<p>I posted this in Ca colleges by mistake. I think I could get more answers here! </p>
<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>
<p>I had the same situation and called up the admissions officer. He said that the TAG had to be completely finished to transfer as a junior (complete pre-reqs and 60+ credits), but it would be better to apply as a freshman and then take sophomore/junior standing. It’s easier to just apply as a freshman altogether because either way, the credits get accounted for without the hassling problem of transferring.</p>
<p>Thanks courts, I was thinking it would be better as a transfer because he’d be guaranteed admittance but the cc counselor just told us that he should do what you said too. The counselor said that he didn’t think ds would have any trouble getting into UC and that he would just apply the credits after he is admitted to gain advanced standing. </p>
<p>The only “tricky” part of that is some of the AP credits might/will be lost because even thought the CC approves them and the UC has to accept them as part of the TAG, some of the UCs won’t credit him for the APs as a freshman. Applying the Ap credits as a freshman is wholly up to the individual UC.</p>
<p>I’m going to tell DS to apply as a freshman but he will be sorely disappointed if he doesn’t get in to ANY UCs and I’ve read a lot of that here on CC! Naturally, he wants to get through asap and start grad school early and save undergrad money. I understand that but don’t want him to miss out and rush through college.</p>
<p>If your son wants to get to graduate school ASAP he would be better off going to a private university than a public college or university in California at this time. A CCC is the absolute last place he wants to be since those schools are the ones where getting classes is most difficult. He could easily spend three years in a CCC alone before transfer to a UC is possible. He has the stats to be admitted to some very good private schools and you should seriously consider that if it is within your budget.</p>
<p>Sunburst, are you saying you think he should go straight from HS into a UC? He would be done CC at the same time as HS this Spring. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t send him to CC “instead” of a 4 year college but skip 2 of 4 years with the credits he already has now. I know the kids going to cc can’t get out in 2 years, can’t get classes they need so he would never go that route unless we couldn’t afford anything else.</p>
<p>My suggestion is don’t skip any years; take 4 years to graduate. Many HS kids don’t have a real understanding of what majors are possible, of what they want to do with their future, etc. A benefit to starting as a freshman is you get 4 years to decide. I don’t know the rules on actual CC classes, but they specifically say on UC websites that even if you enter with a ton of AP credit you do not have to declare a major any sooner or graduate any sooner than someone starting with 0 units.</p>
<p>If he loves UCLA then he should apply there as a frosh applicant; the AP classes will be given extra weight when they calculate his GPA, and show that he has taken the toughest load possible at his HS.</p>
<p>There are a few things I want to clear up before I get to your question, just in case there are students reading this forum who are transferring to a university from a community college:
It’s easy to fulfill all of the IGETC and UC major requirements at a community college within 2 years. The problem lies in whether or not you’re trying to fulfill the major requirements in a dozen other schools you are considering applying to as well, since many of the requirements don’t overlap from school to school.
Public universities are just as competitive in grad school application pools as some private schools. In my case, I choose Berkeley over the Ivy Leagues I got into because Berkeley is much more competitive in my major. And getting into classes that I need hasn’t been a problem – even after transferring and picking up a minor along the way, I could have graduated a year early if I hadn’t chosen to do a senior honors thesis. All of my other transfer friends haven’t had any trouble getting into the classes they need either. </p>
<p>Now, onto fidoprincess’ original question:
If it were my choice, I’d prefer to go in as a freshman with junior/senior standing. Although I have had a great experience after transferring to Berkeley, I recognize that I missed out on a lot of opportunities. For instance, had I gone to Berkeley as a freshman, I would have ran for student government. Having only less than a year of Berkeley experience under my belt by the time this year’s elections rolled around, I didn’t feel qualified enough to actually run. I was rather disappointed.</p>
<p>Also, I noticed that many transfer students in my major found it difficult to make friends. This is largely because all of our peers had already developed their groups and cliques by sophomore year, and were not looking for new additions by junior year. This definitely isn’t true of all majors though – the psychology major population is an odd group. Nevertheless, your son may be more comfortable meeting people his own age, and I can guarantee that he’ll have many more opportunities to make those connections as a freshman. </p>
<p>As for your question about applying to Berkeley or UCLA, your son can definitely apply, he just won’t be guaranteed acceptance to either.</p>
<p>Something to also keep in mind is that building up that many AP credits isn’t necessarily a good thing. Berkeley (and I think the other UCs are the same) has a unit cap: once you hit 131 units or more, you have to graduate. The only exception is if you are double majoring, in which case the cap is slightly higher. Many of my friends who came to Berkeley straight out of high school have had to fight to discount their AP credits lest they are forced to graduate early, without having fulfilled all of the requirements for their major or college. This is just something to keep in mind, particularly if your son chooses to go in as a freshman. He’ll have to keep close track of how many units he’s accumulating, and most likely try to fight the system a bit so he isn’t forced into a premature graduation.</p>
You should tell your friends that they don’t need to do this!! All the UCs have the same benign policy towards AP credit, at least for entering frosh (they don’t make it clear if it applies to xfer students). To quote from the UC website
<p>I will address just some of your question. My daughter just graduated from UCLA (Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, yes, I am proud!). She loved her four years there. I would not advise your son to go to amy UC as a junior transfer. He will miss out on many experiences those two years. I am a much older student (in my 50s) and am just transferring myself to UC Davis this fall. I had to wait for both daughters to graduate before I felt I could take the time for myself to go back to school. There are many transfer students like me and many that are 22-29 who took time off, spent 2-4 years at cc, etc. Your son will have much more in common and connect much better with other freshmen of his caliber. </p>
<p>My daughter never had a very difficult time getting all her classes. She had to be strategic, and pick carefully on her first pass but she always ended up getting what she needed and graduated on time. She has friends who finished a year or quarter early (they may have had many AP credits!) so no one is stuck there more than 4 years because of not getting classes. Your son would enter a UC as a freshman but would have sophomore or junior standing which will help tremendously with registration as your priority depends on your number of units. His AP units will help in this way but they won’t allow him to skip classes for his major. Depending on his major he would either be able to graduate a bit early or right on time. </p>
<p>I would have him apply regular admission to all the UCs that he would be happy attending. Also a few privates that he would be happy attending. His stats are high enough to get into UCLA. My daughter had a 4.5 but tons and tons of ec’s like junior class president, editor of the yearbook, community service, cheerleading captain, school ambassador, etc. She also wrote excellent essays. If he has those stats and some great extra curricular than he should be fine getting into UCLA or Cal.</p>
<p>I know economics play a factor here but I would never have wanted my daughter to skip the first 2 years of college. She graduated in June, spent 5 weeks in Paris doing a language program, came home spent 2 1/2 weeks looking for a job in SF (after doing months of preparation and research on where to apply, etc.) and was just offered a position at her number one choice Ad Agency. She got this job, and all of her 7-8 interviews at other places because of her internship experiences while at UCLA. She had a total of 4 internships while in school and the last two were with internationally known Ad companies. She took classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays only and did her internships on Monday and Wed. Your son would have the flexibility to do this type of thing while at a UC as he would have more units going in. </p>
<p>So bottom line, I would not TAG but do regular admission to all UCs he would consider going to. Then add a few privates, some in CA, some elsewhere. With his grades he will get into privates and likely get offers of merit add which will bring the price down. I would much prefer him graduate a quarter, semester, or year early than skip the first 2 years. College is about much more than just getting through as fast as you can to save money. Having a quality experience that he will remember his whole life is more important. Being able to be active on campus, meet life long friends, have meaningful internships or research opportunities…those are what matter. I am not ignoring the facts that all this is expensive. But doing it this way…doing well in school, having the internships, has resulted is my daughter getting her dream job at 22 years old (well, at least dream job for now!) She still may go on to grad school but wanted to have more work experience first. Good luck to you and your son!</p>
<p>Inquiringmind2 makes a really good point when he says:
“College is about much more than just getting through as fast as you can to save money. Having a quality experience that he will remember his whole life is more important. Being able to be active on campus, meet life long friends, have meaningful internships or research opportunities…those are what matter.”</p>
<p>Internships and research opportunities are equally as important as some of the other things grad schools and/or businesses look at when considering accepting/hiring a recent grad. You can fit in a lot within the two years a transfer student has, but the typical transfer student is more prepared to start their junior year at high speed. A high school student skipping those first two uni years might find it a lot more difficult, just because he is trying to acclimate himself to uni life and understand what he needs to get out of his undergrad career all at the same time.</p>
<p>@mikemac I’ll look into it, although I know they were told by their advisors that they had to discount some of their AP credits to prevent a premature graduation. Maybe there was another way. Thanks!</p>