extremely difficult honestly), and then will be taking ancient phil (25A) and modern phil (25B) both at cal before I transfer. My school has a cross-enrollment program that’ll allow me to take the latter two, so I’ll have all of the major prerequisites fulfilled by the end of my sophomore year. Your school doesn’t have the prereq’s either, right? I haven’t seen any CC that offers the prereq’s that satisfy what berk requires. Don’t mind the messy writing.

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@goldencub reading that hurts a little because that’s basically my schedule in the Fall if I get those classes haha. And based on the curve for 12A, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be impossible. The average grade is a B+, so hopefully you can get that! That’s pretty awesome that your school has that. I’m guessing you’re in the cluster of CC’s up there? I can’t think of their names right now. But yeah, my CC, and pretty much every other one, doesn’t offer any of the prereq’s. I can clear the pre req by proving I’ve taken a class that covers those 3 classes, but none of mine have which sucks.

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I’m kinda worried about the classes available at citrus because checking assist, there’s only 3 poli sci courses available out of 5, but 4 are required, so what do I do?!

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@Underdog95 take those classes, then take every other poli sci class that seems like it’s the same. For example, I had to take logic, ancient philosophy, and modern philosophy. So I took Citrus’ logic class, intro to philosophy, and ethics. They all seemed somewhat similar if not totally similar to the Cal classes, but didn’t transfer. If you show initiative they’ll understand. A lot of people go to schools where not all the pre reqs are available.

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@Underdog95 If the courses aren’t available, it won’t be held against you. However, you CAN take the same course at another community college. I looked up the articulation agreement between Mount San Antonio College which is near Citrus (7 miles?), and it had 4 courses, as well as the math you would have to take. You can also take online courses from any community college in CA.

@Nediac Really? Well then, I might see you in 25A in the Fall and 25B in the Spring. This is only if I get the classes - I have the lowest priority as a cross-enrollment student, and I can only get in if there are seats available. I looked at old schedules and there were always multiple spots, so hopefully I’ll land the courses.

Yep, I’m in the Peralta system. I only go to Berkeley City College now.

Luckily our major doesn’t seem too difficult to complete. It is 12 courses, but there are some electives, and it should be doable in two years. Are you going to add a minor?

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Is it too much to ask you guys what courses you would pick for the first and second term if you were my major? Just so I get a general idea of what I should be doing…English and math and general ed stuff first or major stuff first? How hard is it to get classes? which classes are harder to get? SOO MANY QUESTIONS!!! What’s the difference in taking an online course compared to a class where you actually have to be in a classroom?

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@Underdog95 I’m a philosophy major - we’re not all too far off. This is what I took my first and second semesters. The numbers for courses are different, but the actual courses are more or less the same:

1st Semester:
MATH 13: Introduction to Statistics
ENGL 5: Critical Thinking in Reading and Writing
PSYCH 1: Introduction to Psychology
PHIL 1: Introduction to Philosophy
(13 units total)

2nd Semester:
ENGL 85B: Literature in English: Late 17th through Mid 19th Century
ANTHR 1: Introduction to Physical Anthropology
ANTHR 1L: Physical Anthropology Lab
GEOG 1: Introduction to Physical Geography
PHIL 20B: History of Modern European Philosophy
(14 units total - you need to take a science course with a lab at some point, it’s an IGETC requirement. After my 2nd semester, I had all of my math, english, humanities, and science requirements. I skipped English 1A, the equivalent of English 101, because I have AP units.)

With PolySci, just make sure you’re taking major requirements and fulfilling the IGETC pattern. We can’t really tell you what to take, because we don’t know the schedule of classes at Citrus, what you want your schedule to be like, etc.

Your first semester is a large adjustment from high school. Take it easy, take classes you’re interested in, and make sure they’re all transferrable/fulfill IGETC.

I’m sure the prerequisites for your major (on assist) fulfill parts of IGETC as well. You really don’t have to worry about getting all of the units for general ed in - it’s much easier to fulfill than you’d think.

I don’t really like online classes - I prefer being in a classroom.

Getting classes at a CC really isn’t too difficult, but you’ll want to research everything beforehand, plan out possible classes to take, possible schedules, and so forth. You should try to do so immediately for the next semester.