UC transfer student (from CC) happiness/satisfaction?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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Hi everyone. I posted this (in a slightly different form) a few minutes ago in response to a different thread, but thought it might be best to post it here, as well. Any info or thoughts would be greatly appreciated, from both transfers and parents! Thanks so much.

We are interested in the CC → UC path for our son. He’s smart and would love to attend Cal or another UC, but we know how difficult it is to get into via the straight-from-high-school route.

Also, we have four children to put through college (he’s our eldest) and we need to be wise with our money. We are in Sonoma County and our local community college, SRJC, is well-regarded, so we know it is a viable route.

My question is, do transfer students do OK, socially? I ask because I have heard from multiple sources that it is tough at UCs for transfers to make friends and find their niche.

I recently read a column in the UC Berkeley’s newspaper, the Daily Californian,(from 2017 or 2018, I believe) where the writer complained about lack of decent transfer housing. He said that the school did not really create opportunities to integrate the transfer students into the community at the school.

He also mentioned a friend who had transferred into UC Davis, and how she, too, was unhappy and having a hard time as a transfer.

I’d also read about this phenomenon in Jeff Selingo’s new book… he briefly touches upon CCs as an option, but mentions that transfer students often have a tough time integrating into campus life, and that generally their satisfaction and happiness levels are lower than those kids who started as freshmen.

I do know that certain UCs do a better job of welcoming their transfers - UCLA in particular seems decent for transfer students. However, I’m also aware that UCLA is the hardest UC to get into.

Any info you can pass along regarding your (or your student’s) experience would be so helpful. We are interested in the 2 yr CC —> UC route, but worry that our kids would have a hard time making friends and feeling connected, especially if the school doesn’t put a lot of effort into integrating their transfers.

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The general tendency of UCs (and many other primarily residential universities) to have frosh living in the dorms but upper class students moving to nearby off campus housing can pose issues of social integration for traditional residential transfer students, who may not fit in as well in mostly-frosh dorms or find a ready-made social group in off campus housing. (Non-traditional students tend to have different needs and wants, whether frosh or transfer, although they tend to be more common as transfers.)

It is not obvious what the solution is, from either the perspective of a traditional student who would prefer the ready-made social group going in (but may not fit in well as a junior in a mostly frosh dorm), or a university that does not have the resources or student desire to have campus housing for all class levels.

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@jesse_sgirl may be able to help. Her son went to community college and transferred to Cal.

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My daughter’s experience with a transfer student was in her junior year. She attended Davis and a couple of the girls were moving out of their rental townhouse so they needed two roommates.
It turns out that one of the roommates kept in contact with a HS friend (from SoCal) that did the community college route and was transferring to Davis. The girls contacted the transfer and asked her if she had found housing yet. She indicated that she was looking for a rental through the housing office; they invited her to come up for a weekend and check out the townhouse. She accepted the shared room and became one of the roommates.

Just a suggestion but maybe if your son keeps in contact with some of his high school classmates, who are at schools where he is planning to attend, he could use that resource.

Another thing, the students at Davis refer newbies to wikidavis. It’s very helpful.
https://localwiki.org/davis/Welcome_to_the_Wiki
I don’t know if the other colleges have something similar.

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Thanks for the tag @lkg4answers. So, yes, my older son did the CC to UC transfer route. He’s a junior now. It has had immense benefits, too numerous to delineate. Chief among them, the obvious ones of cost savings, and the ability to have “better” choices of schools. Of course it depends on the major, but as a whole, it is easier to be admitted to the UCs as a transfer than as a freshman. Another, for us, is that my son had great teachers and opportunities at CC that would not have been likely at a UC. This includes having a great mentor in one of his chem profs, that lead to a scholarship that he got to take with him to his UC. Another great benefit is that by the time someone is looking to transfer, they know much better what they want to do, and can then choose the best school for their major.

Socially, yes, it’s probably not as good as going as a freshman. But so what? If for all other reasons it’s preferable to go this route, then it is what it is. And like so many other things, it’s going to be what you make of it. And as someone said, some schools will do better “supporting” transfers than others, but unless all else is equal, which is rarely the case, you’re not going to choose based on that.

My son has done quite well (depending on how you measure it) by joining a fraternity. He, in fact, moved into the fraternity before even being “admitted” to it. This may not always be possible, but with COVID there were rooms in the fraternity available. It was the frat he wanted to pledge, and he knows someone who knew someone, and they started talking in the summer before he went there. So, now he has a lot of friends, presumably they will be the life-long friends others speak about from their college years. BUT he does say that if he had the opportunity, he would’ve been better off socially if he had gone as a freshman, that some of his peers know more people (of most importance, the females) from those earlier years.

But, again, so what? Know what I mean? He’s having a great time, and all is well. There can always be better scenarios. We can’t have it all. Choosing one thing will always preclude others, and each have their benefits. Now, this is easy to say as my kid is happy. Your kid will have to do the work to make friends, and get connected. It may be more of a challenge as a transfer, but it can be done. And if they failed to how would we know it was the fault of the transfer path?

Let me add, my husband and I both did the transfer route, and were both happy at our 4-years, and made lifelong friends. I don’t know about his situation, but I was housed with all other transfers, and I think it’s safe to assume that was important. We were all in the same boat, needing to connect, and all older. So, yeah, if a school has transfer housing, that would be helpful. Honestly, I believe most do, or at least try to group transfers with others. My son, before choosing the frat, was offered on-campus housing in one of the University apartments where he would’ve had, I think, three roommates which would’ve been a good start.

I am a huge proponent of CC and the transfer route, and recommend it for anyone who has to pay for school, and/or students who in one way or another need time to mature. If money were no object, and my son had choices as a freshman that he loved, we would, though, probably have chosen the straight to four-year. That said, I am relieved that he went away to school more mature, and thrilled that he got to attend the great school he’s at. I don’t think he would’ve had the same success academically had he gone as a freshman.

Hope that helps some.

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Thanks so much for your reply!

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Thank you so much for your response. Your daughter’s experience sounds pretty ideal for a transfer student! I agree that having my son try to keep in touch with his HS friends who may attend the UCs he is interested in is a very good idea. It’s something I hadn’t thought of so I appreciate you bringing it up. Also, thanks so much for the Wiki! This looks like it will be extremely helpful.

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This helps so much, and puts my mind at ease, as well. I am happy to hear that your son is doing well. I had not thought about fraternities (mainly because neither I nor my husband joined a frat/sorority while in college) but that’s a path that makes sense, and one that I’m going to ask my son to look into. Thanks again.

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Hi there! I’m a 22-yr old CSU dropout > CCC > UC transfer (admitted this year to UCSC for Biology :D). I’m from Orange County. Though I can’t exactly comment on the inclusiveness of each UC and their particular strengths on welcoming incoming students, I can give you my insight into the “college experience” as an undergraduate.

I will say that in my 3-4 years of going through college with the combined stories of UC friends that the experience will be unique to the student no matter what. I know that when I first started undergrad that being social was ultimately up to me, as in I had to find the clubs/frats/programs that I believed will enrich my college experience, and they did though it was not my highest priority. The only way to do this is research the campus and what they offer. You mention that your child would like to attend UC as a transfer student, and what I know about Berkeley is that they have an amazing Greek Life. So if your student is enthusiastic about that then Cal would be a great option. I absolutely love the campus architecture and I have no doubt that your student should have all the inspiration they need to get involved once they feel the sense of prestige and achievement of their hard work upon transfer. It just takes some research on their part.

I was personally against the CC route back when I was admitted to CSU in hs, but as I finish my last term here I’ve made lots of friends and connections, even plenty of professors whom I can trust for a LOR to help find opportunities in transfer. Some of those friends are actually attending my university soon too, and this I’m grateful for because I don’t really have to worry about finding new friends once I transfer. As far as my social life in CC I just joined a STEM club and have a part-time job, so it was secondary for my mentality. Like I said, I’ve only been through these things because I APPLIED myself. They were all offered to me and all I had to do was say “I want to do this”. It is in the best interest of the student to take that extra step and apply themselves. Housing is usually guaranteed for transfers like it is for freshman, but not required.

One thing that I will mention is that my sense of having a social life and inclusiveness has somewhat degraded in my CC years because my mentality focused more on doing well in my classes. That’s not to say that I won’t participate in clubs or programs, I’m actually starting to look into research opportunities at the UC. I am very happy and grateful for where I am today.

Long story short, every UC has different qualities/opportunities that they can offer as far as welcoming students (e.g. Club Day, Transfer Day, Greek Life, etc.), but ultimately it’s based on how the student applies themselves in any uni they attend. Each student is unique to the university, and each university is unique to the student.

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