As the year comes to an end, im torn between making a decision to stay at my current University SJSU or taking a year of cc to transfer to my initial target school UC Irvine. To give context I basically got rejected my freshmen year from UC Irvine for mechanical engineering which was my target school but got into sjsu which was my safety school for the same program. I was pretty torn about the rejection and wasn’t at all enthusiastic about attending sjsu but noted that it was worth giving it a chance for a year, and then I could transfer if I really didn’t like it. Fall semester comes around and I immediately just didn’t feel the campus nor the people that I was dorming with. The only person I really did get along with in that aspect was my roommate, but I struggled to find those who I felt had the same academic goals as me within the freshmen class at least. A lot of people I met seemed to care more about partying which I don’t find anything inherently wrong with, I just didn’t feel like I resonated with the same interests. I did meet a lot of nice people that I did like here and there, but ultimately just ended up sticking to myself and grinding it out solo. Those that I did meet in my engineering-related classes were mostly commuters, so I never really got to get close to them. I do admit the academics and program for engineering are pretty on par with industry standards and there is a strong platform of opportunities to grow as an engineer here given that SJSU is centered in silicon valley, but that was pretty much it. I essentially grew to resent attending here and badly wanted to transfer that I scheduled counseling with my local CC to create a roadmap if I were to transfer out, and thought about transferring everyday day for all of the fall semester. From that point on I was motivated to keep my GPA high in case I were to transfer out to Irvine and ended the Fall term with a 3.8 GPA.
Fast-forward to the spring semester
- Spring semester generally speaking was an improvement and I genuinely did start liking it more as the semester progressed, but I can’t tell if it’s because I was truly happy or whether I just got used to it.
- I gave a social club a shot (akbayan) and people were great, but didn’t really spark those connections given that I felt like I didn’t relate with them academically.
- Joined Formula SAE which is an engineering-oriented club and I genuinely did what they were working on, but involved myself less to keep my GPA high due to the thought of transfer.
- I did make a few friends that I genuinely do like from the club, but I still can’t genuinely say If I like it here/ If I’d be happy with spending the next 3 years of my undergrad here would.
- Now that it’s the end of the year, I have to make a decision whether to go for transfer or not
All in all, I just feel like my experience so far has been really mediocre. I understand that there may have been more I could have done but it is at a point where I genuinely do feel like I would regret if I did not go for the campus that I really strove for.
- Reasons I want to transfer:
- I don’t like the campus, its small, and commuter-heavy, and some facilities are dated
- Most of my motivation from academic success stemmed from keeping my GPA high to transfer
- So far, I feel like I just haven’t met a lot of people who are like-minded in academic drive
- I understand that It’s not fair to generalize but this is to speak about in my experience when it comes to my entry-level engineering classes where I found myself almost always carrying the group to which I was assigned with.
- Location: being in downtown san jose feels chaotic at times, open campus permits at least 1 homeless person a day, and it is sketchy downtown at night
- little/ no financial aid.
- Cheaper to attend cc and then TAG to Irvine
- Irvine is a lot quieter, safer city, with a larger campus
- More time for hobbies/working a job and saving money ( Big Pro )
- Cons of transferring
- Genuinely will miss the few handfuls of friends that I’ve made
- Worry about application and stress of applying to college
- This potentially set me back a semester for graduation, as not all credits will transfer
- May miss out on clubs second year/ networking opportunities
- Rebuild social circle
Are my reasons for transferring valid? Should I commit and just go for the cc to tag route to Irvine? Or is it silly of me to miss out on a 2nd year worth of college, potentially risking taking another quarter to my academic plan given that SJSUs program is perfectly capable of setting me up for success? The thought of transferring has really taken a toll on my mental health and I’ve been torn about the thought ever since the start of the year, so I would really appreciate any thoughts that you would have to share on this.
From UCI’s website:
In order to be eligible for admission to our university, you must meet the following requirements:
- Complete 60 semester or 90 quarter UC transferable units by the end of the spring term prior to the desired fall term admission with a minimum 2.4 GPA required for California residents. All majors at UCI are selective and applicants are encouraged to earn the highest possible GPA.
- Complete seven UC transferable college courses with a grade of C or better in each course — two courses in English composition, one course in mathematical concepts and quantitative reasoning, and four courses in at least two of the following subject areas: arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, or physical and biological sciences.
Transfer Students | Office of Undergraduate Admissions | UCI
It doesn’t sound like you were ever going to accept SJSU because you had your foot out of the door to Irvine and weren’t fully invested in SJSU. The internships and jobs are in Silicon. Also, you seem to insinuate that the students there are beneath your caliber. My husband hires engineers and he really likes and hires CSU grads because of their training.
Also, UCI will evaluate your transcript and will accept what they want. They will decide if you’ve completed enough university units to merit a transfer. Priority admissions for transfers will go to local CC’s with articulation agreements. They rejected you and if nothing much has changed since high school, it wont change the previous decision.
Transfers don’t get the best aid, especially at a publicly funded university. You are usually on your own. You will be paying full fees if you don’t receive any state funding.
The thing that you strongly need to consider is that UCI may not end up being all that you’ve idealized it to be. A couple of proverbial phrases come to mind. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. Good luck.
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I think you’ve given good reasons for transferring via the CC route and have spent time thinking it thru, this isn’t a snap decision. So it sounds to me like it’s worth doing.
UCI may not be everything you hope for, but on the other hand it might be even better. Nobody has a crystal ball to tell. The drawbacks you mention to attending a commuter school are well known.
One catch is, as you said, ensuring you have enough units for UCI to take you. Look up all the classes you’ve taken on ASSIST to get CC equivalents if they exist (you might want to check more than one CC for your CSU) and then see if those CC classes transfer to UCI. If you’re going the CC route it may be a good idea to start this summer with a few classes, perhaps GE classes, to add some units certain to transfer.
Check very carefully the TAG requirements to make sure you meet all of them. Start with https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/_files/documents/tag-matrix.pdf and shift the dates down a year; note the requirement to take English early (eg. by the end of this summer.) If UCI has info sessions then attend them, as well as any at your CC.
Since you’d prefer a college where students live rather than commute you should also look at the CSU where they do such as Cal Poly SLO and Chico. These could be a fallback plan to UCI; heck, you might like one better. If you look at their requirements now for transfers you might have the flexibility in your CC schedule next year to meet them as well.
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I would choose Cal Poly for ME over any of them (my son is an alum from OOS), but ME is a competitive admit for FTF, and even more so for transfers.
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I’ve met with a counselor at my local CC already and verified that all of the courses I’m taking/ have taken except for 2 general eds will transfer via IGETC. I’ve made up for the credit loss by taking an arts GE over winter and have 2 classes planned for this summer as well which would be transferrable in both scenarios. All in All this ensures that I will have the right amount of credits given which I verified through both an advisor and checking through ASSIST as well.
As with Transfer timeline, I will be able to transfer for fall of 2024 given that I fulfil the major prep and GE’s planned out for me. The only real concern I have at this point is making sure that I’ll be able to enroll in them smoothly since I’ll be taking Physics mechanics over summer which is a prerequisite to another Physics course that I will have to take this fall in order to stay on track. This is the only real risky part that I’m a little bit concerned about but I plan to meet with my advisor again to sort it out.
I’ve heard a lot of the same sentiments from loved ones and friends about Cal Poly Slo but I wasn’t too big of a fan of the lack of diversity on those campuses which is another thing that is really important to me, but I do agree that the programs there are excellent as well as the non-commuter culture.
After meeting with a counselor at my local CC already, I verified that all of the courses I’m taking/ have taken except for 2 general eds will transfer via IGETC. I’ve made up for the credit loss by taking an arts GE over winter and have 2 classes planned for this summer as well which would be transferrable in both scenarios. I’m planned to at least 30 transferable credits by Fall of 2023 and should be on track to finish 60 credits with the roadmap that My counselor has made out for me.
As to your second comment, this is exactly how I felt during this entire year and it was extremely frustrating as I felt like I really did want to try to enjoy parts of the campus but I just couldn’t stop thinking about transferring because of how disconnected it felt being around commuter culture. I agree that SJSU has a great foundation for engineering as you’ve stated, and I’m sure my speculation doesn’t apply to all engineering students here at SJSU, but more or less it is the campus that I am most unhappy about, which is something I didn’t realize would affect me this much when I committed here at SJSU.
I’m aware that this is a risk that I would be taking but I feel like I would sleep better at night knowing I went for a risk towards what I really wanted versus risking the regret I might feel if I were to not. Another contributor to my decision will be based on how I finish this spring semester academically.