<p>Hey Guys! I posted this thread in the general transfer students thread and someone suggested I post here too since I have my sights on Cal.</p>
<p>I am currently taking classes at TMCC, a 2-year community college, in Reno, NV. My goal is to take on Urban Studies as my major, but there isn't a 4-year school in Nevada where they offer such a major so I am resorting to transferring to either UC Berkeley or SFSU, mainly because I am originally from the Bay Area and I would love to go back to study there. I just finished my first year of college at TMCC but there is not much there for Urban Studies majors and I am getting bored really fast with all the general ed classes. I also do not know where to start with the transfer process...</p>
<p>I have considered two possible pathways.
1) Complete 60+ credits at TMCC and apply to Berkeley and SFSU.
2) Wait to take classes at TMCC until summer '10 and then transfer to a cc in California (DVC preferably but any will suffice) and take classes there for a year so that I establish residence status meanwhile completing the 60 required credits to transfer. </p>
<p>I should add that I plan to move to the Bay Area for my 2nd option and either roommate with someone by DVC or wherever or move in with my Dad in Daly City to further help with the residence status</p>
<p>Any advice on what I should do? Any advice would be helpful...UNR students, college students in Nevada who want to major in Urban Studies, Cal students...I could go on and on.</p>
<p>Just need some direction because I feel a little lost wanting to pursue a major that is not offered here in my own state. Thank You!</p>
<p>I’d wait to goto DVC because you won’t know which classes at TMCC will transfer over. If possible take all your classes at DVC because they will be articulated on assist.org. Although you may be able to transfer some of your units from nevada you won’t know which ones they will accept. This will result in alot of panic and confusion when trying to figure out whether or not you’ve really fulfilled the prereqs and breadth requirements. If you plan everything correctly it’d be possible for you to transfer in maybe 1.5 years.</p>
<p>You might consider online courses: sign up for online courses at your prospective CCC, or a CCC with a lot of online courses like SMC. SMC, when I checked, had every UC IGETC requirement online, <em>including</em> the second level writing course. This way you can work towards IGETC, rather than waste your time on classes that may or may not reduce your requirements.</p>
<p>One other possibility is transferring over your IGETC requirements. You could enroll at DVC, with perhaps just one online course, and IIRC if you can get DVC to accept your Nevada courses as transfer substitutes for IGETC requirements, those can be used when they certify your IGETC. Not 100% sure, so would want to talk with a counselor. I suggest enrolling sooner rather than later so you can have the benefit of considering them for transfer <em>before</em> you get too far in at Nevada. Now, you don’t want to do the whole thing like that of course, it basically takes a year at a CCC for you to get the priority transfer admission. But if you don’t like online courses at least you can do this and not waste all of your time.</p>
<p>Did you graduate from a Cali high school? You’ve got a parent who’s a Cali resident. You might already have it locked down. If you’ve only left Cali “for educational purposes,” that’s not a mark against you.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think that #2 is going to be your best bet. If you don’t establish residency, you are going to be paying a ridiculous amount in tuition when you get to Cal. I would transfer now, if possible.</p>
<p>Hmm I never thought of taking ccc online classes, although I do prefer the in class, hands on experience…good tips though thanks guys! </p>
<p>About the residence status issue…I unfortunately did not graduate from a California high school but my Dad has lived there for a good 5 years so that hopefully will work in my favor and if not I’m sure I will take at least a year (more like a year and a half) to finish up the IGETC requirements meanwhile the residence status is established.</p>
<p>I think above all if I really want to go through with this transfer (which I really do want to) it will just have to take a lot of patience meaning maybe not getting that bachelors in 4 but more like 6+ years.</p>
<p>A fellow future Nevadan transfer, cool! I’m currently at UNR and planning to transfer to a UC next fall. I’ve been looking up all the requirements and pre-reqs to transfer. One of my biggest concerns of course fin aid. I believe that if you are his dependent, then you are good. The UC school system is strict when it comes to moving to the state for the purpose of college UNLESS your parents are already residents of the state. If not, then it gets all complicated with out of state tuition and waiting a certain number of years to establish financial independence for residency. Moving to the state quicker will be more helpful. They look at CA CC students first over us out of state transfers. You should definitely go for it because the counselors at the CA CC will put you on track to transfer with a possibly high success rate. Besides, you don’t want to regret it later and stay at TMCC and never learn what you really want.</p>
<p>Yeah, not really sure about your residency status. Since you didn’t graduate from high school there, I don’t think you can claim that you left for educational purposes. But you’re right on track with establishing residency. My experience with residency officers is that there’s no harm in talking to them. They have very definite criteria of evidence. They’ll tell you what they need to see, and they don’t really have the authority or desire to figure out what your residency status is based on your story. They aren’t investigators. So don’t worry about contacting one to see what the deal is.</p>
<p>One path is working towards residency now with online classes, registering your car at your dad’s, likewise driver’s license and voter’s registration. The only thing that might complicate that is that, if you’re a Nevada resident now, continuing to take classes there might complicate the issue.</p>