So i began my college career at an out-of-state 4-year institution, absolutely hated it and came back to california after a year. Im currently taking classes at a CCC and want to apply to UC davis(as a TAG), UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz for biomedical/bio-engineering. I have about 23 semester units from out of state(basically bs classes like poly sci, anthropology, environmental studies, history and precalculus). By the time im done with all the classes listed on assist.org and ready to apply for transfer to one of the UC’s colleges of engineering, i will have like 103 semester units from both an out of state 4 year and a CCC.
I’ve been reading many things that lead me to believe my chances are slim to none, especially for a TAG.
My overall gpa is currently a laughable 3.2(easily will raise it to a 3.4ish or 3.5ish by the time of transfer) and my concern is, is there much of a chance for me to get into these schools with all these units?
Are these units all lower-division, or are some upper-division?
so far, just lower division with one or two upper. by the time im ready to transfer though, i will have a good amount of upper division courses like physics, engineering, Organic chem etc.
If you have any upper-division units, then you cannot have more than 80 semester units (only 70 will be accepted, but the unit cap is 80), or you will be ineligible to transfer at most of the UC’s. I’m sure UCSD is no exception.
I’m pretty sure physics and OChem are lower-division courses. Upper-division courses in the UC system are numbered 100-199, whereas lower-division courses are numbered 1-99. These numbers may differ depending on the school - but upper-division courses are easily discernible from lower-division courses. All community college classes are lower-division.
Upper-division is not a synonym for STEM. ;))
ok thank you! so those units i took at at a previous four year are for sure not upper division and i have no upper division credits. yeah i had no clue which classes were upper or lower so thanks. So is it safe to think that as long as i have no upper division courses, my large hypothetical future amount of 103 credits will have no adverse effect on me transferring to one of these schools? (I realize the cutoff is 70)
That is correct. The unit cap is only a problem if one has upper-division credits. You could take 153 lower-div units and still be eligible to transfer (but you would be capped at 70 semester units, or 105 quarter units). You will still get subject credit for classes over the 70-unit cutoff, but you just won’t get unit credit.
what is subject credit btw? does that mean the courses i take count towards my degree so i dont have to retake them but i have to take other courses to fill that 50-60 unit gap to graduate?
Yep. You got it.
sweet. thank you so much for the info.
No problem.
Any classes you take at a CC are lower division.
If you haven’t already, you should stop by the xfer center at your CC. They should have info on the TAG program as well as counselors you can work with. If you look at their schedule you should also see that the UC system regularly sends counselors to your school you can talk with.
Ochem is considered upper division at UCSD. It just means you get to take more classes though because those won’t count toward your unit limit. Engineering students get 230-240 any way though. I got into every UC I applied to except UCLA with a 3.3 so don’t count yourself out.