<p>hey cc, I have a few questions / some needed guidance (sorry if this is the wrong place to post this) </p>
<p>I'm at a dead-end at the moment and have no idea as to what to do. I recently applied to 8 colleges here in California and have been rejected by 5 of them (waitlisted by 3 but 1 already told me it was a no-go). I applied to 4 UC's and to 4 CSU's. Berkeley, LA, SD, and Irvine, I got rejected from all of them and I was also rejected from SDSU and SLO. I am currently on the waitlist for CSULB and Cal Poly Pomona. My issue is, should I go to on of those 2 campuses or should I go to a CC and do 2 years there and then hopefully transfer to a better school? Would it be wiser to take the CC route anyway for monetary reasons? </p>
<p>I applied for engineering if that matters and have very average grades so I saw it all coming. If I am to go the CC route, which are the best ones in/near Los Angeles for transferring to good engineering schools like Berkeley or Stanford? </p>
<p>thanks for the help!</p>
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So, just to be clear - out of the 8 schools you applied to, you were denied by 5 and wait listed to the other 3 (though one has already denied as well)?</p>
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Know this you didn’t have other safeties, or was CC you’re safety?</p>
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The unfortunate thing, as you have well experienced, is that a wait list is absolutely no guarantee and Plan B should be enacted. In your case this is CC. While waiting for your wait list decisions from those two CSUs, you should apply to your local CCC and get the ball rolling there. You’ll need to submit your FAFSA and a lot of other docs that may take a bit to assemble for them and get all set up. Acting swiftly you may be able to even start in the Summer term and get ahead of the game. If once you’ve started all that and you end up getting an offer from CSULB or CPP, then you can weigh the options then if you’d like going to one of those schools instead of CC for a couple years and trying for higher schools. The point is that you get something started while waiting on the WL. Monetarily, yes, CC is wiser.</p>
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Although there is no data tables that I know of that show transfer rates by campus for Stanford (being a private school), it’s well known that their transfer acceptance rate is abysmally low - in the 1-2% range. It’s basically characterized as a lotto ticket when applying. Cal on the other hand has some data, but I can’t find something as good CSUs (which break down exactly how many transfers per CCC campus get admitted to each CSU), but here is their table data: [University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu/library/tables/table_10-2009.aspx]University”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu/library/tables/table_10-2009.aspx)</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>All of your assumptions were correct. </p>
<p>And thank you so much! I didn’t know that for the CCC. I thought once I began applying it was a guarantee that I would go there. Let’s say I got into one of the ones I got waitlisted from, would it be best to go to the CCC then transfer or go to the CSU</p>
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I don’t want to be confusing here - I used the word “apply” for CC because technically that is the word they use. However, it is used more as a “sign-up” in practicum. So, in other words, you should begin to sign up for CC - which, barring any unforeseen crazy complication - should guarantee you admittance. Registering for classes then is the next step and is totally different. You would most likey need to take a Math and English placement test before picking any classes and then you’d need to set up n “Educational Plan” with the academic adviser/counselor.</p>
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It depends on your aspirations and if you liked those schools you were wait listed to. If you realistically think you have potential to be a competitive applicant to UCLA or UCB, then it would be best to go to the CC and apply from there. But, if you feel you may not get into a higher ranked/rated school that what you’ve already been offered, then it may be wise to accept from them. Financial items should also be addressed in this situation: which would save you more $? I see time and again the case where a CC student is applying to transfer and the schools they originally applied to from high school as their reaches are now considered their safeties and they are chasing a bigger academic fish as their new reach.</p>