<p>I'm a community college student who previously attended a four year school. I was worried about going over the unit ceiling and being considered a "senior transfer" and disqualifying myself from admission. </p>
<p>So I called a UC transfer admissions counselor yesterday and was informed that they are doing away with this ceiling system-wide beginning with the Fall 2013 transfer class. Apparently the UC policy makers decided that they were unfairly penalizing students who attended other four-year schools. From now on there will be a unit cap on how many units we can transfer and get credit for--like before--but there will be no penalty for going over this limit so long as the units are lower division courses. As I understood it, our standing will be similar to students who only attended California community colleges.</p>
<p>Apparently, this is a very recent decision. This is coming from someone who definitely knows what he's talking about; I was referred to him by my community college's transfer center. He said I was probably one of the first people to hear about it--that he himself had just found out. </p>
<p>Has anyone else heard of this?</p>
<p>=) That’s wonderful news for you guys.</p>
<p>I can’t confirm this, but if true then this is great news.</p>
<p>I kinda felt it was kinda unfair, but a UC rep explained that unit caps were in place so…
a. incoming transfer students will complete majority of their units at their school
b. to discourage former 4 year students from transferring (the way they saw it is that a former 4 year student had their shot)</p>
<p>This is really good news… but I guess competition for admission would be a bit harder.</p>
<p>Well this sucks for traditional cc students.</p>
<p>I couldn’t confirm it either. I called a different UC campus today and the counselor–who was extremely nice and helpful–said he couldn’t comment on anything like that. </p>
<p>Jonjon, which campus was that rep from? The one I talked to today was very accepting of transfers who had previously attended four year colleges. He gave me the impression that so long as I attended less than two years at a four year and was now attending a California Community college they would not discriminate against me in any way. I am a second shot student myself (my first shot ended disastrously because of financial reasons), and he said that was a non-issue. And this is probably one of the most competitive campuses in the UC system. </p>
<p>A disclaimer, however: I am in a bit of a unique situation since I had attended a professional school within a traditional four year university (most if not all of the professional classes will not transfer). So maybe this advice may not be applicable to everyone. </p>
<p>I just wish that I could get confirmation of this change so I can go ahead and take the classes I want without having to worry about a unit cap.</p>
<p>urgh that would have been awesome if that happened this year -_-</p>
<p>@trans5912,</p>
<p>It seems you’re in a better position than me; unfortunately majority of my classes from 4 year school does transfer (and I’m right at the unit cap with combination of 4year + CC). The rep wasn’t mean or discriminatory; she was rather helpful and informative. The rep did her best to explain the current predicament that I was in; she advised me to try and apply (but shouldn’t get my hopes up). The main thing the rep stressed was not going over the unit cap… but it has been already a year since I last talk to a rep.</p>
<p>It seems that if the rep didn’t flat out deny it…then I guess there still is a possibility. I think the first rep you talked to jumped the gun a bit; I don’t think the policy will change until beginning of Fall 2012 (I think November is when they UCs takes application for Fall 2013 transfers). Anyways it seems like my only hope is for the policy to change for me to transfer to most UCs.</p>
<p>Sidebar: What’s with the legerdemain with regards to which schools you called?</p>
<p>Anyhow, one would assume that it wouldn’t be a universal UC policy and each institution’s stance would be different, as it is now.</p>
<p>I called three more UC campuses today. Two said the unit caps are in place. The third said it didn’t matter how many units I took at a community college since they’d only take seventy from me anyway (a rep, not a counselor said this, so this might not be accurate).</p>
<p>Also, I had the new policy confirmed by a counselor at my community college. She said she had actually heard of it, but didn’t know the effective date. Strangely, enough the second counselor I had a chance to chat with said she knew nothing about it.</p>
<p>Very frustrating. If it’s true, I hope the official announcement comes soon. </p>
<p>@jyoungs: If it’s true it’s not public yet, and the UC counselor I talked to said he just learned of it himself. I don’t want to mention names/school on an internet forum and have someone who was going out of his way to help me out get in trouble.</p>
<p>PM me and I’d be happy to tell you.</p>
<p>I thought the same thing too. On one hand, it is strange that it would be a universal UC policy. On the other hand, I think it’s much more fair. Why should we be penalized compared to community college students? Their primary mission is to help community college students–why should it matter if a community college student attended a four-year college beforehand?</p>
<p>Take my case. I attended a four year college, hit a 3.9 GPA, and had to leave because of financial reasons. At my community college, I have an EFC of 0 and this semester I’m going to get the board of governors fee waiver. Why should I be treated differently from any other low-income, hard-working student who is trying to get through community college?</p>
<p>@Trans5912: I’m in a similar situation.</p>
<p>Throughout the admissions process–I’ve just learned to be highly skeptical of anything I hear. Anyhow–I need to know very soon if this is true–my SIR deadline is coming up.</p>
<p>I’m totally in the same boat, I’ve been calling around the UCs to try and get some information about this. One evaluator at UC Davis hinted at this but made no promises, so f*$#ing frustrating! I’ve been stressing the hell out because I’ve been trying to raise my GPA and stay within the 90 unit cap to get in UCSB, and I need to make a decision regarding my summer courses, whether I take a 5 unit course or 3.</p>
<p>I told was by a UC administrator that it was currently under review. Here is an excerpt of the document that I was referred to. </p>
<p>Page 18 from the BOARS Transfer Proposal:</p>
<p>“BOARS would like to address the concern that the proposal would lead Community College transfers to arrive at UC with too many units. BOARS has been reviewing the current UC regulation capping transferable Community College units at 70 (105 quarter), regardless of how many units are listed on their transcript. BOARS recently adopted a policy that extends this cap to all lower division units from all sources. This will end the unfortunate situation of a CCC student being denied access to UC for having lower division units from a four-year institution they may have attended for a short time in addition to the CCC.” </p>
<p>Needless to say, I was pretty happy to hear this. I’m just not sure if or when it will be 100% official.</p>
<p>@jjkbb2006: I haven’t decided what I’m going to take over the Summer either. It might even be a 1 unit PE class (my community college requires a PE class in order to graduate and I haven’t taken one yet). I’m actually still a bit wary of taking a high unit class until I get more confirmation.</p>
<p>I’d like to add that the document, as a whole, is an interesting insight into the admissions process.</p>
<p>What are you confused about?</p>
<p>Does this mean we can take as many class as we want to?</p>
<p>I went to Cal State Chico as a freshman, now I’m back home in LA going to SMC.</p>
<p>Planning to transfer to a UC.</p>
<p>I said it MAY have been voted on. And if they did, I don’t know what their decision was. Be highly skeptical of what you hear throughout the process.</p>
<p>The new policy will be going into effect for the Fall 2013 transfer class. </p>
<p>I just confirmed it with an administrator near the very top of the UC system. Most counselors at community colleges and officers in the UC system just don’t know about it yet. </p>
<p>This is the closest to an official announcement I could get. Given this, and how many other high-ranking people have told me it is true now, I’m going to believe it. </p>
<p>Now I want to see how each college will deal with this policy.</p>