It’s about to be my second year at CC this Fall 2016 and I’m on track with a good GPA (3.6 but WILL be higher, messed up a little bit second semester, got two Bs and a C due to personal/family problems but my first semester was flawless)
I have a part-time job and I’m going to start being more pro-active with other ECs.
I am able to complete almost every single pre-requisite for Communications major at UCLA except for:
Comm St 10
I know Communications is a heavily impacted major but my CC (Pasadena City College) doesn’t have this course. Is this going to completely ruin my chances at getting in?
I am also going to use Sociology as a backup. Any help or advice would be immensely appreciated. I’ve been searching for HOURS (yes… HOURS) for any help and come up dry.
Do you live/work anywhere close enough to Mt. SAC? Because you could take their JOURN 100 (intro to journalism) and SPEECH 26 (interpersonal comm) class to fulfill the requirement this Fall. I went to PCC too and actually ended up having to take a class at GCC this last Spring (which is still in progress, ugh) in order to fulfill all the pre-reqs for my major. It was a bit of a hassle but this could be a possibility. I found it relatively painless to apply/register for GCC as well as PCC. One of those JOURN 100 courses is a hybrid online course so you’d only have to go once a week for that.
Otherwise, there’s no other CC in a close vicinity that offers it, so there’s little you can do at that point, is there? If you’d really like to take it, do you know if it’s still possible/not too late/financially possible for you to take it at UCLA for their Summer Session? Those classes are open to non-UCLA students. I’m just presenting ideas, here, it may be something you want to look into although it is quite late into summer (judging by the heat these past few days!)
Their assist page has the quite scary-looking bold warning: “Applications will not be forwarded for faculty review if the minimum four courses (in this case five) are not completed by the end of Fall term.” I believe they are referring here to Comm St 10, Stats, Speech, and the other one that are major prep listed on that page. But the fact that Mt. SAC is the ONLY CC with an articulation for Comm St 10 makes me think there are quite a few people who don’t fulfill it before transfer.
UCs don’t, as a general rule of thumb, penalize you or hold it against you for not taking major prep course if your CC does not offer them, and I would think more so if no CCs in the vicinity offer them so I wouldn’t be overly stressed if you can’t manage any solutions to the requirement. I’m sure UCLA is aware of this fact and mindful of it. Talk to a UCLA transfer counselor, they visit the Transfer Center at PCC all the time, they can really give you some good info.
I saw that Mt. SAC has the pre-req for it but it’s too far for me to commute all the time as I work and I have family to assist and take care. I’m trying my best to look for other CCs but NONE have it but Mt. SAC!
I know you you plan to bring up your GPA past 3.6, but UCLA Comm, requires a minimum GPA of 3.7 “at the time of application” in order to even be considered. So hopefully you are planning to take summer classes that could potentially bring you up to at least 3.7 by November.
You can’t be penalized for not taking a class that isn’t available to you. Still, it’s probably better to have it.
That aside, I went on Assist and checked 10+ community colleges, including some of the main feeder schools down in the LA area. I couldn’t find a single school that had a class that articulated with COMM ST 10, which means there could be quite a few people in a similar situation.
Call the department and ask? And maybe ask if they know where the classes might be available?
I e-mailed them. I’ll post an update as soon as I can! In the mean time I’m looking for more extra curriculars to boost me up. I’m in a podcast if that helps any?
Oh! I’m going to Mt. Sac, and I am also a Comm major. I don’t think UCLA will hold it against you if you CC doesn’t offer those courses. How many of the pre-reqs will you have completed by the end of fall?
If it’s any consolation I’m sure you’re far cry from being the only one in that position. As @briank82 said, with all these schools and none of them offering an articulated course for that pre-req there must be a great deal of hopeful applicants missing it.
I didn’t have comm 10 and got in two years ago. I think whoever told you you wouldn’t be competitive doesn’t have the right info. As I recall the course is not available at many CCs.
But I am going to reiterate your chances of getting in with a 3.6 are very slim. Even a 3.7. Didn’t the transfer stats page show the bottom 25% of admits was 3.9? If you are still near that GPA in fall, I would consider choosing another major. It’s a huge risk.
I talked to my counselors and a UCLA rep and got more info and they helped out a lot for me! A lot of info to help me succeed and help me in my admissions process!