<p>Hello, as of now I'm a UCI c/o 2017 student and already completed my first year (I have taken 45 units of classes so far). This summer I took classes at a CC (Mt. SAC) for GEs.</p>
<p>I'm considering dropping out of UCI and attending CC and then possibly transferring to another UC (I have my reasons for this, both personal and financial :E)</p>
<p>I've heard of successful UC to UC transfers, but I also heard that those are riskier and that UCs give priority to CCs. Because of this (in addition to monetary reasons) I want to do my 2nd year at a CC. The only hesitation I have is that I might not in to any of my desired colleges (UCB and UCLA are my dream schools, but I hope to at least get into UCSD).</p>
<p>I feel like I've done pretty well so far; for my first year at UCI I have a GPA of 3.86 (which I hope to bring up). It's just my ECs that are lacking and make me hesitant on dropping out and attending CC--I might not be able to get back in and have screwed myself over by dropping out. It might be safer to just stay at UCI for my 2nd year and apply, because then if I don't get in at least I have a UC to continue in. But like I said before, I want to drop my 2nd year for personal and financial reasons.</p>
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<li>With that being said, one question I have is, even though I've completed that many units at a UC, if I dropped out and did my 2nd year at CC, will I be considered from CC in the application process?</li>
<li>So I know I'm no longer eligible for TAG. Could I still do TAP? Even if I could or not, do I still have good chances at getting into those higher tier UCs like LA and Berkeley?</li>
<li>Lastly, what if I don't have enough time? Could I still transfer as a third year? (say if I did CC both my 2nd and 3rd years). If I wanted to transfer and be on "regular schedule" then I'd have to submit my UC app this coming November and I don't know if I am ready for that. I am just knocking myself on the head for not doing CC from the start because I have wasted time and money at UCI.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm honestly very naive when it comes to the college system. But I'm turning to CC(forums) to hopefully get some advice on what I can do. Or if others have a similar situation or experience maybe they can lend some insight?</p>
<p>You would be considered a CCC student as long as your last 30 units were at a CCC. Many ppl have successfully made the UC - UC switch, despite the myth that it is near impossible. UCLA particularly is more keen on it than say UCB. Your GPA is very good. I think it should work out fine, although there may be a lot of catching up to do in terms of major pre-req and breadth.</p>
<p>UCB and UCLA have TAP. UCSD does not offer any guarantee program.</p>
Don’t get your counseling from the internet! Make an appt now with a counselor at your local CC or with UC admissions to talk in person or by phone. Or send a detailed email. There are special rules that apply if you have UC units.
From</a> your post you said you already have 45 UC units. I hope that you are fine. But I’m not going to pretend I’m a counselor and can explain how the rules apply to you. So before you spend 2 years at a CC you better make sure someone that is qualified to offer an opinion on how it affects UC admission talks to you!</p>
<p>If it turns out the unit limit isn’t an issue, then if you spend 2 years at a CC I think you will be able to use the TAG program at any participating UC except the one you already attended.</p>
<p>It goes without saying @mikemac he needs to talk to a counselor. I’ve seen you give tons of advice before. And last I heard 45 units is one year of CCC. Maybe there’s a nicer way to say something.</p>
<p>Having reread your initial post @bearly, why not just stay one more year at UCI? </p>
<p>The start of my original post was UC-UC transfer noting how it is not as difficult as ppl make it out to be. (I kind of awkwardly veered from UC-UC to UC-CCC-UC.). </p>
<p>Anyway, referring to UC-UC, UCLA is pretty open to it, UCB not as much, but still doable. I think the difficulty of it has been way overblown. Plus, you have a very strong GPA. That seems like the best plan in my mind - but I think you know, I do not replace a counselor.</p>
<p>Oh yes I was definitely planning to talk to a counselor soon, but I just wanted to get some preliminary information and read about other’s experiences</p>
<p>And @lindyk8 the main reason is money, but a secondary concern I had was how UC to UC was difficult (at least more so than a CC to UC), and if I wanted to save money my 2nd year I might as well do it at a CC where CC students have better chances. Your responses are all reassuring nonetheless, thanks again!</p>
<p>If you can afford to spend this year at UCI, I highly recommend that for you. You’re doing very well academically, and I would hate for that to get derailed. Also if you haven’t even registered for classes at a community college, it could be very difficult to get decent classes at this late time. That was just delay you transferring even longer.</p>
<p>Like @lindyk8 said transfer stats from a UC to UCLA are not very different from transferring from a CC depending on your major. Check out UCLA admission stats and see what the UC to UCLA transfer rate is for your major. </p>
<p>Hm, it is in fact just several % lower, not by the tens or anything. I wonder what’s the buzz going around about the extreme difficulty/risk in doing UC to UC transfer?</p>
<p>I’m not too worried grade-wise if I went down the CC route, but I can see what you mean about delaying the transferring because getting classes in itself is tough (especially this late for fall). Then again on the bright side, if I transferred after my 3rd instead of 2nd is I’d have more time to strengthen my ECs (which is my main weakness) and I guess just in general have more time to decide/prepare.</p>
<p>I read that a big part of transferring other than GPA was completing pre-reqs, and for certain majors (like engineering majors) some people had to do 3 years at CC before transferring. To be honest I wouldn’t mind the delay (I almost welcome it), but I could be saying that only because of the fact that I have to submit an application in a few months, which feels daunting/rushed [I’ve only come to light about my regret in enrolling at UCI and wishing I had done CC-transfer this summer].</p>
<p>Since you’re coming from a 4 year school, you need to be cautious of unit caps. For most UCs you are ineligible to transfer if you have over about 125 quarter units or 85 semester units. You won’t have the luxury of taking too many extra classes if you don’t get all the needed classes. </p>
<p>Just make sure you know what you’re getting into and don’t back yourself into a corner due to lack of research or because you’re being short sighted.</p>
<p>@bearly, It depends on your major and your requirements but you may have more to take at CCC than is doable. Your UC units will be added to the cap.</p>
<p>I remember a while back @2016Candles brought up a good point re CSU transfers. The % of CSU accepted vs applied seems on the surface lower than CCC transfers, because the number of CSU applicants is so much lower. But when you look at the actual percentages it’s pretty similar (e.g., 30% of CSU applicants got in, 30% of CCC applicants got in). I just made those figures up, and you seemed to note UC-UC were slightly lower), but the point is because the number of total UC-UC applicants is so much lower there is the false sense that few make it. I hope this makes sense.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, this seems a likely scenario. </p>
<p>Yeah, for UCLA in 2013 average admit rate for CCC to UC was 28.73%; for UC to UC it was 21.47%. Still that +7% is quite nice…in addition to saving money my second year if I’m transferring anyways. But then again being limited by transfer delay and unit cap could be my downfall if I don’t play into this with good foresight. For sure I will continually check with a counselor, which I plan to do very soon to bring up my situation. Again thanks to all who replied!</p>
<p>Edit: It is worth noting that the avg GPA for CCC was 3.72 and for UC it was 3.68. I guess yet another secondary worry I have is not being able to maintain my GPA if I continue at UCI and try to do UC to UC, where as if I enrolled in CCC it wouldn’t be as hard to maintain (and maybe even boost) my GPA.</p>
<p>If it’s any consolation, there were people up here wanting to transfer UC-UC and they just really had marginal GPAs. That could explain a lot of that 7% gap. But this is just conjecture.</p>
<p>You have a nice GPA, why take the risk to transfer away to CC and then transfer to UC, you will loose some time in the transferring process and that might cost more money. Are you commuting to UCI? If not, you can save some money not living in the dorm. It also depends on the major, it’s like 42% acceptance rate to UCB humanities for transfer students from CC(must be similar to UC).</p>
<p>@DrGoogle, I’m certain doing CC will save me more money (even if I do another two years). Thing is, I got very little financial aid for my first year at UCI (had to take out max loans my first year and family had to contribute a lot still). So this is why I am not so keen on doing another year at UCI when I just want to transfer out. Unfortunately I live about an hour away from UCI so commuting is not ideal, but I can definitely commute to a CC. Even if I chug it hard and commute to UCI, it will cost a lot by tuition alone (no gift aid, just loans and family contr.)</p>
<p>I think after reading some responses and thinking over it, I really want to do the UC-CC-UC route, but I just need people to play devil’s advocate and know the disadvantages/risks in doing so. For sure I’m going to talk to a college counselor asap (currently out of town for a few days so won’t be able to do so til next week).</p>
<p>And even though I know GPA is the most important part of your application, I still can’t help but feel doubt at myself because I lack ECs (a whole lot). I know the upper UCs like Cal and LA review your application more holistically so I’m kind of scared for that. So this is why maybe going a little slower and doing 2 years at CC (keeping in mind the unit caps and fulfilling prereqs and whatnot) may be more advantageous since I can strengthen my ECs.</p>
<p>Oh for reference, I haven’t decided what specific I want to apply to (I know I have to know this soon too), but I am leaning to a physical science (math/chemistry/physics), so for UCLA for example it will be a major in the College of Letters and Science. Not engineering for sure (besides the fact that I don’t see myself doing that), oh man it’s like 7% transfer acceptance rate to UCLA’s HSSOE.</p>
<p>Maybe people can help regarding ECs, but from what I’ve read ECs are not as important for UC transfers as GPA. ECs are there to determine who gets scholarship. But a job is an EC, do you have a job?</p>
<p>I mean if I were to list out my ECs as if I were to put then on an app, I guess the things that come out of the top of my head: volunteer tutor, creative writing, Harry Potter Club…(just hobby-ish thing, trying to include anything I legitly can, even if recreational ,_, ). Maybe a few other things <em>if</em> I were to exaggerate my involvement, but I can’t really say that I truly did them since I only showed up to a few meetings throughout the course of a year</p>
<p>And I suppose it is a relief to hear that ECs are not as considered as heavily for transfers than they are for freshman. I still want to strengthen my chances as much as I can (especially if I’m going to drop UCI and do CC).</p>
<p>Btw, do we still list stuff we did in high school? I was in a few clubs/organizations then, but I don’t know if they’ll even count or be considered</p>
<p>You can list stuff from high school if you want, but you don’t have to. I didn’t, but I finished high school a while ago so it didn’t make sense. There really is no reason to worry about not having enough ECs. I only had a couple, and it wasn’t a problem. Besides, I think they would rather see a few ECs that you actually enjoy than a bunch that you just did to pad your application.</p>
<p>@bearly, the ECs are not important. I don’t know your major or courses you have taken. CCC is the best route as long as you can fit in your requirements within the unit limitations. You may be able to do that easily - or you may not. Too many units can make you ineligible. Talk to a counselor, but in theory, go to assist.org and look at what courses you still need to take for your major and breadth. Then add those to your 45. That will give you a good ballpark. </p>
<p>Your preliminary question - can I go to CCC and transfer is yes, as long as the units are OK. Another option, I suppose, if your units are too high and you really want to go this route, is to consider switching majors.</p>
<p>If you did a lot of volunteering or were in leadership in high school, then I woukd say add it, but if it’s just minor stuff it won’t make much difference. </p>