Hi everyone I am an incoming Freshman who committed to UC San Diego earlier this year. Due to financial reasons, I will not be able to afford the school year. The problem now is that the semester has already begun at my local community college so simply withdrawing my admission from UCSD would be problematic. My plan is to attend fall quarter at UCSD and then transfer to community college for Spring semester. I’ve talked to academic advisors from both the community college and the university but they were unable to inform me on what courses I should take in the fall at UCSD that would transfer to my community college. Does any one have any advice as to what courses I should take, if I am making the right decision, or if this has any impact on transferring back to a UC? Also, how would this affect my eligibility for TAP/TAG if I completed 12 units at the university this upcoming fall quarter?
Take lower division almost anything should give you credit. You could do GE but I don’t know what AP you have.
If you are doing a humanities or social science or similar major you are likely doing the IGETC GE path. Use this cheat sheet to choose and apply any AP.
IGETC:
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/general-education-igetc/igetc/index.html
AP and IGETC:
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/ap-satisfy-admission-and-igetc-req.pdf
Given that your plan is to eventually transfer back to a UC it does not matter whether you get credit at your CC or not.
When you apply to transfer to a UC they will give you credit for all the courses you took at UCSD and that’s all that matters. UC’s recognize units from other UC’s (the possible exception would be remedial courses if they exist). The only reason you would care whether your CC gives you credit is if you wanted to get an AA degree, but there is no reason to do so if your goal is to transfer and get a 4-year degree. Some kids get talked into getting an AA degree by their CC counselor, even spending extra time at their CC in order to do so. Once you have enough units to transfer to a UC or CSU or some other school then do so.
You should calculate carefully how many units you will have after 2 years are up. I suspect you are going to be short if you follow a normal courseload since quarter-units only count as 2/3rds of a semester unit so 1 quarter plus one semester does not equal 1 year of college. You may need to take summer school between frosh and soph year in order to get the 60 semester units you need to be eligible to enter a UC as a transfer.
It won’t. You can look up the TAG requirements to check (and you really should do this, don’t take the word of anyone in an anonymous forum) but you just need a year of CC to be eligible except at Davis which also requires you to be at a CC the spring semester before you apply.
Also, I suppose one other issue to bring up, even though at this point it is all theoretical, is if you want to reapply to San Diego, you cannot use IGETC. It is not allowed if you’re transferring back to a UC you already attended.
The reason I am asking about which courses I should take is because I want to know what courses I would then enroll to my community college. For example, the calculus sequence ( fall, spring, and winter) at UCSD is Math 10A, Math 10B, and Math 10C. Through ASSIST I was able to see that Math 10A has a course equivalent to Calculus I at the community college so it would seem logical to then take Calculus II once I go back to community college. The problem is that I couldn’t find course equivalencies for some courses I was planning on taking such as Spanish (LTSP 2D) or MCWP 40 (the John Muir writing program at UCSD which only consists of two courses). Another example is history. I received a 4 on the APUSH exam which at UCSD gives me credit for 2 of the HILD2 A-B-C courses, meaning I would only need to complete one more course from the sequence in order to fulfill my humanities sequence but if I were to take it fall quarter, what type of affect would that have?
For reference, I have credit for APUSH- 4 on the exam, AP English Comp.- 3, and IB Spanish - 6 (according to my degree audit I have a total of 24 units (16 units are elective credit) from exams)
@Ohm888 I would try to transfer into UCI or maybe UCLA (but most likely UCI) due to it being closer to home where I can drive to school and save more money. I know UCLA doesn’t participate in TAG but UCI does and UCLA takes into consideration students who did the honors program at the CC. If I were to go back to community college after completing 12 units at the university, would this affect my eligibility with TAG or the honors program? I believe I read somewhere that completing more than 15 units would prevent me from joining into one of these programs ( TAP, TAG, or honors program… I’m not completely sure which one)
AP history usually fulfills the social science or humanities GE/IGETC, so frankly I wouldn’t take another unless it’s for your major.
Go to assist.org, put in your intended major and try and match whatever is up there. Between that, the AP scores and IGETC list you should be in good shape. You might have to search majors up on assist but you should be able at some point to find a matching course at your chosen CCC. You’re only talking one quarter so no need to go overboard. You have Calc, maybe just two more.
Having UC units will not affect TAG. You just need 30 semester units from anywhere by end of next summer to apply.
TAP and UC units are not an issue. I’m not sure where you got that 15 from. Someone else might have insight.
@Ohm888 @mikemac I’m not sure if either of you might have any info on this but if I am on the pre-med track, would taking chemistry, physics, and biology in community college be a disadvantage to me in any way when applying for med schools?
@cookie321: It is preferable you take all Medical school course requirements at a 4 year university vs. community college, however if you do take Chemistry, Biology and Physics at your CC then you will be expected to take more upper division courses in these subjects at the 4 year university.
Another question directed at anyone that might have some knowledge on it: What will happen to my financial aid once I transfer from the university to community college? Since the university is way more expensive than community college, I am receiving both the Cal Grant and FAFSA as well as some money from the university and I am planning on taking out a subsidized loan in order to help pay for fall quarter. Of course all of this aid is able to cover fall quarter but because it is evenly distributed throughout each quarter, I am going to have a lot of financial aid money left that I am not sure if I will even receive it, if it will be placed on hold, or if it will be completely taken away.
Ok, I see why you want to know the equivalences. My advice is not to take yearlong sequences this way, as a quarter and a semester. If you look at the correspondence between UCSD and Mesa CC to pick an example, the year sequence Math 121 & 122 at Mesa gives you credit for UCSD 10A/B/C. You should check with UCSD or UCI but I doubt 10 weeks at UCSD and 15 weeks at the CC equals 3 10 week classes at UCSD. Nor may it work out particularly well for you since 122 may expect you learned the last third of 121 (which you did not take in the 1st quarter at UCSD).
@Cookie123 you may be interested in this article I just found by chance. Medical schools do not shy away from community college:
https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/medical-school-admissions-doctor/articles/2018-08-28/3-tips-for-premeds-who-transferred-from-community-college
@Ohm888 Thank you for providing the link. The article was reassuring! 
Hi! This is random but I am also in the same situation as you (going to UCSB). To be honest I just want to get this fall quarter over with lol. I hope you have a great time at UCSD!