Hi All,
I am a prospective UC transfer student with 138-semester units; 76 are from my out of state college, 46 are from community college, and 16 are from when I took summer classes at a UC near me. I feel like I am in a bit of a precarious situation as I’ve been told by a transfer counselor that I would be considered as a senior standing student because I have 16 units from a UC and 8 units of upper-division courses and I am afraid that for this reason I will be disqualified as a transfer applicant in most if not all UCs I have applied to.
However, I know that at this point there is not much I can do to change that. So, my main concern is whether I continue to take more classes at CCC i.e. Winter, Spring, and Summer. I still need to complete courses that are semester-long such as General Biology and General Chemistry and I want to go to medical school which means that I need to raise my GPA as much as I can (it should be at a 3.29 this semester). Yet, I don’t want to jeopardize my chances for transfer.
If you have any advice or information, I would gratefully appreciate it. Thanks!
@Gumbymom is familiar with the UC admissions process and would likely be able to provide some advice.
Have you looked into UC’s TAG program? It guarantees admissions to one of the six partner UCs for California CC students pending certain requirements. I am unsure if there are unit caps, but it’s worth taking a look!
Yes, I have actually applied to TAG at UCR and spoke to a transfer advisor, but they told me because of the 16 UC semester credits, I would be ineligible for transfer.
UC caps the lower-division semester units from all non-UC sources for xfer applicants at 70, then adds on upper-division and any units taken at a UC. So you have 94 semester units which makes you a senior according to the info on page 34-36 of https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/quick-reference.pdf You can also see in that doc which UCs will even consider a senior applicant; you’ll need to check with admissions at each one to see whether they actually have been accepting senior-level xfers.
You would be wise to apply widely; not just UCs but CSU and other colleges (OOS publics, privates) that are affordable to you
UC caps CC units at 70 so no matter how many more units you earn at a CC your total from above of 94 semester units will not change.
BTW med schools usually expect students who have satisified requirements at a CC to take additional courses at their 4-year in the same subject even though on paper the CC classes may satisfy the requirements
Think carefully about whether med school is right for you.
I have no idea whether it is or isn’t but becoming a doctor will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org
Unless you’ve carefully considered the alternatives and have spent time in the pre-covid era working in a health care setting (which is an unwritten requirement to get into med school) its better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
@Ohm888 is the UC transfer forum champion and all the information I have gathered has been from his informative posts.
**Students will be granted up to 70 semester/105 quarter units of credit for lower division coursework completed at any institution or combination of institutions.
Guidelines:
Lower division units beyond the maximum for which credit is awarded will be granted subject credit and may be used to satisfy requirements.
Units earned through AP, IB, and/or A-Level examinations are not included in the limitation and do not put applicants at risk of being denied admissions.
Lower or upper division units earned at UC (Extension, summer, cross/concurrent, UC-EAP, and regular academic year enrollment) are added to the maximum lower division credit allowed and might put applicants at risk of being denied admission due to excessive units.
The information below defines the number of units which cause a student to reach “high-unit” junior or senior standing for UC admission evaluation purposes.
The information below is not to advise a prospective student whether or not they can apply to UC; rather, it should provide guidance for students with a high number of UC-transferrable units to alert them that there may be some difficulty in the ability of some campuses to offer them admission.
High-Unit Transfer Unit Counts:
Junior Standing: 80-89 UC-transferrable semester units Senior Standing: 90 or more UC-transferrable semester units
UC Berkeley: 90 semester/135 quarter units or more. Accepts some High Unit Juniors and Seniors.
UC Davis: 80 semester/120 quarter units or more; Dean’s Review required. Accepts some HIgh unit Junior and Seniors.
UC Irvine: 90 semester/135 quarter units or more. Accepts some High Unit Juniors and Seniors.
UCLA: 86.5 semester/130 quarter units or more. Does not accept High Unit Juniors or Seniors.
UC Merced: 80 semester/120 quarter units or more; Dean’s Review required. Accepts some HIgh Unit Juniors and Seniors
UC Riverside: 90 semester/135 quarter units or more; Dean’s Review required. Accepts some HIgh Unit Juniors and Seniors
UC San Diego: 90 semester/135 quarter units or more. Accepts some HIgh Unit Juniors but no Seniors
UC Santa Barbara: 90 semester/135 quarter units or more. Accepts some High Unit Juniors but not Seniors
*College of Creative Studies will consider seniors on a case-by-case basis
UC Santa Cruz: 90 semester/135 quarter units or more. Accepts some High Unit Juniors but no Seniors.
3.29 GPA does not make medical school admission likely.
You may also want to consider CSUs, which limit transfer credit to 70 semester units from community colleges and 90 semester units from all sources, but do not appear to prohibit transfer of students with very high amounts of credit.
What would prevent you from returning to your former college? Cost?