<p>So I'm currently in the third quarter of my first year at UCSC. I like the school a lot, but I always wanted to go to UCI or USC (I doubt I have a chance at USC, but I would be happy with UCI) and I'm considering attempting to transfer. I'm not fully sure if I will decide to, but I think it's very likely.</p>
<p>I heard if I really had wanted to transfer to those schools before, it would have been better if I had just gone to a community college to begin. That much makes sense to me. But in my situation, with one year done at UCSC, which is the better option: taking another year at UCSC and attempting to transfer after my second year, or transferring to my hometown's local community college and then transferring to UCI or USC after the second year at the CC? Like I said, I probably missed the boat by initially going to UCSC instead of a CC, but in my current situation, which of these is the better option? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Ok so I went to UCSC my freshman year and hated it (no offense I just really love living in a city). So I honestly didnt think I would be able to handle another year (especially three more) so I dropped and went to community college. Now I have been able to transfer to UCSD… thankfully before the new TAG haha.</p>
<p>But anyways, I have to say this realllllly depends on you, your GPA, and how u feel about UCSC. Community colleges next year (and maybe including the following years) are going to have very bad funding and will ultimately have to cut a lot of students off and a lot of classes. So honestly if u decide to drop out and go to cc, you might not even be able to get the classes u will need since new students are going to have last priority. It might take a lonnnng time to transfer, if ur even going to be able to at all depending on ur GPA…</p>
<p>But at the same time people transferring from a UC to a UC get last priority unless u have close to a 4.0 or something ha.</p>
<p>In the end though I would probably suggest that u stay in UCSC and try and transfer from there. U realllly dont want to get in a bad situation by dropping out and then realizing that u wont be able to get in anywhere else because a lot of schools give first priority to people who have ONLY taken classes in cc. Not to mention u said that u like ucsc so it shouldnt be too big of a deal if u wouldnt be able to get out in the end.</p>
<p>If money isn’t tight or anything, then I would stay at UCSC and then apply to transfer out. You seem content with the school (“I like the school a lot, but I always wanted to go to…”) so you’re better off staying there and finishing your UC reciprocity. You can use that time to complete some of your major’s upper division work so you can actually graduate faster if/when you transfer.</p>
<p>Also, UC-UC transfer is actually really easy for the mid-tier UC’s as long as you don’t apply to a super-impacted major. UCI, UCD, and UCSD are pretty easy to get into as long as you can maintain close to a 3.5, but I’ve had friends get into both UCI and UCSD with barely a 3.0 at UCSC. You can take a look at UCStatfinder and mess around with the tables to see the different majors/admission rates for UC-UC transfers.</p>