SMC vs PCC vs BCC vs CCSF vs De Anza vs Foothill

Transfer Students
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<p>Hi! I'm a international student from the Philippines and I'm planning to attend a CC for 2 years before transferring to a university. My goal is to be able to transfer into USC/NYU/BC/UT Austin/UC Berkeley/UCLA. I'm probably going to take up accounting, finance or economics. </p>

<p>Please help me choose which CC I should go to. I heard that budget cuts affected the amount of classes offered in some CCs and I don't want to have a hard time signing up for classes. Does anybody know which CC has the best transfer rate to the schools that I want to get into? What other factors should I consider when it comes to picking a CC? Based on the CCs that I mentioned on the title of the thread, which is the best pick for me? Other CC recommendations are welcome. </p>

<p>Thanks for the help! :)</p>

<p>Note: I posted this thread on the Community Colleges forum but it's not receiving any replies so I figured that there are transfer students in this forum who are attending a cc right now and would have an opinion on this matter.</p>

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<p>I go to SMC and I love it! SMC also has a fair share of international students so you will be able to relate to other studetns. All CCC’s are facing over crowding so make sure you sign up for classes on your scheduled date.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply SMCguy! </p>

<p>I want to go to SMC but I’m not yet 18 by Fall 2011 and I still have to wait for Spring 2012 to be able to enroll there. I will graduate high school on the last week of March and I dont want to waste time waiting to turn 18 just so I could go to SMC. :(</p>

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<p>Honestly, all the CCCs are going to be crowded AND all of the CCCs have about the same chance of transfer. While one CCC might have more # of students per year transferring, that has more to do with enrollment numbers. DeAnza has about 25,000 students and West Valley (which is another great one to consider) has about 12,000 students. Of course, DeAnza will have more transfers because it is twice as big.</p>

<p>Students from <em>any</em> of the CC campuses who get a 3.7 - 4.0 GPA are being admitted into Berk/Davis/UCLA/ and so forth. While it may take awhile to really grasp that the CCCs are pretty much interchangeable in terms of transferring, this is the case. There are no adcoms out here thinking that a certain CCC is a significant cut above the rest. The ones you’ve named are all solid - so pick partly based on if you want to live in Southern CA or Northern CA… and then search online to see which CCC offers the best selection of classes in your chosen major. You can search right now what classes were offered in Spring 2011 (and can often see if the class was full or not) to get an idea of what it would be like at the college.</p>

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<p>I go to De Anza, so I can give you info on De Anza and a bit on Foothill.</p>

<p>Firstly, De Anza and Foothill are sister colleges, and with the same parking permit you can register at both campuses. If you want to be involved in the chorus, you’d go for De Anza. If radio or theatre is more your thing, you’d want foothill. Because of the split of some classes, people from De Anza may occasionally take a class at Foothill, and visa versa. It’s also nice if say, biology is full at De Anza, you can just take that one class at Foothill. It’s convenient.</p>

<p>De Anza has a very high transfer rate. Given this, it’s also near impossible to get classes as a first year student. My first quarter I couldn’t get my maths class, and barely made it into an english class. I had to fill my classes up with random things. I’ve heard it’s easier with foothill to get classes. I’m not sure, though.</p>

<p>De Anza has a good bit of international students. It’s located in Cupertino, CA. Cupertino is probably the most Asian city outside of Asia. Don’t get me wrong, I live here, and it’s pretty cool to have the culture from China, Japan, Korea, India, etc (We have the best pearl milk tea <em>ever</em> =P) But if you want a more American feel, it may not be the place to study. Although, I do know a few students from Philipines, some who immigrated and others who are first generation. If you want to maintain connections to your culture, it’ll probably be an ideal place. I know we have clubs like Asian Pacific American Students for Leadership. So, it’s not a bad thing or a good thing and you may not care either way, but I think it’s worth mentioning: It’s very Asian.</p>

<p>Honestly, it doesn’t really matter which you go to if you do well. Some counties have priority over others for some colleges. If you were set on SJSU, I’d say De Anza is excellent for you. For privates and top tier schools like UCB and UCLA, I expect it’s just a matter of getting stellar grades.</p>

<p>Good luck. :)</p>

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<p>Hi annikasorrensen! Thanks for the response! </p>

<p>Hi newsoul! Thanks for providing me a lot of info about De Anza and Foothill!</p>

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<p>LA City College</p>

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</p>

<p>Are you certain about this? My sister started at SMC at 16. CCCs are open enrollment so the only requirements are a HS diploma/equivalent OR being 18+, and exceptions are made all the time. How is SMC different?</p>

<p>Here’s the CCC Application statement:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[CCCApply</a> - Colleges - Frequently Asked Questions](<a href=“http://www.cccapply.org/faq/admissions.asp#1]CCCApply”>http://www.cccapply.org/faq/admissions.asp#1)</p>

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<p>Hi poserbruin! Why LACC?</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.smc.edu/projects/3/Admissions_and_Enrollment_Forms/SMC_ISC_Apps.pdf[/url]”>http://www.smc.edu/projects/3/Admissions_and_Enrollment_Forms/SMC_ISC_Apps.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Being 18 at the time of enrollment is one of the requirements written on SMC’s International Student Application Form pdf file.</p>

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<p>Honestly I just said LACC for the heck of it. I go to LACC and I go because it’s the closest to my house. But if I were an international student, and if I had to make a choice where in California I would want to live, I would move to a nice suburban area and attend a medium to small sized community college in the suburbs, like Moorpark College or Irvine Valley College or Orange Coast College or something. Those colleges are less likely to face overcrowding problems that bigger schools like Santa Monica College, LACC, De Anza, etc are suffering from.</p>

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<p>^^ Oh right, international. Ignore me then. :)</p>