<p>Hello, I am a senior in high school with a crucial decision to make. I am applying to UCI, UCSC, CSULB, and SDSU. I want to major in Computer Science in college. However, my grades and extracurriculars are lousy all around, and I am planning to go to A community college if I don't get into UCI. I also have some money problems and family problems currently and that will also hinder my college admission. </p>
<p>My questions are, if I follow the IGETC plan, how quickly can I transfer to a UC, and what GPA would I need to maintain? Do I take any non-IGETC relevant classes that apply to my major? The college specialist at my school said that transfers usually happen after 2 years but my counselor says 2 years at a cc will ruin you mentally... I want to know how I can transfer out within a year. My goal is to transfer into UCSD as a Comp Sci major. Thank you for reading and please respond.</p>
<p>You usually need at least 60 credits to transfer to a UC. The amount of time it takes depends on how long it takes you to get 60 credits and complete the necessary classes. If you have completed a lot of AP classes it may not take as long compared with if you don’t have any AP credits. </p>
<p>You should check [url=<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DASSIST.org%5B/url”>http://www.assist.org]ASSIST.org[/url</a>] to see what classes you need to take in order to transfer. You may also want to look into TAG for UCSD if you want to transfer to UCSD from a community college.</p>
<p>would I have a reasonable chance to transfer with 60 credits or is that a MINIMUM that I mudt have to even get considered and I should actually get 70-80 units?
I’ve done the calculations and it looks like if I follow the IGETC plan given by the CC, I will get 40 semester units. Can I tske extra courses, and how hard is a community college? is it much harder than high school?</p>
<p>The difficulty of community college is dependent on your teacher and study habits. It’s technically harder than high school, but it’s your responsibility to adjust. On top of the IGETC, you have to take prerequisite classes for your major. What is your major?</p>
<p>You can absolutely transfer to UCSD in two years, but I wouldn’t count on anything sooner than that unless you have a ton of AP credits. The 60 units is a requirement to be a junior transfer; no way around it. Having more than 60 doesn’t make you look any better, unless you have a major with a ton of major prep. As for “ruining you mentally”, you know yourself better than your counselor. Yeah, you won’t be getting the college experience, but you can still meet a lot of people and have a lot of fun. As for difficulty, your general ed classes are typically (not always) gonna be pretty easy, sometimes a flat out joke. Math and science however is math and science no matter where you go; just put the time in and you’ll be fine. If you do end up at a community college, stay focused, keep your gpa up and you’ll be out of there before you know it. </p>
<p>I know all of this because I got into UCSD last year after 2 years at my community college, but chose to stay another year to finish up the rest of the prereqs. Now hoping for LA or Berkeley. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>60 semester units is the minimum required to transfer (it makes you junior level as far as credits go). I’m not sure how much having more credits affects admissions chances but I do know that UCLA generally admits students with more than the 90 required quarter credits (60 semester). For the College of Letters and Science, applicants last year (for Fall 2012 admissions) had an average of 101 quarter units (67/68 semester units). The average for people admitted to the College of Letters and Science was 105 quarter units (70 semester units).</p>
<p>At the same time the average person who applied to the School of the Arts and Architecture had 120 quarter units (80 semester units) but the student admitted had 104 quarter units (69/70 semester units).</p>
<p>Having more than 60 semester credits may just be a result of taking the required classes, especially since many community colleges give students 4-5 credits for some classes. </p>
<p>I think what is most important is that you have all the required classes completed. As long as you have at least 60 semester credits from a community college it is more important to finish all the required classes than to have 70 or so credits.</p>
<p>Just to make sure you are aware of it, several of the UC campuses participate in the TAG program which guarantees admission if you take the required classes and achieve the needed gpa (usually 3.2). There are restrictions, it doesn’t apply to all majors, yadda yadda yadda, but its something you should look into. UCSD is ending its participation in 2014 so unfortunately that’s off the table, but there still are others.</p>
<p>While UCSD is still participating in the TAG program, this next year will be their last. So the Fall 2013 apps for Fall 2014 will be the last time that UCSD will be taking part. And For this current year and next year the required gpa is 3.5 and you must have at least 30 semester (45 quarter) CC units COMPLETED prior to applying for TAG. So for example: You want to TAG to UCSD next year you must have at least a 3.5 and 30 semester (45 quarter) units completed by the end of Summer 2013. Then of course maintain a minimum of 3.5 throughout your remaining semesters.</p>