I was accepted into UCSB, UCI, and UCR as an Out of State student. Unfortunately, I decided not to go because of the cost. But recently my mentor found someone who offered to pay for my first year to attend a UC school. But it was too late because I never submitted my SIR. This really devestates me because I had a chance to attend my dream school.
Currently my plan is to attend a 4-year university in my state and transfer. But I read that its very hard to transfer as an OOSS to a UC school. I’m really not happy with attending the school in my state but I feel trapped. So I’ve considered taking a gap year. Would that be a good idea? Can someone offer me their advice?
Who would be paying for your later years at the UC?
It’a actually not that difficult to get into the UC system as a transfer student. The catch is the UCs overwhelmingly favor transfers from the California Community College system – and not from other UCs, CSUs, or out-of-state schools. So many CCCs function as “feeders” to nearby UCs. UCSB, for example, admits several hundred transfer students from nearby Santa Barbara City College every year. At UCD, there is actually an on-campus center for local CCC students. So this is a well-established pathway. See the following post, for example:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/1975735-backdoor-way-into-ucsb.html
In fact, many programs at many UC campuses guarantee that CCC students meeting certain criteria will be able to transfer.
http://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/applying/transfer/tag
Californians who can’t afford 4 years of UC tuition, or who don’t get in as freshmen, routinely enroll at CCCs (which are much less expensive than UCs) and then transfer. Seems like an out-of-stater could do the same; even the out-of-state tuition at CCCs is relatively low.