Need help with CC and my path (Computer Science)

College Search & Selection Community Colleges
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Hey! Sorry for this huge thread, I just have so many opinions and questions at the moment that I want answered to make everything easier because I have so many options to go for.

I am an international student that is looking to first off attend a community college, mostly because of it being the cheapest alternative. So I am quite sure where I want to transfer after my 2 years at cc, my favorite choice is cal poly SLO by far and the reason behind it is the cheap out of state tuition, meanwhile being a competitive university to many of the great UCs when it comes to Computer Science. I will most likely apply to several UCs and CSUs too, but SLO is the one fitting me the most.

So to the point, I’ve had a hard time choosing what CC to attend, as an international student, there are several things I need to take into account. I need to look for a CC with good educational standard, especially a good computer science department, transfer rates, transferable classes and the location of the CC. Which one of these or any other thing should I look extra carefully into when choosing cc and what is the most important when choosing an as good CC as possible?

Although location shouldn’t matter, I must admit that I definitely would consider living/studying in a nice city that isn’t the same place as the university I will transfer to. The first reason is that I want to be able to bind contacts in several different universities/cities/places which is why moving location is a good choice. Also, it’s of course about my experience, I’d rather experience living in different locations than just one. Am I wrong in thinking of these two factors, or should I just totally ignore the location for whatever reason? Or is it rather important to live in the same city as my transfer university to earn some extra points when applying?

I’ve been looking into the most popular CCs Santa Monica College and Santa Barbara City College (from Sweden), which I ain’t that satisfied with. Sadly I’ve applied to Santa Monica which I probably have to reject because 2 days after applying I heard that there are a lot better CCs out there for my major alignment (Computer Science). I’ve especially heard about Foothill and De Anza College because they are near Silicon Valley. Also, Cuesta College and Hanock College because they are close to Cal poly SLO, so I have to ask if there are any tips on CCs I should attend/apply to considering my situation, needs, and education?

Lastly, I wanted to ask something not so CC related. It’s about Computer Science and what university I should transfer to. Even though I said I was quite sure with Cal Poly SLO, I have no clue if I will change my mind or not, because I’ve changed my mind several times in the process of choosing a university. For the sake of Computer Science, are there any secure move to go? Like what CC to attend that has a good connection with good Computer Science universities and what CC that actually has the best Computer Science classes/teaching. The UCs are quite expensive, I will of course apply to them too, but there’s a really low chance that I will attend any. If we look away from the UCs and Cal Poly SLO, is there any university that you can recommend to transfer to for Computer Science. In that case is it measurable with those I stated above, as my end goal is to work in Silicon Valley, it would be a positive thing if the university has a good connection with Silicon Valley and internship there. For a very ambitious Computer Science student like me, trying to find the safest, but still the best way for me to go is really hard, I have endless opinions and it bothers me how I, in the end, have to choose one direction that can completely change my studies and life. Because each path will have its own story and result. So I would love to get some tips on ways to go and what direction to go (CC -> University) wise for Computer Science?

Hope that I was clear and that someone can help me, be sure to ask me anything if I was unclear, any help for any of the questions is highly appreciated, thanks in advance!

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What’s your budget? De Anza and Foothill is in a pretty expensive area. Why not get a bachelor’s degree in your home country instead and come to the US for a master’s degree? That would make you much more attractive for companies to hire, and easier to sponsor as well.

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Meanwhile having a decent amount of money banked, I will get loan/funding from our economical aid committee, The amount is 1300$ each month I am studying, so no money in breaks, but I am quite sure that living costs etc will not go over 1300$ each month, I will try to find extremely cheap housing either living with other students or with a family host which doesn’t cost that much. I am rather into what’s best for me right now because I’ve thought about the cost etc already.

You are absolutely right about the bachelor degree here instead which is actually free too, and I have really good grades here already. The problem is that I am actually willing to try my best to move to the US, build contacts etc. In my opinion, I would do that best by being in the US from day 1 until eventually taking my masters there. As I just read, it is extremely hard to immigrate to the US and most people just take their masters there and go back. I see it as almost mandatory to be there at a CC and try to get even better grades to actually try to attend one of the top Computer Science universities. The last statement I can’t really see being true, how could that actually be the case, any proof? Because I see the American education as much more viable and predominant than the Swedish university degree. Mostly because here in Sweden everybody gets a degree because it’s free, meanwhile in the US a degree at a good university is always a positive thing considering everybody can’t afford it.

Still looking for tips on what path to go or what community college to choose!

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I would go with Cuesta since they have a very high percentage of transfers that are accepted by SLO if that is your ultimate target. SLO is a tough admit all around for CS but more so for a transfer (project acceptance rate of 8%).
SLO gives priority to transfers in their local service area: San Luis Obispo county to north of Gaviota.

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Have you heard of SJSU? A lot of foreign students who are interested in computer science go there, and end up with pretty good jobs afterwards. Because of its proximity to technology companies, SJSU sends more students to Apple than any other university (more than Stanford or MIT). Not a bad choice to start out there, or go to a CC and transfer there in 2 years. I can also vouch for the quality of both De Anza and Foothill, although they are in a very expensive area. If you are willing to pay the cost of living there, might as well just cough up a little extra and do all 4 years at SJSU.

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Yeah, that’s something I’ve thought for Gumbymom, it is reasonable to choose Cuesta college for the transfer rate. I guess they have a good Computer Science department too. What’s good is that they offer TAG too, so I can do TAG with UCSD meanwhile having an upper hand in transferring to Cal poly SLO. I mean who knows if I will change my mind of what university to attend, I guess it doesn’t matter that much and that it is worth to take this path for the security of SLO.

Puzzled I have and I’ve also seen the extremely good intern/working rate in silicon valley after attending SJSU. First I thought it would cost a lot, but now when I looked into it, it’s actually not that expensive to study there. That is absolutely something to think of, I will look into it further and hopefully they offer masters degree too. To be honest I would not go to SJSU first because CC is still cheaper and I would probably need these 2 years to get into the system and completely know where I should take my bachelors/masters.

In that case, I would probably still choose Cuesta College because if I want to transfer to SLO, in the end, I have a good chance of doing so, but if I want to attend SJSU I still think I would be able to do that. In other words, I guess that it’s actually harder to get into SLO, hence I should prioritize the transferability and transfer rate to SLO. Though I must say that De Anza and Foothill seem very tempting too. It will be a hard choice at the end between Cuesta College, De Anza and Foothill, but it leans towards Cuesta College. Any final opinion on this?

Thanks for your help! Would love to get more opinions and tips on what to do.

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UCSD no longer participates in TAG. You can TAG to UCD/UCI/UCSC/UCR and UCM. UCSB participates in TAG but not for Engineering/CS.

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Use http://www.assist.org to see which CCs have the best coverage for lower division CS major courses at your target UCs and CSUs.

De Anza and Foothill are two of the three quarter system CCs (three 10-week terms in an academic year plus a 10-week summer quarter). Most CCs are on the semester system (two 15-week terms in an academic year plus a shorter summer term). Most CSUs are on the semester system, but CPSLO and some others are on the quarter system. UCB and UCM are on the semester system, while the other UCs are on the quarter system.

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Examples of ASSIST reports for CS majors:

Cuesta → CPSLO
http://www.assist.org/web-assist/reportOnly.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=19&dir=1&rinst=left&EM=1&sia=CUESTA&ia=CUESTA&ria=CPSLO&oia=CPSLO&ay=16-17&aay=15-16&dora=CSC
Cuesta’s CIS 231-232-233 covers CPSLO’s CPE 101-102-103, although there is no coverage for CPSLO’s CSC 123 or 225, ENGL 149, or MATH 248.

De Anza → CPSLO
http://www.assist.org/web-assist/reportOnly.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=19&dir=1&rinst=left&EM=1&sia=DAC&ia=DAC&ria=CPSLO&oia=CPSLO&ay=16-17&aay=15-16&dora=CSC
De Anza can cover CPSLO’s CPE 101-102, but there is no coverage for CPSLO’s CPE 103, CSC 123 or 225, ENGL 149, or MATH 248.

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Most international CS graduates who get work visas at desirable employers (not low end IT contracting shops) have master’s degrees from US universities after bachelor’s degrees in their home countries. It is not necessarily true that an international CS graduate with just a US bachelor’s degree will be seen as being any more desirable than one with a US master’s degree after a non-US bachelor’s degree.

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Gumbymom, oh that’s sad to hear, anyways, the goal is to in the end be able to choose from different universities and not just one. In case I change my mind about SLO which is not that likely, then I would probably take a TAG with UCI or UCD which I heard were good for Computer Science.

Ucbalumnus, yeah I will have to look further into assist.org for seeing what classes are available. According to what you found out it seems that Cuesta has an upper hand with one more CPE class, for me it seems clear to pick Cuesta college. Honestly for me, it doesn’t really matter how long I study or which system I will go for, both works for me. If it doesn’t affect my transferability and application, because if it does I have to look into that too. Thanks for letting me know.

The point of taking bachelors free here in Sweden is actually a really good point, and something really interesting to talk about, even my parents and friends etc question why I don’t do that. I would say that it’s hard for someone that doesn’t see how I think, I could explain briefly. I am really tired of Sweden is my honest opinion, I don’t feel any aspiration to study 3 more years here, even if it’s going extremely good for me. It may sound very stupid, but the closer I get to the USA, the further and quicker I get into the process of moving there. The safer and better I feel, because in the end, I want to settle there and work etc. The weird thing is that taking bachelors here is still in the back of my head, but I am just trying to ignore this path and planning my studies in the US instead. I by no means even have closely the money to just throw away, I will be in debt 70 000$ after taking bachelors (CC → Cal Poly) if that’s the road (Education, living expenses, housing and everything included in 4 years). Which is crazy, if I on top of that should get a Master, which should be even more expensive, I will get onto the 100 000$ mark. Sure I will be able to pay it back quickly considering the extremely high salary after a CS master. But it bothers me a bit to think of that I could actually get it almost free if I took another road. In the end, I feel that transferring from a bachelor in Sweden to a master in the US isn’t that easy as people say it is. If we think about a good university then, I’d rather say that I have a higher chance of doing better in the US and actually getting into a really good University which I consider Cal poly SLO to be if I take the CC route. Sure it costs a lot more, but it could actually be extremely rewarding. I see the very very best students from example Sweden getting the chance to transfer to a master in the US and that it’s very unique, otherwise a lot of people would probably do it and I rarely hear about it. Honestly, I am quite scared that in the end I might even be trapped here in Sweden and just regret that I never took the chance in the beginning. It’s really really hard to decide but in the end, I need some convincing from other people, I need to know if my thinking is totally stupid or not from another persons perspective. Just wondering if it’s hard to understand why I really want to go directly to the US and in that case is it even reasonable?

How does it work if I take a TAG? Do I have to read some necessary classes that might be unnecessary for Computer Science at SLO? Becuase I would, of course, want a TAG in case I decide to go for a UC instead, the more choices I have in the end, the better. So is it in that case impossible to both take transferrable classes to SLO and try to have a TAG agreement. Because if I am right, I have to follow a specific class schedule when taking TAG.

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http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/index.html

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/tag-matrix.pdf

http://www.admissions.uci.edu/apply/transfer/guarantee.php

https://www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/undergraduate/transfer/transfer-admission-guarantee