<p>I'm currently planning on going to a community college, Orange Coast College to be precise, and transferring to a UC and majoring in computer science. Thing is, I've heard that this major is SUPER impacted and that it's impossible to get accepted with TAP. I saw the statistics for transfer students for UCLA with my major and it was around 1.6% acceptance rate out of 500 people. That's just ridiculous. I was planning on using TAG for UCI, UCD, and UCSD while using TAP to apply to UCLA and UCB. What should I do..?</p>
<p>TAP can’t be used for UCLA’s comp sci program, sorry. Don’t know about Berkeley.</p>
<p>TAG should work for the other schools. As for Berkeley and UCLA, just try to get as many pre-reqs completed as possible and earn the highest GPA you can.</p>
<p>I think you only get to TAG one school, so pick your favorite and you may have to apply regular admissions to the rest. Sure it’s competitive, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I transferred a couple years ago, I applied to UCSC, UCI, UCSD, and UCB (EECS) and got in to all of them. 10% acceptance rate doesn’t mean you won’t get in, it just means you should apply to a couple safety schools as well. 
Pre-reqs and a high GPA will really help, so do your best in all your classes.</p>
<p>UCSD no longer participates in TAG and you cannot TAG for UCSB (Engineering majors). Also @failure622 is right and you can only TAG to one UC.</p>
<p>@Cayton I’ve heard that people stay 3+ years due to the fact that the prerequisites are super difficult, is this true? </p>
<p>People stay as long as they need to complete all the prerequisites since it is imperative that they are all completed before transfer. I’ve known CS transfers that took 5 years and one that did it in a single year due to all his AP credits.</p>
<p>Oh my god…</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I didn’t post that to scare you! I just wanted to show how varied it can be!! (For the record, the 5 year guy took 5 years because he switched to CS and needed about 2.5 years to catch up)</p>
<p>@jrohazn </p>
<p>Yeah, but also, the major has many pre-req classes, and as @luckie1367 already said, it’s imperative for comp sci majors to complete all of those classes prior to transfer, so it’ll take a while.</p>
<p>Just because some students spend 5 years doesn’t mean it’ll take you that long. I transferred after two years of CC, and I even had some useless classes in my schedule. Make sure you do some planning, though. Pick out the long chains of pre-reqs (maths, physics, CS) and start those ASAP, or figure out when you need to take the first class by to transfer on time (whatever “on time” means for you). If you fall behind on those it’ll take a long time to finish all the coursework.</p>
<p>If you’re wondering how long it’ll take, figure out all the requirements you want to take. Sit down, open up assist.org, write out all the classes you want to take for different UCs. Then plot out a mock schedule of your years at CC. Aim for 14-17 credits per semester, can you fit all your classes? How does it look if you plan for 2 years vs 3? Prioritize pre-reqs for your favorite UC, and classes that fill requirements at multiple schools. It’s okay to be missing a couple classes, but the more you complete the better your chances will be. You don’t need to follow that schedule to the letter, but it’ll give you an idea of what your scheduling will look like, and any classes that’ll be tricky to fit in. Keep in mind that some classes won’t be offered every semester, and some of them might be hard to get into if the CC is crowded.</p>
<p>I was completely overwhelmed when I first started the transfer process, making charts and things really helped me understand what I needed to take.</p>
<p>Should I just choose another major since this one is super competitive? A 1.6% acceptance rate seems super low; it’s on par with Harvard’s acceptance rate with all their majors, although I’d like to major in comp sci since this is the only subject that’s interesting to me in school as far as all the subjects go. </p>
<p>Only UCLA is 1.6%. Even Berkeley is around 10% for EECS, and higher for L&S CS. The other UC CS programs are less competitive. Pick the major that’s right for you. Especially for STEM majors, what you major in will probably be your career once you’ve graduated. If CS is what you love, go for CS. Sure, you might not get into UCLA, that’s not guaranteed for any major, but I’m sure you can still transfer to a UC.</p>
<p>@failure622 UCLA and Berkeley are basically my first 2 choices. So basically, I have an extremely low chance of getting accepted as a transfer to both these schools even if I had like a 3.8 with extraordinary extracurriculars… Sigh… </p>
<p>You don’t have to apply to UCLA. It’s not the only UC that offers Computer Science.</p>
<p>I know, I think I’m leaning more towards the side of Berkeley now. It’s just that they’ve been my dream schools since middle school. Going to either UCLA or Berkeley would help me in the long run. </p>
<p>3.8 with good ECs will give you a pretty good chance at Cal.</p>
<p>Besides, the numbers for those schools is low for any major. Sure, EECS is 10%, I think L&S CS is about 20%. The overall admit rate for Cal is 23%. The middle 50% of accepted transfer GPAs was 3.6-4.0, that’s looking at the transfer population of the entire school. It’s Berkeley, there’s no major that will guarantee you a spot. I’m assuming UCLA is the same way. You need to be a strong applicant for any major, including CS.</p>
<p>Personally I would rather go to school for the subject I love than go to my favorite school for a major I hated, especially since the chances for CS aren’t that bad anyways. Impacted doesn’t mean impossible.</p>
<p>@failure622 Where did you get those statistics for Berkeley? I’d love to check them out.</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/docs/Transfer_Flier.pdf”>http://admissions.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/docs/Transfer_Flier.pdf</a></p>
<p>The EECS rate is a little lower than overall CoE, and I think L&S CS tends to be a bit lower than cited as well, since they lump multiple majors in together. Even if you apply as a humanities major your chances are less than 50%, and then you’d be stuck taking humanities classes.</p>
<p>I visited the page and Computer Science is listed under Mathematics and Physical Sciences which has a rate of 30.3%? Why would they lump multiple majors together?</p>
<p>You’d have to ask whoever created the flyer. Here’s an older version (with higher numbers, since it’s from older data) where it’s broken down more: <a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/files/admissions/12626_5.info_transadm.pdf”>http://students.berkeley.edu/files/admissions/12626_5.info_transadm.pdf</a></p>
<p>Again, take the numbers with a grain of salt. The admission rates vary from year to year, and it changes based on the competitiveness of the applicant pool. Whether or not you get in isn’t based on the admission rates, it’s based on you, your grades/coursework, and how strong of an applicant you are. By the time you apply the admit rates might even look better for Cal, they’re working hard to adjust to the insane growth in the CS department and hopefully it’ll be smoother in a year or two. 
Don’t worry too much over the numbers, worry about making yourself a good student. And always have a safety school, admission to any major at Cal/UCLA is unpredictable.</p>