TAGging, and more.

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>Hey! So basically, I'm planning to transfer into either UCLA, UC Davis, or UCSD my Junior year. I'm currently a senior in high school and I'm trying to debate my options. I really screwed up my junior year because of depression and friend issues, which kinda killed the UC eligibility I had. I know I have the potential to do really well in school, because that's what my work before Junior year indicated. So now, I haven't been accepted to any UC campuses. However, the UC's are what my heart has been set upon, so I really would rather transfer than go to the universities I have been accepted to. I plan on majoring in Environmental Engineering, but go to Med school (hopefully UCSF, Stanford, or UPenn) after I get my bachelor's. </p>

<p>So here are the things I would like to know:</p>

<p>What are the maximum number of courses I can take in one quarter?
What are the recommended number of courses I should take in one quarter?
For San Jose area people: De Anza or Evergreen?
What campus do you recommend for my major/career plans?</p>

<p>Also, alot of people I have talked to have brought up "making friends" as an issue for transfers.</p>

<p>For people who have transferred: Is it hard to make friends? (I'm pretty outgoing, although I can be shy at first)</p>

<p>Thank you, your help and opinions are very much appreciated (:</p>

2

<p>Hey deeptin. You have no idea how similar my story was to you. I had a ton of potential but I was distracted and ended up graduating HS with a 2.7 GPA. Accepted, obviously, nowhere good.</p>

<p>A lot of san jose area people go to Foothill as well as De Anza. They’re both amazing CCs and will definitely take care of you. Evergreen is a good school, but De Anza and Foothill are much, much better. If you could, I would tell you to go to Foothill since your a science major. We just built a $100 million science wing and its phenomenal, you’ll love it. They’re not that far apart. DA and Foothill also partnered with NASA to create a summer internship program for science majors (its paid).</p>

<p>Also, Obama choose the De Anza-Foothill District Chancellor as the Undersecretary of education of the country (her name’s Martha Kanter).</p>

<p>In one quarter, you can take up to 20 units at De Anza or Foothill. That’s usually around 4 classes, 5 if your ballsy. Most people take 3-4.</p>

<p>As for making friends, ya it can be hard. In my first quarter, I didn’t know anyone. I joined student government and I quickly made a really great group of friends and its helped a ton in my transfer process. So I recommend you join a club or the student government early on. At both foothill and de anza, the clubs and student governments are really extensive, respected and well known. We both have 40+ clubs and our budgets (which we take care of on our own) are over $500,000. We travel around the state numerous times over the year and its a really great way to meet people who want to transfer and want to succeed as well as get to know key members of the faculty and administration. (We also have our own offices at both campuses, so you can chill somewhere between classes)</p>

<p>I’m the student body president at Foothill currently and I can tell you that both the De Anza students and Foothill students that are in student government usually get into their first or second choice schools. Our counselors are great and are always available to help you out. We also have a great honors program that makes it easy to get a UCLA TAP as long as your willing to work for it.</p>

<p>So ya, my recommendation, go to Foothill since your a science major. But if you want to be closer, De Anza will do just as fine (though they’re only 5-10 mins apart). Join student government or a club, get involved quickly, talk to the counselors a lot and you’ll succeed and tons of friends.</p>

<p>Last year, Foothill’s student government transfers did amazingly well. Our VP of Finance is at UCLA for Biz Econ, our Acting President got into Microbiology at Cal with a 3.4, our student trustee got into Stanford, the VP of Intramural and the VP of Administration are both at Haas. So ya, just get involved.</p>

<p>My stats so far:
College: Foothill
GPA: 3.4
Major: Econ (Bus Econ where available)
Accepted: UCSC, UCSD, UCSB, Davis
Rejected: None!
Pending: UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC
ECs: Student Body President, State-wide work</p>

<p>Hope this helps! If you have any questions, just ask.</p>

3

<p>Thank you so much! The reason I mentioned Evergreen is because it’s literally a 10 minute walk and a 2 minute drive from my house. However, I always knew that De Anza was better. </p>

<p>I really appreciate your input. So you can’t take more than 20 Units each quarter? How does the Honors program work? LOL, as you can tell … I don’t know anything ahha.</p>

4

<p>bump i really need more input. </p>

<p>PLEASE <3 … I’d really appreciate it!</p>

5

<p>If you don’t have a car already, then I’d suggest Evergreen since it’s so close to you and that would help save on costs. Apply for the FAFSA every single year, because even something as simple as a BOG waiver has pretty much made my entire time in CC cost-free.</p>

<p>The thing about CCs is that they’re all commuter and as such the social life on those is going to be lacking, but it’s very possible to make friends if you put some extra effort into it. When you get our of class, a lot of people aren’t going back to dorms to party, but rather back to their own house, or part-time job, or kids. Not everyone though. As I got farther into my science courses, I saw the same people in every class, etc. Once you join whichever CC, as already mentioned join some of the major EC groups such as student government, or maybe a sport. It’ll help you get out there. </p>

<p>Try and get a job on campus if you need one, whether in an office or in the lab cleaning glassware-either will benefit you greatly for more reasons than just a paycheck. Don’t worry too much about the units you’ll be taking yet and meet with a counselor at the community college to determine an appropriate course of action. Counselors can be hit or miss, so if you can ask if any of them specialize in helping science students.</p>

<p>As an example, in one semester you’ll probbaly be taking say: Calc I, Gen Chem 1, Molec Bio, and a Humanities/Social Science. At my college that’d likely be (respectively) 4 units, 5 units, 5 units, 3 units = 17 units. That’s really hard-- see if you can get some Gen Eds or math classes out of the way in Summer and Winter sessions outside of the regular terms (My CC is on the semester system, not sure about Evergreen or DA), because if you can, it is a HUGE relief and the extra effort during the Summer or Winter is worth it, seriously. </p>

<p>Depending on the effort of the CC’s officials, you’ll either be getting info about TAGs in every class you take or you’ll have to directly question a counselor about it. I kept my old study habits from high school (mistake) at my CC, so even bringing my GPA up recently it wasn’t enough for a TAG anywhere (Though I did get in some places!). Keep on that, because for most of the UCs the TAG required GPA is low-ish. Again, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT with a counselor and go over all of this, specifically:</p>

<p>A) The recommended curriculum for an Env Eng major B) How to ease that curriculum by taking Summer and/or Winter classes C) How to make sure you stay on top of the TAG process, because apparently it can be drawn out, D) How to fit the Env Eng classes in with medical school required classes.</p>

<p>Choice of CC won’t matter much, especially if you plan on keeping a GPA high enough to do a TAG. However, DO check out professor ratings of the instructors at the CCs you’re considering. As an example, there is only ONE OChem teacher at my college, and we lucked out because he rocks.</p>

6

<p>What are the maximum number of courses I can take in one quarter?
varies with each school,but its very easy to petition to take more,so you can take as many as you like.</p>

<p>What are the recommended number of courses I should take in one quarter?
average is 3-4</p>

<p>For San Jose area people: De Anza or Evergreen?
i go to de anza and foothill. they prepare you really well for UC’s.
oh but a warning about de anza: it’s nearly impossible to get the science classes because there are soooo many students, so just take it at foothill instead. i think math and bio are easier at fh, and chem is easier at da</p>