Rejected? Possible way for 1 year at a JC, 3 at UCLA

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
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<p>With the crush of applications a lot of good people were turned away from ucla. I want to point out a possible way to spend 1 year at a JC, then the next 3 at ucla. Let me clearly say that I don't know this will work, but want to put it out there in case someone in this situation didn't know about it and wants to look into it farther. If so, please post what you find ....</p>

<p>Anyway, here's the deal. There are 2 ways into ucla; as a frosh, as a junior transfer. You are a junior transfer based on having a certain number of units and having taken the right distribution of classes (see <a href="http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/tradms.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/tradms.htm&lt;/a&gt;) A lot of people do this with 2 years at a JC, then 2 years at ucla.</p>

<p>But there may be a way to do 1 year at a JC, 3 at ucla. The trick is to have enough AP units. A lot of kids have loaded up on AP classes while in HS. If you have enough to equal about 1 years worth of credit (45 units), then you spend a year at a JC taking the rest you need to transfer. Admit rates for CC transfers are about 45% overall with an average GPA of 3.35. </p>

<p>So how does this let you spend 3 years at ucla? According to the rules for incoming frosh
[quote]
The units granted for AP tests are not counted toward the maximum number of credits required for formal declaration of an undergraduate major or the maximum number of units a student may accumulate prior to graduation from the University. Students who enter the University with AP credit do not have to declare a major earlier than other students, nor are they required to graduate earlier.
UC official website <a href="http://tinyurl.com/nw6cn%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://tinyurl.com/nw6cn&lt;/a>

[/quote]
I don't know if the same rules apply for JC transfers who use AP credit as part of qualifying as a junior. But IF they do, it means the day you show up you can forget about all the units you have from AP classes (except for not taking duplicates). For all intents and purposes you'd be a sophomore even though they admitted you as a junior. You'd have just as much time as any other ucla sophomore to pick a major, and wouldn't have to graduate any sooner.</p>

<p>While ucla and Cal don't offer guarantee plans, the rest of the UC schools have programs that will promise you admission if you complete a set of courses with a certain GPA; so you will have the knowledge your year at the JC that even if ucla turns you down you'll be going to a UC school.</p>

<p>And for those who want to get away from home that 1st year, there are a couple of good JCs in college towns where you can live among other college students and take part in life at the 4-year college. Think towns like Davis, Cal Poly, and Santa Barbara. At Santa Barbara there are private dorms in Isla Vista (the town right off campus where ucsb kids live) that house JC students; other towns may have this too</p>

<p>So there is no mistake, let me repeat one more time that I don't know if the UC schools follow the rule I quoted above if you use AP credit to apply as a junior. But if this applies to you it may be something worth looking into.</p>

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<p>I didn't read the 1st post, but in response to the thread title, yes, tranferring to UCLA in 1 year is very possible.</p>

<p>There's a thing called "fast track honors program" at a few community colleges. Just google it and you can learn more about it.</p>

<p>I'm not too sure if this works, but alternatively, you can use AP credits towards your 60 units required to transfer into UCLA. Let's say you have 18 college semester units from highschool APs, that leaves you with 42 units left over. Take 12 units this summer [6 units if your school only has 1 summer session]. That leaves you with 30. 15 in fall and spring, and 6 in winter. That puts you well over 60 units by spring.</p>

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<p>"UCLA and CAL do not have guarantee plans." Weird, because I was offered guarantee plans at both this year (shared experience program)</p>

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<p>Re post #3 -- ok, to be a bit more precise they do not have a plan where you attend a JC and are guaranteed later admission. I thought it was clear from both the context of the post and that particular paragraph I was talking about JC transfers; I guess I was mistaken.</p>

<p>"Shared experience" is a plan sending kids to Merced for 2 years and then guaranteeing later admission to one of 4 UCs; see the Daily Bruin article at <a href="http://www.dailybruin.com/news/2007/apr/03/program_merced_draw_students/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailybruin.com/news/2007/apr/03/program_merced_draw_students/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>The 60 units only applies to semester units. You need 90 quarter units to achieve UCLA level standing.</p>

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<p>At least, that's what I thought. x] Check on the UCLA prospective transfer admission site.</p>

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<p>I'm not too sure if this works, but alternatively, you can use AP credits towards your 60 units required to transfer into UCLA. Let's say you have 18 college semester units from highschool APs, that leaves you with 42 units left over. Take 12 units this summer [6 units if your school only has 1 summer session]. That leaves you with 30. 15 in fall and spring, and 6 in winter. That puts you well over 60 units by spring.</p>

<hr>

<p>That's total suicide. Even 6 units in the winter is suicide. 3 weeks for 6 units. If you calculate the total inclass time, there's no possible way to pass 6 units with decent grades, unless you're some kind of super genius that speed reads and actually remembers stuff(there's tons of speed readers that don't remember 50% of the crap they read, worthless trait). </p>

<p>Per week schedule would include 32 hours of inclass time! And 64 hours of recommended study time. Even if you're smart, you'll cut it in half. That would still be a 64 hour work week.</p>

<hr>

<p>My recommendation is to do 18 unit semesters. 6 unit summer. 3 unit winter. That'll put you at 45 units.</p>

<p>An 18 unit semester has its advantage because teachers schedule coursework evenly throughout a semester. So lets say you're taking calculus which tests once every 3-4weeks. No need for a major review until each 4th week. Let's say you're taking an english course and your teacher wants a paper every two weeks. Let's say you're taking a biology course and the teacher tests every chapter, so you study once a week. Let's say you're taking a physics course and the tests are once every two weeks. Spreading a high unit load over the semester is much easier to handle than condensing it into short spans. Why? Because in the summer and winter, instructors expect students to have coursework done by the next day. Whereas, in the semester it could be due a week, two weeks, three weeks, or a month later.</p>

<p>Why are you trying to double the load in the winter/summer and taking a regular load during the semester? It makes no sense. A winter/summer course is already accelerated, coursework(homework) is due much sooner than usual. IE if you double the load in those sessions, the homework becomes more difficult to complete because there's no time.</p>

<p>32 hours of class time from mon-thurs is 8 hours a day. Add in 30minute lunch. Add in 1 hour to get to/from school. That's 9 1/2 hours per day already. Add in 30 minutes to brush teeth, shower, etc. Add in 30-45minutes to eat dinner. Add in 30 minutes to eat breakfast. .................... you're running out of time. Get it?</p>

<p>And that paper for english is due the next day. And the other paper for history is due the next day.</p>

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<p>I transferred in a year and did 3 years at UCLA.</p>

<p>I highly recommend it, personally.</p>

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<p>UCLAri: I'm still wondering where you cut time. Did you shower? LOL :)</p>

<p>Assuming you did the heavy loads in the summer/winter</p>

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<p>JPNguyen,</p>

<p>I don't remember not showering, but I do remember not going out much.</p>

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<p>UCLAri, how many units did you take during the semesters and winter/summer?</p>

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<p>6 the summer before I started, 18 each semester (fall and spring) and 3 during the winter.</p>

<p>45 total...that plus 18 units taking at night prior to starting and 6 or 7 APs = tons of units.</p>

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<p>So UCLAri exemplifies my alternative to the fast honors program to UCLA. Nice.</p>

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<p>possible but it's gonna be tough. you also have to be coming in with a considerable amount of AP/previously completed units.</p>

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<p>Looking back, I totally regret not transferring in a year. I was under the GTO (Guaranteed Transfer Option) which was offered for the Class of '08, which required a minimum of two years of transferring. But now that I think about it, I could have easily finished in one year and applied as a regular transfer. I had 4 APs...if only I started taking community college courses as a senior, that would've been perfect. Gotten 2 classes out of the way, then five courses each semester with 2 in the summer and 1 in the winter. Of course, this doesn't allow time to work or do much else, but I think the tradeoff is worth it. I transferred with 124 units, 19 over the cap. I love community college because you can take all weekly classes- I did that for one semester and worked during the day. Of course this also depends on your major- I doubt engineering or bio students can pull of transferring in a year.</p>

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<p>Kevintech: Actually, he acknowledges that the 6/18/3 route is feasible.</p>

<p>I challenge you to complete a 12 unit summer. Honestly! and a 6 unit winter with a combined overall GPA of 3.75+</p>

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<p>I've done a 12 unit summer at a JC. 6 units in session A and 6 more in session B.</p>

<p>Also did a 6 unit winter.</p>

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<p>What's the GPA for those sessions? :) huh?</p>

<p>Com'on man, most people can barely complete that type of workload, let alone complete it with a high GPA. Just accept that the 6/18/3/18 route is much easier than the 12/15/6/15</p>

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<p>4.0 for summer. 4.0 for winter. i'll screen shot my transcripts if you want lol.</p>

<p>and i didnt mention anything about difficulty; you probably misunderstood me.</p>

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<p>For the record, I did 6/18/3/18 and managed a 4.0...</p>