Transferring from DA to UCB/USC

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am currently a senior in high school due for graduating in June.</p>

<p>I have decided (for a number of reasons) to attend De Anza CC and transfer to UCB/USC/UCLA for Business.</p>

<p>I just had a few questions:
How is community college in comparison with high school? I want to get involved, and how would I go about doing that? Clubs? ASB? That's mainly what I'm asking.</p>

<p>I'd also like to ask what would be the best course of action to better prepare myself to transfer. What classes should I take? Honors Programs? Grades?</p>

<p>If someone who has transferred or is doing the same thing could answer a few of these questions, I'd appreciate it a ton!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>hey, i go to DA too.</p>

<p>personally, there's a few things i think is important to know about DA:</p>

<p>1) it is SO HARD to sign up for classes cuz there are so many people. sign up on your day at 5 AM.</p>

<p>2) transferring is actually a lot more competitive and complicated than i thought. i thought it would be so easy, but make sure you get your major pre-requisites, IGETC done. use assist.org.</p>

<p>3) for getting into business at UCB/UCLA/USC, the avg gpa is very high, close to 4.0. so make sure you get good grades</p>

<p>4) getting good teachers makes the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE. it really does.</p>

<p>5) if you're going to take math, take it at FH. DA has TERRIBLE math professors and it'll be worth it to go to foothill to get a good teacher/grade.</p>

<p>6) there will be a club day, or you can look online. plus you have orientation to give you info too.</p>

<p>7) don't trust counselors. they have no idea what they're doing and it takes like an hour to meet up with them even if your question only takes 5 seconds. just call the school you want to transfer to directly, its much easier and more accurate. </p>

<p>okayyy i hope that was good advice.. feel free to PM me if you have more questions, i'd love to help</p>

3

<p>turkeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I applaud you on your excellent advice!!</p>

<p>I went to De Anza as well.
I'm at Foothill now, here are my reasons, just in case it makes you reconsider if De Anza is the best place for you:</p>

<ol>
<li>Teachers/counselors = DISAPPOINTING. Like turkeey said, the counselors screwed me over big time and I had to re-do my academic plan on my own. (Assist.org is now your best friend!). I understood why the teachers were so awful though, a lot of De Anza students don't deserve great teachers (compared to Foothill - known for the amazing variety of accomplished faculty) - the mood is entirely different.</li>
<li>No TAP</li>
<li>Classes are so hard to get into</li>
<li>90% of my classmates were ******bags that never came to class, didn't care about educational goals in general.... Thus harder to make friends too.</li>
</ol>

<p>Hopefully by MY ranting, you have a feeling of what you should expect if you go to De Anza. But I highly... HIGHLY suggest thinking about Foothill if you can. (I live 2 minutes from De Anza - but drive 30 minutes to Foothill!) ESPECIALLY since you are interested in UCLA. (TAP program)</p>

4

<p>when was douch3 a vulgar word? grrrr..</p>

5

<p>Foothill > De Anza for all those reasons and more.</p>

6

<p>DA really doesn't have TAP? Wow.</p>

<p>Anyways, try looking into a school that does do TAP. It's really not that hard compared to the benefits you receive.</p>

7

<p>I'm a new student at de anza for spring quarter. I've heard many good things about de anza being the best of the CC's out there. Out of the few problems others mentioned, I've encountered one so far: the counselor wasn't very helpful when I went for a walk-in session. he simply printed out the list of classes I need to take from assist.org which I already figured out as much. So I guess i'm on my own to plan out my courses. </p>

<p>I'm worried that I won't get into the classes I want because my registration time is on 3/17. ;_; it's going to be a problem if I can't get decent times because i'm commuting to de anza from home which is about two hours each way.</p>

<p>I have a question though. Besides the bookstore, do De Anza students have a website where they sell their textbooks at a much cheaper price? (Like u-loop.com but the De Anza one under it is like empty). If not, what's the best way to minimize the cost of buying textbooks?</p>

<p>also, I'm a science major (bio/chem/physics oriented pre-reg's), how competitive are these classes in DA?</p>

8

<p>TWO HOURS EACH WAY!?</p>

<p>explain this.</p>

9

<p>pinkerfloyd,</p>

<p>for the purpose of concealing my identity online, I'll just say that I'll be relying on public transit to and from de anza which is the best option I have right now. It is 2hours each way, I kid you not. But I really don't mind much.</p>

10

<p>oh true, Foothill has a TAP with UCLA. i personally like DA more because i live close to the area and i feel more familiar with the surroundings. FH is kinda in the middle of nowhere, but it's definitely worth it to go there for some classes. I go to both schools so i believe i know both of them pretty well.</p>

<p>minilemon: what classes do you want to sign up for? if they're GE's, it shouldnt be that bad to get into. but science classes are really hard to get into without early sign up dates. you can get an earlier date by being in the honors program, ASB, EOPS</p>

<p>I'm a bio major, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get bio in your freshman year at DA. maaaaybe chem, maybe phys. personally, i think this is where you should take each science pre-req class and why:</p>

<p>chem: DA [better teachers, and you don't have to do STUPID online hw which takes forever. also, no pre-labs and you can write your own post labs. better teachers for sure too]</p>

<p>bio: FH [i heard DA has to write essays for bio, but FH doesnt. i had erickson for biol 1a at FH and she was HARD. i can give advice on professors if you're wondering about them. Also, bio 1a at FH is DA's bio 6b, and bio 1b is DA's bio 6a. bio lb/6a is on igetc, but not 1a/6b]</p>

<p>phys: depends on who's teaching</p>

<p>calc: FH FOR SUREEEE!! i had delos santos for calc and she is the BEST professor i have ever had in my life. very nice, very lenient, teaches VERY well.</p>

<p>some additional info:
- FA 1 with hartwell at FH is probably the easiest class you will ever have in your life
- use ratemyprofessors.com if you don't already. that site saves lives.
- across DA in the plaza with Shane Co, there is a bookstore called Aida's University Book Exchange; they have the same textbooks but for cheaper.
- at FH, use the math lab for tutoring, it helps a lot! and you can also print up to 20 pages for free everyday. i print all my stuff there haha.</p>

11

<p>It's so funny how much you remind me of me back in the last months of high school. These are in no particular order.</p>

<p>1) It is definitely hard to sign up for classes. This last quarter, I stayed up until 5 a.m. to register, and the server crashed at 5. By the day your registration date comes, most of the good classes are already taken.</p>

<p>2) Pick good teachers. Don't settle for the "okay" ones. RateMyProfessor.com</p>

<p>3) You don't need to join clubs. I personally believe that it's a waste of time. De Anza has an internship program with NASA Ames Research Center. I currently work there; it has been one of the best decisions of my life. You will also get priority registration from it.</p>

<p>4) The Honors Program is USELESS. Your grades won't get weighted. You will get priority registration, but if you don't take an honors cohort per quarter, you will not get priority registration for the following quarter.</p>

<p>5) A- will bring down your GPA. 3.7, I believe. But the work is so much easier. I had approx. 3.0 in high school, but I have a 4.0 now.</p>

<p>6) I have evening classes, so there are a lot of adults. Don't really get the chance to make many friends, which is okay. Just focus on your schoolwork. You can make friends once you transfer.</p>

<p>7) Business is a very competitive major. UCB accepted 6% last year, I think? I'm not saying you're doing it for the name, but it's important to pick a school where you know you will keep up. Because, in the end, firms will recruit from all sorts of schools. You'd have a better chance getting recruited at a school like SCU (which is a great school) than USC. And, if you go to business school, it won't matter that much which school you went to for your bachelor's degree. Also, you might change your major multiple times in the 2 years that you're at De Anza. Prepare yourself for that. Take a look at assist.org.</p>

<p>8) Parking is a *****. Get there early.</p>

<p>9) I suggest creating a transfer plan for your 2 years, planning which courses you will take in which quarter. USC requires different classes from UC, but try to find classes that fulfill both requirements.</p>

12

<p>turkeey, I don't think he has to worry about those science classes, because he wants to major in Business. I'm just taking Anthropology and Geology for my sciences.</p>

<p>OH, ALSO... Do well on your placement tests!!! Placing in MATH 1A and EWRT 1A can save you more than 4 or 5 courses, which could be the difference in transferring in 2 years or 3 years. Keep in mind that the term "2-year college" is fading, because the average now is 3 years, according to my orientation counselor.</p>

13

<p>azn central!</p>

14

<p>commute to CCSF. much better transfer process.</p>

15

<p>turkeey,
Thank you so much for the great advice. I plan to take chem1c, physics4A, and EWRT 1A in spring quarter. DA counselor told me to focus on my major reqs and not igetc, because I want to pursue a specific science major.
Yeah, about bio at foothill. I read on ratemyprofessor.com that Erickson is like an insanely difficult professor.I plan to take bio later though, probably during summer because I can't manage three science classes at once. </p>

<p>I am really nervous about going to DA, but thank you so much. At least I have an idea about what to expect once I'm there.<br>
btw, what's FA1?</p>

16

<p>Thanks for the responses everyone. I think I am at an equal distance from both FH and DA, so I'll give that some more thought. </p>

<p>As for those math classes, I will study for that placement test like crazy lol, and I just hope I can pass the AP exam for Statistics, maybe that will also help.</p>

<p>I need to talk to a counselor.</p>

17

<p>PTK eyi: i compeltely agree! good advice :)</p>

<p>parking is ATROCIOUS now. sigh. and people are scary drivers.. be careful! haha</p>

18

<p>isus39: i took AP stats too, but they don't count that at DA, dunno why -___-''</p>

19

<p>There should be a De Anza section in here, since there are so many students that go there. :P</p>

20

<p>isus39: ahh i keep on forgetting to say stuff! anyway, the math placement is hella strict, missing 1 or 2 more questions can put you in a different class. if you test into precalc, just take it at FH because it's 1 class at FH and 2 at DA. there's a lot of questions on the unit circle, and the sample questions at the DA website aren't accurate.</p>