UC Transfer or Freshman?

State Forums
1

<p>My son is a senior in High School and yesterday, he found out that he has enough credits to transfer to any UC except Berkeley or UCLA. He has a bunch of college classes but mainly they are counting all of his AP classes toward the credits. He is taking 5 this year and has 4 from last year. Our community college has a "transfer guarantee agreement" so there is no question that he could get in one of the other UCs but LA and Berkeley are not part of the agreement. Other than saving money, would it be a wise choice to apply as a transfer? Would you want your kid to skip 2 years of college? How hard would it be to fit in as a transfer when you are really a freshman?</p>

<p>If he fills out the TAG paperwork, does that mean he can NOT also apply as a freshman at UCLA and Berkeley? (Tricky question that no one at the transfer center knew could answer!)</p>

<p>He has a 4.6 gpa, 35 ACT, 800 on Sat2 Hist, 780 on Sat 2 Bio and all 5's on his AP tests so he is looking to apply at some top schools but has always said he would like to stay in California where we live. He said he will still do the other applications but how this effects UCLA and Berkeley is a concern especially since he loved UCLA but hasn't toured UCB yet. If he got into another top private school, he probably wouldn't go to the UCs at all because of the budget cuts and the fighting to get classes issues but it would be nice to start the college application process with a sure thing as a back up. </p>

<p>What would you do? He has to decide really soon! Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>I would just go the freshman route regardless of how many college classes he took.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your reply bananafreak2u. </p>

<p>As competitive as UC admissions have been, wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a sure thing? Even UCSB or UCSD? We aren’t even sure he’d get into UCLA or UCB.</p>

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<p>With stats like that, he has a better chance of getting into ucla and Ucb as a freshman. If the goal is to get him to finish college earlier, then the transfer route might work better. If he hasn’t done anything besides dual enrollment, he should have the opportunity for doing some lower div college classes without having high school burdens. You may apply as a freshman and have some of the credits apply towards GEs and whatnot. To start out as a sophomore or a junior is more difficult.</p>