<p>I'm a freshman at UCLA and I just finished my first quarter here as a CS major. I know I'm fortunate to be here, and that LA is a great place to be, but I've found that I can't truly be happy at this school. My unhappiness and unrelenting negative mood in the first quarter made it very difficult for me to perform well in my classes. </p>
<p>I chose UCLA over the other UCs that I got into because I thought I cared about prestige, but after experiencing my first quarter, I realize that my personal happiness is more important to me.</p>
<p>My goal is to attend a school in the Bay Area (since my home is here), one with a good engineering program. Should I just drop out of UCLA and attend a CC for two years and then transfer to UCB? Should I go to a smaller private school like Northwestern Polytechnic? </p>
<p>I was considering doing a UC to UC transfer from UCLA to UCB, but my grades this quarter lead me to believe it won't be possible for me (I failed my first CS class and barely passed math). However, I don't believe this is because CS isn't the major for me, but that my personal happiness has been interfering with my studies.</p>
<p>What makes you so unhappy about UCLA? I’m a future engineering transfer. UCB will be really difficult to get into as a CCC transfer. Hearing from friends who applied there, two of my friends with a 3.97 (all pre-req and recommended courses completed) got in, while three of my other friends who had 3.92s (everything completed) were denied. I know it’s not all GPA. Either way, if you care about being happy, I’d say take the community college route. Just know that you might end up being there for a while…</p>
<p>I think Berkley is out of reach unless you do dramatically better for the next 3-4 quarters at UCLA depending on whether you are attending summer school or not. But going off what you’re saying…that might be hard because of your personal issues =/. But if you somehow get over those issues and start doing better you probably won’t have a need to transfer anymore…lol. Maybe you should try for UC Davis perhaps…but it still isn’t guaranteed. The CCC suggestion is a good one; at least then you can be guaranteed for at least Davis. It’s really up to you and how much longer you think you want to tough it out at UCLA.</p>
<p>nahtanoj, it took me a whole year to get used to Riverside (because it is ****), so it might take time, but def good friends and good classes will distract you and make you happy.</p>
<p>Before you think about transferring, I would try to pinpoint exactly what made you unhappy and whether a transfer will really make those problems go away. Otherwise, you’ll be unhappy regardless of where you end up. </p>
<p>And trust me, I get why you want to be in the Bay Area, I definitely enjoyed growing up there…</p>