<p>I'm a senior in high school (in California) and I have some questions about transferring from a community college to a UC.</p>
<p>The teachers, counselors, and even other students at my school talk about transferring from a CC to a UC as if it's a sure thing, but I feel like it's not. I want to go to UC, and if I don't get in, I don't want to settle for a CSU. So, I'm considering CC for general ed and then transferring to a UC. Which UC? Not sure, possibly one with a great chemistry or chemical engineering program as I'm planning on majoring in one of those (still deciding which). I have a weighted GPA of 3.75, and have taken/am taking AP classes. My GPA is a little on the low side because of my C's in English classes.</p>
<p>As I've said, if I don't get into a school that I actually like, I want to go to a CC and then transfer to a UC. I've talked to my counselors and they talked about doing an honors program at the CC, so would that better my chances of transferring to a UC? Are my chances of getting into a UC higher if I go to CC first, rather than out of high school? I know UC Berkeley is ranked high in both chemistry and chemical engineering, so are my chances of transferring to UCB reachable? Or possibly UCLA or UCSB?</p>
<p>This is all granted that I do better in CC then I did in high school, of course.</p>
<p>Look into the TAG program which guarantees admission at some of the UCs if you meet the course list and get a specified GPA. Honors at a CC are a good idea. For UCLA those who do the TAP program receive priority consideration for admission to UCLA College of Letters and Science (but not engineering).</p>
<p>Engineering programs are acredited by ABET and are going to be similar anywhere. Sure, Riverside isn’t a clone of Cal, but if you get into any UC for ChemE then I would suggest accepting. Get a good GPA, take part is student activities, get an internship or two, you’ll have good job prospects from any UC.
<p>And there is a whole continuity discussion worth thinking about. If you xfer from a CC then you enter a new college having to make a set of friends, get to know the profs, take part in student activities related to your major, all from scratch. The kids that have been there from frosh year have a big head start. I’m not saying its impossible, but there’s a lot to be said for one college all the way thru.</p>
<p>One more thought - going CC then UC is making a bet there won’t be a dip in your academic performance, while going to a 4-year college avoids the problem. The transition to college-level classes isn’t always smooth. Its not unusual for kids to have a drop-off in grades for a semester or two when they learn their HS study habits aren’t enough, when they aren’t used to the pace or difficulty, etc. </p>
<p>Now if you go to a 4-year college this doesn’t really matter. Future employers or grad schools are going to be much more interested in what you did later in your college career. As long as you don’t do so bad as to be kicked out then a slow start frosh year is just a bump in the road that won’t matter; you continue on after frosh year and those grades are way in the past.</p>
<p>By contrast if you are going to a CC then you have 3 semesters of grades available when you apply to xfer (you send a grade update in January after you apply at the start of your soph year). A bad semester may be a hit that keeps you from transferring, even though it would have become insignificant in your 4-year record had they let you in. And with the competitiveness of admissions at the better UCs even a middling 1st college semester (B average or so) may really hurt.</p>
<p>@mikemac Okay, so CC to UC is not a good idea for ChemE, how about for chemistry? Would it be possible to complete the major requirements and general ed at CC in 2 years?</p>
<p>If you don’t like your options when acceptances come out, CC is a fine option. No, it won’t guarantee you your favorite school, but if you meet the TAG requirements you’ll be guaranteed one of the UCs. And let’s face it, you weren’t guaranteed acceptance to any schools straight out of high school either (except CC, I guess).</p>
<p>For me CC was a second chance. I did pretty badly in high school, then went the CC route. I ended up with a 3.9 after my first year, which was a pretty big difference after a couple failed classes back in high school. There’s a couple big differences between HS and CC. The first is that you’ll have a choice in what you take, and it’s a lot easier to do well in classes you enjoy, or ones in your major. The second is that the grading shifts to being heavily based on exams and big papers. Back in HS there was a lot more busy work, and smaller assignments to keep you on track, if your classes have a participation grade at all it won’t be worth much. For some students that makes it easier to succeed, for others it kills their GPA.</p>
<p>As for what you can complete in 2 years, that depends on you and your major. I don’t have the chem ones memorized, but check assist.org to see what’s expected. How many classes are there for pre-reqs, and how many does your CC require for IGETC? And figure out which ones you can skip with AP credit. I didn’t bother with IGETC when I was in CC, assist said it wasn’t recommend for my major, and the Engineering GE requirements turned out to be fewer classes than I’d have needed at CC. If assist says IGETC isn’t recommended, it usually means there’s enough room for the remaining GE requirements in your schedule after transferring anyways.</p>
The xfer admit rate for ChemE will differ by UC campus but since you mentioned the 2 most prestigious UCs in your 1st post I thought you ought to know that it is no slam dunk at those schools. You could look up the rates for the other UCs or call them. Its probably significantly better than the Cal or UCLA rate.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you are intent on completing the general ed, and I hope this isn’t why you decided against engineering. You’ll take some classes towards general ed at a CC no matter what, not completing it just means you have a few more to take your last 2 years in college. Plenty of people go CC -> UC in engineering and finish in 4 years total. In my 1st post I just wanted to point out that it may not always be possible to do the major prep and complete general ed in 2 years at a CC. For Chem some UC’s do suggest finishing IGETC, some don’t; you need to look on ASSIST.</p>
<p>Lastly I suggest spending some time looking into the difference between a Chem major and ChemE. From what I’ve heard job prospects are much stronger for the engineering degree, and to get meaningful lab work with a Chem degree you need to get a Phd. If you are going to apply directly to a 4-year college you need to decide soon since your best shot at CA publics for an engineering degree is to get accepted as a frosh; if you go to a CC you have time to decide.</p>
<p>@mikemac Sorry, going off of what I was told by counselors and teachers, I was under the impression that general ed was required to be finished at CC for all transfers, regardless of major. However, I am leaning towards majoring in ChemE rather than chemistry. </p>
<p>I took a look at ASSIST for transferring from my local community college to UCSB, and I’m not sure I understand it. When it says that, for example, “Math 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B” are required. Is that a semester per or a quarter per? As in, does it mean I have to take Math 3A for a semester or quarter? Same question for when it says “Engineering 3”. Also, what do the numbers in the parentheses indicate? Sorry, if these questions seem silly, but I am currently looking at a guide as to how to understand it and I’m still a little confused.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that I am fine with spending 3 years at CC to finish the major prep for ChemE. I just want to better understand what classes I would have to take in those 3 years.</p>
<p>Assist will show you the name of the UC classes (on the left, like Math 4A), and on the right it shows your CC’s articulated course. So, the ones on the right are what you need to take to meet the requirements on the left. The number in parenthesis is the number of credits each class is worth. Semesters/quarters will match whichever system the school is on.</p>
<p>So if you see something like this:
MATH 3A Calculus with … (4) | MATH 150AC Calculus I (4)</p>
<p>It means MATH 3A is a pre-req at the UC, and if you take Math 150AC at that CC the requirement would be filled. At both schools the course is worth 4 credits. Of course, “Math 150AC” will change based on which CC you’re looking at, and sometimes it might even have multiple classes listed for one requirement.</p>
<p>If you see “No course articulated” on your CC’s side of the chart, that means your college doesn’t offer an equivalent course. You can look at other local CC’s to see if they offer the class, or you can wait and take the class after transfer.</p>
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<p>In terms of what classes you’d take, it should be roughly the same at CC or UC. The point of pre-reqs (and IGETC) is that they don’t want you to be behind after transfer. You take all the same subjects you would take in the first two years at a UC, and then after transfer you complete your upper division requirements and any pre-reqs you had missed.</p>
<p>If there is a CC near you then you should look online at their transfer center. They should have info on how to transfer, but more importantly many will have frequent workshops about how to transfer, visits from UC reps, etc. These are generally open to anyone, they’re not going to check ID or require a sign up to attend. For example <a href=“http://207.62.63.167/offices/transfer_center/calendar.asp”>http://207.62.63.167/offices/transfer_center/calendar.asp</a> Going to some of these may help you plan better.</p>
<p>UCSB is part of the Transfer Guarantee (TAG) program. One good thing about California CCs is that agreements are in place so that the sands are not constantly shifting regarding which courses are transferrable. Assist.org is a valuable resource. IGETC is nice to finish off Gen Ed courses, if possible, but not required. You have received excellent information in this thread!</p>
<p>Just remember you can’t TAG for school of engineering at UCSB. If you went just chemistry you could TAG there. Irvine, Davis, and Riverside are the only UCs that allow TAG for engineering majors (I’m fairly certain). UCSC doesn’t offer ChemE, and UCLA, UCB, and UCSD don’t offer TAG at all. </p>