I am in my first semester at my community college and was wondering if I needed to complete IGETC for TAG or will it help me in my application? My major is computer science and want to TAG to UC Davis.
IGETC is not required for TAG but it can help you fulfill general education requirements.
If there are many lower-division courses (ie. courses at your community college listed on assist) you have to take for the major you can use the UC Davis General Education (GE) pattern instead.
You can see this page (the official UC Davis Tag FAQ page) for more informaiton
tag . ucdavis . edu / students / faq.cfm (remove spaces)
Note: you can also find this page by searching “UC Davis Tag FAQ” on Google.
“UC tag matrix” is also a helpful resource for a quick summary of TAG requirements
(found at admission . universityofcalifornia . edu/transfer/guarantee/ )
Just note that for UC Davis, “Beginning fall 2017, Computer Science will become a selective major. Please visit the Department of Computer Science website for additional tips on preparing your transfer into this major.”
tag . ucdavis . edu / students / majors.cfm
I’ve always found this part contradictory. A major might require or seriously prefer IGETC completion, but TAG essentially disregards it.
You can use the summer prior to UC enrollment to complete IGETC. I would try to get as much done as possible, because without full certification (or possibly at least partial = missing 1-2 courses) you may be forced to do the entire GE course path all over again at the UC, as there will be no verifiable record that you took the appropriate courses. It’s the IGETC certification and only the IGETC certification that tells them this.
Is it worth completing IGETC? ill have to stay an extra year because of the amount of pre reqs for my major.
It depends on your major. If you are a STEM major, I don’t recommend IGETC.
It depends. Where else would you like to apply?
If you would like to avoid completing IGETC, then you should look at the Breadth requirements for all of the UC’s you want to apply to, and see which classes can overlap. It really depends on the schools you would like to apply to (if you’re applying to CSU’s it may be a good idea to complete IGETC - but some UC’s don’t like IGETC for CS majors, such as UCB I thiiiink).
Essentially, Breadth is generally 7 classes, whereas IGETC is 11 - so choosing to do Breadth instead of IGETC may give you some more wiggle room.
If you were to decide to fulfill each college’s respective requirements, make sure to talk it over thoroughly with a counselor, and double check to see that you’re getting the classes that you need.