Hi,
I realized I made a huge mistake in coming to ucla for reasons I’d rather not talk anout here. Anyways, I’d like to transfer schools. I was accepted to UCI during the normal application times, is there any possibility that I may be able to transfer there after fall quarter at Ucla is over?
Can I start the application process over again using my high school grades and credits from first quarter here at LA?
Thank you so much for any help!
Moreover, my question would be-- does the UC system even accept transfers at the quarter? Both UCLA and UCI are quarter based schools.
Once you start at a college, generally, you can only transfer as a junior. There are some off the grid majors that sometimes accommodate sophomores, but it’s extremely rare. Go talk to your advisor at UCLA for advice.
you can contact UCI Admissions to see if their are any unpublicized methods; you are undoubtedly not the 1st frosh to decide they picked the wrong campus. But if these don’t exist then you’ll have to wait until you are a junior.
One avenue people have discussed is withdrawing entirely from school before finishing the 1st quarter and reapplying as a frosh, but nobody has ever said whether UC has agreed it is ok. And going against it working is their definition of a transfer student “You’re a transfer student if you enrolled in a regular session (fall, winter or spring) at a college or university after high school. (Taking a class or two during the summer term immediately following high school graduation doesn’t make you a transfer student.)” If you ask UC about this and they say it would work, you should get that assurance in writing (email or letter), not just over the phone.
As someone with UCLA as their top choice, I’m actually wondering why you don’t like it. I understand if its something personal, but any info would help.
To all posters, thank you so much for the information! I will look into it more.
@naregian The reason is because I thought I could handle dorm life and living on campus in combination to studying, but a whole year of this looks pretty bleak to me. I just can’t stand being “at school” for 24 hours in a day and a commuter campus seems like a better alternative at this point… despite the hassle of actually commuting… I am in a tough spot and a decision itself to make right now. I can’t see myself living in the dorms and being a second or third year CSE student that’s all. Grades first = less time spent in college = money saved. UCLA academics are merciless as well.
That’s the personal bit. UCLA in itself is a fine school, but overhyped. Not worth the 30k+ dollars a year in my honest opinion. And I was mistaken, the “colllege experience” is not for me.
Obviously I’m inferring a lot by reading your last post, but my impression is you are not happy with the social pressures and demands of living in the dorm. And sitting quietly at home studying and showing up on campus just for classes and maybe office hours seems like a way to “fix” things. That’s one point of view.
Let me offer another perspective. While you’re still a ucla student I suggest you set up a meeting with a career counselor (not one of the peer advisors and not the quickie drop-in, but a bona-fide 30 minute chat with a real counselor). I think they’ll tell you the same think I’m about to, which is that the “lone-wolf” quietly getting all the things done their manager asks and being rewarded for doing so isn’t how the world works. The people that are out in the workforce don’t come from some other planet but are the kids around you, some who recently graduated & some that graduated decades ago.
College classes are not reflective of the workforce in many ways. In class you are given assigments that can be completed in a week or two for the most part, the occasional 10-week term assignment, and working too close with others is called “cheating”. In the workforce you may be working on a project with dozens or even hundreds of people when its all added up, the project started well before you got there, and may run months or even years (even if they release a version they keep tinkering, adding features, fixing bugs, etc). Which means that employers expect you to be able to work well and closely with others, that in order to get your job done you’ll need to use social skills to persuade others to explain things they’re doing that you need to understand, to accomodate the work you’re doing in the stuff they are doing. And even getting thru the CSE classes past the frosh/soph year is going to involve a lot of working with others as they help you on stuff they understand but you don’t and vice-versa.
So maybe I’m completely off base here, but I get the sense that you are frustrated/unhappy with the “colllege experience” and think you can make it go away. You can, but in the larger sense you’ll be back into the milieu once you graduate college. Some may have a bit more struggle in college socially than others, but it does serve as a valuable learning and testing ground to see what works for you and what doesn’t.
@badgolfer While I agree with everything that you said, I believe OP is more concerned about living on campus - being immersed in the college environment at all times is overwhelming to them - and they would like to attend a commuter school because it seems more laid back. With that said,
@rmartina CS/CSE will be demanding at any school that you go to. It may be hard now, but you’ll acclimate - and a CSE degree from UCLA is quite the feat. Regarding living on the dorms, realize that you don’t have to - there are off-campus options that you may find more attractive. I agree with badgolfer, though; you should talk to a career counselor. I don’t think transferring to UCI will solve all of the problems that you expect it to.
Also, many second or third years don’t live in the dorms (well, at least at Berkeley, but I know that the dorms aren’t the ONLY option for UCLA students). Look into living somewhere else next year. Perhaps you would prefer a single bedroom.
@goldencub, thank you for your post.
I thought of some more direct evidence after I wrote the post above, since I kinda doubt the OP will talk to a career counselor (although I think it would be a good idea). The top employers in the tech industry, as well as many others, all have an open floorplan with the express purpose of fostering interaction. Think of it as the dorm on steroids; you may get away to the library or class while in college, but in the open floorplan you are expected to spend your 50-80 hours a week right out there in the open with your coworkers. Google, Facebook, Yahoo, eBay, Pixar, all open floorplan, just about every startup in SF, as well as a host of more traditional companies. This ought to give pause who thinks that on the job in CSE you get an assignment and shut yourself away to crank it out.
Why don’t you try cross-enrolling at UCI for a quarter or two and go from there? The enrollment period opens fairly soon and you don’t lose your standing as a UCLA student.
A major disadvantage with cross-enrolling is that you won’t have first dibs in class choices, but, given your scenario, it’s likely better than the alternatives. I don’t know how feasible it is with CS/CSE courses that generally don’t have open spaces, but it’s definitely worth exploring especially if you have advanced coursework completed that affords you to “burn” a quarter.