I am a high school senior that will be graduating June of this year. I am planning to go to community college and transfer into the Aerospace Engineering program of a UC school or Cal Poly SLO. My top choices would be UCLA, SLO, and UCSD ideally. I have a few question regarding how credits work and transfer.
- As of right now, I have taken 8 AP classes with 4s and 5s on all of them. I will have 11 by the end of this year. (I just didn't try during school, so my low GPA is the reason I didn't get into the schools of my choice.) Will I be able to use these credits and if I do, will the grades I received in these classes affect my college GPA when applying as a transfer student in a year or two?
- I've read that to apply into the engineering program of the UCs, there are prerequisite courses specifically for engineering along with the IGETC courses. Do I have to complete all the prereqs and IGETC courses before applying as a transfer? Or can I take some of them while I'm waiting for them to respond to my application? (Since I will probably apply during fall 2020 and get my response by April 2021).
1.) Yes, you can use them. In the UC and CSU application there’s a section to input the grades.
2.) Pre Req courses are really important to take when transferring, because schools expect you to complete the lower division classes. Most schools strictly accept students at a Junior level standing, so you’ll need at least 60 units completed by the end of the Spring term in the year you apply. assist.org is great tool that will show you what classes you need to take to transfer into certain schools. Definitely use that and play around with it. You can take pre req courses throughout the time you apply. Try to complete them all. Some schools ask for transfers to take their English and Math courses early on, so make sure to get that out of the way.
I’d say talk to your CC counselor and visit your CC transfer center so you can set up a game plan. Good luck!!
Your AP credits can be applied towards various areas of IGETC (based on subject, check with your CC for more info). Most UC’s don’t require IGETC certification for high-unit majors (engineering, computer science, etc.). However, based on the number of AP credits you have, consider looking at applying your AP credits towards IGETC and it’ll require minimal work to receive full certification. The benefit to this is the fact that most CC’s will give you credit towards various areas of IGETC if you have at least a 3 or above on most AP exams, whereas many UC’s require 4’s or possibly 5’s to receive credit for a corresponding class.
The grades you’ve received in these AP courses will not matter as you are not required to input them in your application. With that being said, you are required to submit your high school transcript after you admitted (SIR’d).
At a CC, you can also use your AP credits to override certain prerequisite courses. Visit your CC’s Petition/Records/Admissions office for more details.
You can continue to complete the required courses for your major up until Spring 2020 if you are entering a UC campus during Fall 2020. Courses during Summer 2020 are not considered. Let me know if you need clarification on this.
TL;DR Check assist.org to see if you need IGETC certification for your major (most likely not). However, it may be worthwhile to use your AP credits towards IGETC at a CC as for most AP exams you only need a 3 or above. Use your AP credits to override any prerequisite courses at your CC (for example, AP English will enable you to skip English 101/1A/1 (entry college-level English course)). Plan your courses wisely, everything up to Spring 2020 will count if you are entering a UC during Fall 2020.
There will be other requirements that you have to hit, but I believe I covered everything in regards to AP credits.
While your CC’s AP credit policy applies to IGETC certification, be aware that it may be different from the AP policies of the UCs and CSUs apply when transferring AP credit there. You may have to follow the least generous AP credit policy for non-IGETC transfer credit coverage.