I’ve recently been receiving college decisions and I have been rejected from all UCs so far besides UC Riverside. I have also been accepted to SJSU with a major in Animation and Illustration which I do not mind, but it was not my first major as I want to major in CS but did not have the required GPA to apply. My pros and cons for CC:
Pros:
cc has higher chance of getting into uc
save money
close to home
know some people from my high school
has this program with uc that can guarantee acceptance (forgot it’s name)
Cons:
have to adjust to TWO atmospheres and once you transfer, everybody kinda already found their own friend group so it’s hard to find your way around, lots of independence
guaranteed uc acceptance does NOT include Berkeley or LA (the two ucs I want to go to)
getting increasingly popular = more competitive when applying to colleges
I could technically go to SJSU and transfer too, but I am a bit worried that I may make the wrong choice. Any advice is welcome!
Why MUST you go to a UC - or why is it a dream? There are no dream schools - sorry, there’s not. I just read a post about someone who went to dream UCLA and four years later is miserable. It happens every year to many people. There are no dreams. There are schools with opportunities and it’s up to you to take advantage.
You can do CS at many schools - Arizona is an easy admit and still accepting applications, for example. Plus the Cal state schools.
Nothing wrong with going to community college but there are no guarantees. It sounds like you want a four year experience - so then it’s SJSU or find another school still accepting apps (they’re out there).
Do not go anywhere with the idea of transferring - that’s ridiculous. Go to the place that loves you and take advantage of what they have to offer -which will be a lot.
Before making any decisions, I think you should make an appointment with a transfer advisor at your local community college. They can explain the transfer process to you in detail and probably give you a realistic idea of what you’d need to do to transfer into CS at the UCs.
The transfer acceptance guarantee that you refer to is TAG and it is not available for all majors. CS I believe happens to be one of them at several if not all UCs. So be sure to check TAG is available for your intended major and intended campus. Having said that, you can try and transfer even without TAG but again, any UC is not a safety, and definitely not for CS.
2 years of cc and transferring out is a viable and sensible option for some, but you have to know what your plan is and work towards that transfer…it does take careful planning.
You mention you could go to SJSU and transfer too…if you are implying transferring to a UC from SJSU, that is not possible. UCs are heavily impacted and already committed to taking transfer students from community colleges; they therefore do not generally accept transfers from CSUs or other UCs. But yes, you could transfer out of SJSU into other out of state or private colleges .
The Animation program at SJSU is excellent, but it’s a serious commitment in its own right - if it’s not really what you want to major in, it doesn’t really make sense to do it. You’re not very likely to be able to switch into the CS major.
Another SJSU major which you could switch into, and which is great for students who are interested in combining STEM with design, is the Packaging major. The name makes it sound rather dry, but it isn’t - it combines engineering, design, and marketing, and graduates are in demand for high-paying jobs. It could be something to consider as a more STEMmy alternative to animation/illustration. But obviously, it’s not CS or even really CS-adjacent.
If you feel strongly about majoring in CS at a UC, the CC transfer route is probably your best bet. (Or, as tsbn pointed out, consider WUE schools that are still taking applications - U of Arizona, U of Utah, and U of Nevada Reno are three examples. Pursue this quickly if you want to consider these options. CS is solid at all of them. Save On College Tuition | Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) ) Or go to Riverside - I have no idea how steep the path into the CS major is if you enter undeclared there.
But don’t start at a four-year school with the intention of transferring. If you can’t start out with the intention of making it work for the full four years, go with the CC option.