I’m a Berklee College of Music dropout after completing one year, currently taking a gap year and planning to reapply for the Fall 2024 intake into computer science. I am aware that the vast majority of the credits I earned while at Berklee won’t carry over/help me in any way in a computer science program. Something I’m running into looking at the websites of these universities I’m looking at is that many of them talk about how the requirements for being a transfer student include having a certain number of college-level credits, like UC Santa Cruz requiring 60 semester units or 90 quarter units, and credits in certain subjects like math, English, physics, and more. I do not have these credits, but I’m still required to apply as a transfer, right?
My problem is that I fully plan on still entering as a Freshman and completing a full program at my new college but I don’t want to apply as someone who hasn’t attended any other colleges. Anyone have any experience dealing with situations like this?
You need to have an actual, telephone conversation with a transfer advisor at any college you are interested in. Our advice to you is worthless; every college has its own policies and procedures for transferring, credits, freshman standing, etc.
You will still have a college transcript from Berklee so for the majority of colleges, you will be considered a transfer and you cannot omit that you attended Berklee. There is a Student Clearinghouse that would have your college record so make sure you are honest with the schools advisor and when you complete your college applications. Your acceptances can be rescinded if they find out you omitted information.
All the UC’s and Cal states accept Junior level transfers so 60 semester/90 quarter units so if interested in these schools, you should expect to spend 2 years at a community college to fulfill their requirements.
Are you a California resident? The UC’s are expensive for non-residents.
Also, Santa Cruz has a huge housing crisis and housing will be an issue for transfers.
As @Gumbymom noted, you are required to have 60 semester transferable units or 90 transferable quarter units. That means if you apply now, you will be rejected for lack of transferable units.
Qualification requirements and/or prerequisites for the major: Transfer students who want to pursue the Computer Science major, must have applied and been admitted to UC Santa Cruz as a proposed Computer Science major.
Students with Python programming experience who have not completed an articulated course to CSE 20, Beg. Programming in Python, who wish to bypass CSE 20, should take the online CSE 20 testout exam in July or September. See CSE 20 Testout Exam for more information and to register.
Transfer students who intend to pursue this major should do the following prior to the beginning of their first term… * Students must submit unofficial transcripts to BE advising by July 1. Please use the google form that was sent to you by email requesting transcripts. Do not email or mail these separately to us.
If you have taken courses that may apply toward your major requirements or toward prerequisites for major courses, and they do not have an agreement listed on ASSIST.ORG, a review of course materials and syllabi by our engineering faculty may be required. This includes courses taken at schools outside of the California Community College system. To prepare for this review, we recommend that you begin gathering course descriptions, syllabi and other materials from any engineering related courses you have completed that do not have ASSIST.org agreements.
Please look into your local CC with your current transcript and plan out your coursework with a CC counselor. You should not apply to a UC without meeting the transfer admissions requirements. Good luck!
If you live in CA, you need to attend your local CC and take all pre-req classes (minus whatever AP/DE classes taken in HS). You’ll be able to apply next year.
A full year of college attendance after leaving high school generally makes you a transfer applicant in the eyes of most colleges. You can check each college of interest to be sure.
If you are a California resident interested in UCs and CSUs, they generally admit junior level transfers, so you need at least 60 semester (or 90 quarter) units by the time of transfer. You also need to complete various subject requirements, including major preparation course work, before transfer (these vary by campus and major; see https://www.assist.org ). You may need two years at a community college to complete these various subject requirements (this will likely take you well past 60 semester units, although if all of your college courses are frosh/soph level, they will not cause the “too many units” problem).
Note that all college courses and grades (including from Berklee, and high school dual enrollment if you have that) must be included in your transfer application. Any AP credit will be re-evaluated by the college you apply to transfer to.
You need guidance from the transfer counselor at any college you are interested in, not guidance from a bunch of strangers on the internet. Get hopping. Every institution has its own criteria for awarding credit and they will be happy to tell you what they are.
There are definitely schools that will allow you to transfer without 60 credits, and you would be looking for schools that reserve the right to evaluate you as a freshman if you do not have enough transferable credits. A couple of examples…UNC Charlotte and Case Western both have wording of that sort.
When you say dropped out, I am assuming that you mean you chose not to continue as a sophomore (i.e. you passed your freshman year classes and have a college GPA that will not cause issues).
You could try doing a “match me” post on here to try to find some options. And as @Publisher said, people might be able to help more if they knew the places you have been considering.