I am currently a freshman at Cypress/Fullerton college who is hoping to transfer into a CS program at a UC. I am applying to UCSB, UCB, and will TAG UCI. I mapped out a transfer plan alone using assist as I found the counselors at my school were misinformed/unhelpful. So I was wondering if there was anything I am missing or anything I can improve on. Thanks!
Summer 2015:
Psych 101
Soc 101
Fall 2015:
Math 141 (Pre-Calc)
Math 142 (Pre-Calc)
Econ 101
Art History
Spring 2016:
English 103
Math 150A* (Calc AB)
CSCI 123* (Intro to Programming concepts)
Humanties?
Summer 2016:
Math 150B* (Calc BC)
Physics 1*
Fall 2016:
CSCI 133* (Data Structures)
Math 250* (Multivariable Calc)
Physics 2*
Humanties?
Spring 2016:
Math 250BF* (Linear Algebra/Differential Equations)
Discrete Math*
Physics 3*
Biological Science?
Summer 2016:
Biological Science? (Don’t know whether to take this here or in Spring 2016)
Additionally you can’t take courses to fulfill IGETC during the summer prior to your transfer. You will have to take your Bio Sci class in the Spring of 2016 if you want to count when you transfer in Fall of 2016.
That said…this is a very loaded schedule. Your end GPA, and subsequently your chances at the competitive CS programs, would probably be significantly higher if you add the extra year.
It may not be advisable for you to follow IGETC. Breadth is, I believe, the better option for CS majors (but check the articulation agreements on assist - I’m pretty sure Berkeley doesn’t recommend taking IGETC for CS majors, I think they care more about major prep).
Many CS transfers take 3 years at CC to finish all of the required courses. It’s possible to do it in less, though, but you need tons of major prep before you transfer.
@uchello well, you should try to take more classes. I think that, first, you should decide if you want to follow IGETC or Breadth (the latter seems to be the better option, from what I know about transferring as a CS major, but you can do either). Following Breadth would allow you to take more CS courses, which would help for admission.
From UCB’s CS articulation agreement (via assist.org):
To be competitive for admission purposes, the department advises prospective
transfer students to take UC-transferable courses in:
All equivalent Mathematics prerequisites: Math 1A, Math 1B, and Math 54.
Data structures–even if not officially comparable to Berkeley’s CS 61B; and
Java (preferred) or C++.
Also, I hear awful things about the pace of math courses during the summer. I agree with Evilcow, you should avoid that if possible.
Yep, I tutor math at my CC and over the summer we had a few students taking Calc 2 come in for help. They covered basically every integration form in one week and they had a test on them the next week. The students who were coming in were basically just praying for C’s.
On top of the pacing, Calc 2 is generally considered to be the most difficult class in the calc series. Taking Calc 2 and calc based physics over the summer would be rough.
