Thinking of transfering from UCD to UCSB--best course of action?

<p>Let me start off with an introduction to my situation. The two most competitive schools I got into were UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara (I'm in the Bay Area, and only applied to UC's and a few CSU's). Basically it has been my mom's dream for me to go to UC Davis, and even though I absolutely loved Santa Barbara when I visited it during the school year and found Davis to be so-so, I finally caved into the stress and submitted my SIR to Davis. Now that the parental (and sibling) pressure has backed off, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have chosen Santa Barbara should my family have not pressured me so incredibly hard. In a few weeks I will be starting classes at Davis as a freshmen, and am already thinking of transfering. I'm undeclared in the agg college, and cannot honestly say what I want to major in due to parental pressure blurring my vision, though it is likely not agg. My question is, what is the best course of action for me to take, and does anyone have any advice? I'm in a bit of a situation here...</p>

<p>First off, sorry for your situation. By the way, I'm also from the Bay Area and I'm transferring to UCSB this fall, though through a community college. </p>

<p>I think that if you're dead set on transferring, consider applying now to a community college near you. Go to Davis in the Fall, and you truly decide you don't like it, switch to the community college in the spring. UCs give priority consideration to community college students, and even better, the mid-tier UCs have guaranteed transfer programs in place so that community college students can automatically transfer if they meet a set of conditions.</p>

<p>UCSB has guaranteed transfer agreements with most majors, and they simply require a 2.8 GPA (though when you'll apply for as a transfer student in Fall 2007, the requirement will be raised to a 3.0) and a handful of general education classes completed.</p>

<p>To the best of my knowledge, even students who spent some time in 4 year colleges will qualify for the agreement, as long as you finish your last 30 semester units or more before transferring at a community college, and as long as you never go over 90 units which will put you into senior standing.</p>

<p>I explained this topic a little more in depth here:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=95816%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=95816&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Scroll down to post #34 (look at the upper right hand corner).</p>

<p>You can also try scheduling an appointment with a transfer counselor at your local community college, and see if you can drop by on one of your breaks at Davis </p>

<p>I just wanted to mention that I was at a community college my whole 2 years, so don't take my advice as an absolute, because I'd hate to cause you more problems if something doesn't work out, which is why I suggest contacting a counselor.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>I'd recommend just doing the two years at davis and then applying as an intra UC transfer there's been a number of people here who have succeeded in transfering between UC's, the problem with going to a community college is you lose that sense of community you get by being at a four year school.</p>