<p>What do you think my chances are if I were to transfer from UCSC to UCBerkeley, UCLA, or UCDavis..? </p>
<p>I've googled around, and there are so many conflicting responses. One thread consists of many people saying UC to UC transfer is low priority, yet there's another thread on how it has just about the same priority as Community college... </p>
<p>Please clear this up! Thanks.</p>
<p>UC->UC transfers do get a very low priority, below CC->UC and I believe about equivalent to out of state->UC transfers. That said, UCs will weigh a strong GPA from another UC higher than they would a strong CC GPA, so a 3.8 UCSC GPA might put you on equal footing with a 3.8 GPA CC student applying to Berkeley.</p>
<p>It really depends on your major and how competitive it is. TECHNICALLY, UC-UC transfers are supposed to have a lower priority, but you should be able to transfer to all the mid-tiers (UCD/UCSD/UCI/UCSB) with a 3.5 if your major isn’t that impacted. UCLA does state that they review UC-UC transfers on the same level as CC students though. If you’re interested in their stats, they post very comprehensive stats on their website. I found the whole transferring thing pretty easy and I got into Cal and Davis (rejected from UCLA business econ due to some issue with my writing course not transferring over).</p>
<p>Now there are two things you should realize though: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>If your ultimate goal is Cal/UCLA, just go to CC now and save your time/money. You get the highest priority at a CC and you will know the course equivalents for EVERY single class. As a UC-UC student, you can make a pretty educated guess using Assist.org as a “middle-man” but because it isn’t written in stone… it has been the downfall of many talented applicants.</p></li>
<li><p>If you don’t like UCSC and you’re just going there because it’s a UC, don’t do it. It gets really tiring when students mope around SC saying “I can’t way to get out of this dump, I’m better than this. I want to go to -insert college name here-.” Of course that’s not actually what they say, but it’s pretty much interpreted as that. It’s your first years of college, you should be able to really enjoy your university and your classmates.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Also be careful about prioritizing. One girl who lived on my floor 2 years ago, changed her whole schedule starting freshman winter quarter so she would be able to fulfill all the prereqs for applying to UCSD/UCLA/Cal. Instead of taking the classes that UCSC required for her major, she really wanted to be a competitive applicant to those colleges and needed to finish their requirements. She got denied from all 3 colleges with a 3.6 or 3.7 and now she’s pretty much stuck at UCSC (she hit the 4-year unit cap so she cant go to CC anymore) and is currently behind in her major because she tried to transfer.</p>
<p>Yeah, but isn’t it too late to sign up for CC’s? I feel like I’m going to get stuck with the classes I don’t need.</p>
<p>Also, thanks for telling me about the story of that girl. I wanted to change my schedule so that I could fulfill the prereqs at another UC. Guess that is not such a wise choice. </p>
<p>My feelings towards UCSC is indifferent. I mean, I don’t mind going there; it’s just not what I imagined it to be, that’s all. And of course, I’ll make it the best. 
I find it a bit arrogant when people believe that they should be at so and so school. There’s a reason why you didn’t get in. </p>
<p>So, anyway, thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it. You have given me a lot to think about!</p>
<p>I think the semester is starting soon for CC’s, but I still believe you can sign up. If you’re by foothill/de anza college, you still got about a month to sign up. You might not get the classes you want, but basically all those classes will count for something (IGETC/major/TAG/etc). </p>
<p>The only reason I push this is because CC is ridiculously easy compared to a UC and you can really inflate your GPA this way (Cal loves CC students with a 3.6+). You’ve probably seen students at your HS that barely pulled off that 2.0 or 2.5 in hs, but they end up transferring to UCSD cause of the TAG agreement (minimum 3.0 required). Of course you can say that maybe those students started applying themselves when they started CC, but a 3.0 at a CC pretty much speaks for itself.</p>
<p>You should be able to mix both the pre-reqs and your UCSC major stuff at the same time, it just takes careful planning. </p>
<p>What major are you interested in applying for?</p>
<p>Yeah, well I just talked to my friend who goes to UCSC. She says she absolutely hates it there, and recently signed up for classes at a CC. She said that she got all the “crap” classes. </p>
<p>Well, I’m a Sociology major, but I know I can’t declare that officially until I get a 3.0+ on Socio 1, 10, and 15, for UCSC</p>
<p>I’m currently enrolled in Socio 1, Philosophy, and the college 8 CORE class. </p>
<p>and for berkeley, the prereqs for a social science major are.</p>
<p>Three courses in at least two areas:</p>
<p>Psychology</p>
<p>PSYCH 1 OR 2: Principles of Psychology (3)
Sociology</p>
<p>SOCIOL 1: Introduction of Sociology (4)
SOCIOL 3 or 3AC or 5: Principles of Sociology (4)
Economics</p>
<p>ECON 1, 2, or 3: Introduction to Economics (4)
Anthropology</p>
<p>ANTHRO 3 or 3AC: Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (4)
Political Science</p>
<p>POLI SCI 2: Introduction to Comparative Politics (4)
POLI SCI 4: Introduction to Political Theory (4)</p>
<p>But I don’t know if the Socio classes I’m going to take can equate to the Berkeley prereqs.</p>
<p>I was part of the 3/2 Dual Degree Engineering Program that no longer exists but we were lucky enough so that one of the Deans of the Engineering program at Berkeley came in to talk to us and he did mention that they look more favorably on students from a 4 year college (a UC) who earns the same GPA as a student from a CC.<br>
However I agree with MidnightGolfer- you really might as well go to a CC and save yourself the money and I really hated the people who thought they were better than UCSC and (funny) when they tried to transfer didnt make it out (again). It is a challenge to earn a 4.0 UCSC if you take extra courses (20-25 units).</p>
<p>You can have a hard time getting classes anywhere, especially CC’s. You can also hate classes anywhere. And the reasons for hating them may not have anything to do with the school. The subject may not be what you envisioned, among any number of other possibilities.</p>
<p>To be honest, when you say “there’s a reason you didn’t get in”, the reasons aren’t always based on the applicants ability to perform. There is no reason to be arrogant, but there is no reason to be ashamed. There is always reason to make the most of where you are, and being at UCSC isn’t exactly a shabby situation.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why some people look down upon any UC that is not UCB, UCLA, or UCSD. UCSC is ranked 72nd in US News World Report college rankings. 72nd in the United States! And there are thousands and thousand of colleges in the US.</p>
<p>The more credits you get at your CC, the higher your registration priority (same for UCs). You will probably get people’s leftovers for classes for your first quarter at a CC, but things will begin to look better. I think a huge reason people should go to a CC instead of trying to do UC-UC, is the level of easiness at CC’s.</p>
<p>While UCSC may not be “ranked” as high as other universities, it is still a UC and there were certain guidelines that had to be met to gain admission. You might find some easy classes here and there, but the level of competition is completely different compared to a CC. I’ve taken several summer courses at CC’s and I pretty much got easy A’s in every one of those classes.</p>
<p>I was once forgot my midterm was due at midnight and I was on a business trip in Texas. I wrote my 6 page paper on the plane ride back to Cali and I thought it was one of the worse pieces I’ve ever written. I got in the top 10% on that project (97%). I really don’t want to think about what the other 90% of essays looked like. I was curious to see if I was just being harsh towards my work, so last fall quarter I told my old writing professor to look over it and he said I would luck out if I got a B on it. This easiness factor is really important when you start taking math courses.</p>
<p>^This. I got almost straight A’s in my time at CC, without ever really putting in any work whatsoever. You can basically screw around and do whatever you want with your time, confident that because you have both a pulse and a rudimentary grasp of the English language, you’ll come out on the top of the curve.</p>
<p>This is kind of OT, but from everything I’ve read and heard, a lot of people depict UCSC as a mediocre school and boring as well. I hear a lot of bad things about the social scene and it seems like their academics are mediocre at best. Hopefully this is not true, but then again, if I wanted to go to a “fun” school I would have went to SDSU lol. I don’t understand why, it’s a UC and one of the better schools in California and better than all the CSUs (Maybe except Cal Poly SLO). Even one of my friends who goes to UCSC says he has mix feelings about the school. I wonder if there are a lot of people like this in schools like UCLA, USC, and UCB? I know a lot of people who go to UCLA and UCB because it was the best school they got into and were rejected at Stanford. IF you think about it, there is always going to be a college that is “better” than yours, unless you go to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, or Stanford. Less than 1% of college students attend these schools. My point is, you can succeed wherever you go to. It is not the college that makes you successful, it is yourself. There are tons of people such as CEOs who did not go to a top university yet are successful.</p>
<p>Princeton is full of Yale rejects, Stanford is full of Princeton rejects, Berkeley is full of Stanford rejects, UCSC is full of Berkeley rejects. 
People will be unhappy anywhere; you’re right - it’s about the person, not the school.</p>
<p>Picking universities is something that most rankings can’t formulate. Of course it might be true that UCSC is much easier to get into compared to a place such as UCB, but you’ll soon learn that some students actually care about their school atmosphere. You’ll even find students at SC that turned down Cal, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, and other highly “ranked” universities.</p>
<p>Even though I originally chose UCSC for the 3/2 Dual Engineering program, I really believe SC is a great place for students and offers some of the finest faculty in the UC system. Of course UCSC may not have nobel laureates and etc, but that literally means nothing if you can’t connect/learn from your professor. </p>
<p>I’ve enrolled in some upper division economics courses at SC that completely captivated my mind. I started to read full articles, books from start to finish, taking detailed notes in my classes…not because I wanted these notes for my exam, but to fully understand the material and to use for reference for a future time. While some universities may have faculty that attempt to fit this type of profile, I feel as if that student-professor connection isn’t as strong because colleges wants to boast a faculty with the most experienced professors. I don’t care if my professor graduated with honors from Stanford, got his masters and PhD at MIT. If they are just regurgitating the book (that they probably wrote), then I might as well stay home and read it on my own time.</p>
<p>Also the students here are very open and very friendly. Some may say, “Oh that’s because they are hippies and do drugs” but it really isn’t. The campus is becoming very modern and the times have really changed the university, but you’ll still feel that great student community that UCSC was founded on.</p>
<p>Well, everybody here seems to suggest that I go to a CC, but truth be told, I’ve heard that people who transfer from CC to UCB are failing because they were used to the easy workload. They weren’t able to catch up, so even if I may be able to get into UCB; I also want to see if I can handle the workload, therefore is why I choose to stay in UCSC. To get a “UC” education. And I’ve left part of my mind open to the fact that I might like UCSC, so who knows what will happen? </p>
<p>The only thing that I’m worried about is that UCSC is “academically relaxed.” So I don’t know the quality of education, but I guess I will have to see for myself on the first day of school! </p>
<p>Thank you all for your replies.</p>
<p>UCSC is “academically relaxed.”?</p>
<p>Who are you quoting?</p>
<p>^ My friend who is a third year there. She says that the academics is not as rigorous as other UC’s, so you have time for a social life, etc. things like that.</p>
<p>What’s it to you?</p>
<p>If you are able to get in UCB/UCLA from CC, I’m pretty sure the university has some trust of your academic potential. It might take a semester/quarter to get used to, but that’s still true for UC-UC transfers.</p>
<p>What’s your friend’s major? I wouldn’t really say any of the UC’s are “academically relaxed” and that includes UCSC, UCR, and UCM. Of course you can take a major that might not be that competitive, but you can’t draw a conclusion for the whole college from that.</p>
<p>What’s it to me?
Just wanted to know the source. I tend to question authority. So, your friend’s opinion is based on her personal experience taking classes at various campuses?</p>
<p>You can take classes during the summer at different campuses.</p>
<p>@MidnightGolfer I believe she is majoring in business. </p>
<p>@Consider
I also looked into it a bit.
[University</a> of California, Santa Cruz :: Community :: Ratings](<a href=“http://www.myplan.com/colleges/undergraduate-colleges/university-of-california-santa-cruz/community-110714.html]University”>University of California, Santa Cruz :: Community :: Ratings)</p>
<p>And yes, I know. I’m thinking of studying abroad next summer. But if I somehow run into financial issues, I’ll probably go back home to a CC to take GE classes.</p>