UC Merced is the only UC I have been accepted to. I was planning to go community college and get a good enough GPA to TAG into either Davis or Irvine since TAG does not require near perfect GPA like it did in high school. Not sure which route to take. I understand UC Merced is a brand new campus that is still in development and has a lot of potential in the next 10-20 years, but as of now within my 4-5 college years there does not seem much going for it.
Are you a Freshman or Transfer?
You were accepted for Spring?
I am a freshman, just graduated high school in June 2016. I was originally accepted for Fall 2016 at UC Merced, but my admission thing got delayed so I am now only accepted for Spring 2017. As of now I have been doing community college. But after this semester I could choose to go to UC Merced or continue community college for another 1.5 years and then transfer.
If UCD is your target, then stay at your CC and complete your TAG requirements.
Thanks for the advice
I am a little confused about your status and how/why your admission was deferred until Spring. It is possible attending classes at a CC this semester could interfere with your ‘freshman’ status at Merced. I presume you’ve looked into that and wouldn’t have jeopardized your chances.
Merced isn’t as bad as many people say. It is a smaller, more intimate campus and everything is new .
If the option is still open, make the drive and spend a day on campus. Talk to students and teachers about how they like it there - then make up your mind.
If you decide UCM isn’t for you, a TAG guided transfer to Davis or elsewhere is a good plan. Just be sure to follow the process and course list EXACTLY… requirements are requirements, deadlines are deadlines and the GPA threshold if firm. Lots of well meaning CC students have trouble getting required classes, maintaining the 3.2-3.4 GPA and biding by the deadlines so, stay flexible and vigilant.
Good luck
Personally I think that if you can get the GPA, you should go for TAG with a better campus. There’s nothing “wrong” with UCM but it’s not as well known as other UCs like UCD
Have you checked on http://www.assist.org whether your local community colleges have coverage of the UCD CS major preparation courses?
Also, be aware of what kind of GPA you need to be able to transfer to UCD.
For UCD TAG, at the moment you need a 3.3 UC Transferable GPA to be eligible. This may change when you are ready to apply.
For 2015, the UC Transfer GPA for CS at UCD without TAG was 3.6-4.0.
I checked assist.org and all the required courses are available at my community college. The TAG GPA for UCD CS is 3.4.