UC Davis TAG for Mechanical Engineering Question

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

Hi there, I will make this very brief.

I am looking to TAG into UC Davis next fall and I’m currently completing the classes to make the requirements. One thing I am confused about is if I can attend two different community colleges at two different districts. I have already done that for previous semesters because my local community college filled up so fast when COVID hit initially (many professors were also not teaching leaving very few classes last year as well as this year).

One of my friends had said that he met with a counselor and the counselor told him that he cannot split up the 3 physics classes required between two different colleges. I understand it isn’t recommended to split up series classes but would UC Davis simply not allow this or is it just not recommended?

Like I said I have done this for previous semesters, I did Calc 1 at my local community college and then Calc 2 and 3 at a college less local but in a different district. My counselor didn’t say anything about that and she knows I had split my math up at different colleges. I haven’t talked with her yet (will on Tuesday) about this. But as far as I’m concerned right now Im worried I cannot take physics at different colleges.

Can anyone confirm or explain any of this?

Kind regards,

Jamie

2

They say to take the physics series at one college because, depending on the curriculum, the material may be split up into different ways with a differing order of subjects. For example, my 3 physics classes were like this with each of the 3 classes shown with parentheses:
(Classical mechanics > wave motion) > (thermodynamics > electricity > magnetism) > (optics > quantum mechanics/modern physics)

If you were to take different physics courses at different schools, they could have a different order and you could miss out on learning key sub-subjects. For example, a school might switch optics and thermodynamics.

On the other hand, Calculus is generally taught in the exact same order so it is a non-issue.

3

Taking a sequence at the same college is suggested, not required. See page 28 of University of California Counselors

That said, it would be a good idea to contact Davis now about your plans to make sure they don’t have a problem with it. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. Use the form at Ask an Advisor