<p>Hi, I’m a high school senior who is planning to attend in UCSB starting from fall.
However, i’m not a california resident (having a F-2 Visa which basically means family of International Student), I’m pretty sure that i have to pay 40,000 dollars every year if I go to UCSB.
Do you guys think that staying in UCSB for 2 years (trying to transfer off to different UC after 2 year in SB) paying 40,000 dollars and get better education?
Or is it better to go to CCC and try to aim for the transffering? </p>
<p>Things that I’m concerned about:</p>
<li><p>My english isn’t that good so when I go to UC, I would learn much better than staying in LA and go to CCC where bunch of my friends (who don’t study) go and play around.
(also, if i stay in LA, i would still live in K-town where I speak korean all the time)</p></li>
<li><p>Even though I go to CCC and try to transfer, the transfer admission rate in any UC campus is around or less than 10% (after 2 years, i have to change my status to F-1, which is an Internation Student) </p></li>
<li><p>I really don’t like to go to CCC and/or UCSB so i dunno what to do.</p></li>
<li><p>I heard that it’s really hard to transfer and even though u transfer, it is really hard to graduate in 2 years.(especially engineering)</p></li>
<li><p>When i go to CCC and fail to transfer to the UCs where i want to go, (UCB,UCLA,UCSD) and get admitted to 3 lower tier schools, there is no point of going to CCC because i can just go to UCSB.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I had bunch more things that i was concerning but i only think about these four right now.
What do you guys think?</p>
<p>CC has an arrangement with the UC system that guarantees transfer if you have a certain GPA, but I think maybe it's being reviewed. You should call CC and find out about it.</p>
<p>CC has counselors who guide students with financial issues, so if that was your problem, you would have mentoring -- I imagine they also have help for language issues.</p>
<p>I believe the difficulty in graduating on time in the UC system is true, but I happened to mention it on another thread and was attacked for voicing that opinion.</p>
<p>CC is a nice place, but (and this is ONLY my opinion) when you go there instead of starting at the four-year-university, you miss out on a lot of the experience of what college is all about. If you were my S or D, I would want you to go to UCSB for that reason and also for the reason that so many students at CC are on the two-year-plan only and it's so easy to get off-track with your education.</p>
<p>Stay at CCC. Much of the college 'experience' at UCSB is just a rich kid party culture. I hate to stereotype, but much of that culture is replicated by kids who couldn't care at all about that extra $40,000. You do. Stay at CCC, and transfer to Berkeley, UCLA, or UCSD. Good luck! I've known many people who have transfered to top UCs through community colleges, and gone on to great things. You, too!</p>
<p>it is hard to transfer from a UC to another UC. Or from any 4-year college to a UC, for that matter. You can go to the pathways website and see the statistics for yourself. The UC schools are set up to give preference to CC transfers, and at the most selective schools (Cal, UCLA) the odds are 50% better than from a 4-year school.</p>
<p>As dizzymom points out, there are guarantee programs to the UCs. They don't exist for the top 2 schools, though (again, Cal and UCLA).</p>
<p>But I'm having a F-2 and i have to change to F-1 (international) in 2 years or so. So therefore, transfer rate of californian resident at CCC does not applied to me. I will get considered as international student which has a transfer rate around or less than 10% to any uc from ccc</p>
<p>but if you have the GPA required for the guaranteed admission program, then you will definitely be admitted no matter whether youre an international student or not. Every ccc has a different agreement with the campuses. For example, I had guaranteed admission to UCSB but no other schools. Also, I would participate in your ccc's honors program. That will give you a leg up. As far as learning English, I would say that you should just make friends who dont speak Korean or something. Or just speak English to everyone you know who understands, lol. Learning English will be hard either way.</p>
<p>Speaking from experience, just watch a lot of TVs and practice English with just about anybody, including those evangelical people knocking on your doorsteps(lol). I used to waste their time(they thought I was into religion), but little did they know I use them to practice my English.
Stay away from the non-English speaking natives because you tend to speak non-English when you get together.</p>
<p>have you already sent in your SIR to UCSB and planned to go there? If you decide to change your mind, the counselors at UCSB will put you in touch with a counselor at Santa Barbara City College. They are very nice and knowledgeable.</p>
<p>The misinformation that appears on these boards is criminal. There are very few "RICH" kids at UCSB. Check the numbers. The vast majority are on financial aid and the others pretty much middle class.</p>
<p>Unless your family is very wealthy, CC to UC makes sens. Go to a CC where most speak english! However, check your status, unless your parents ;ive in CA or you have taken all the steps to establish yourself as independent, you will still pay OOS rates later.</p>
<p>Well, but if i go to CCC, i will probably end up in SMC -_-;;</p>
<p>and yes, i've sent SIR to UCSB (over Davis...I dunno why...mostly because it was too far from LA) but that was just because i wasn't able to make decision before may 1st deadline. So I just sent SIR and made more time to think about CCC vs UCSB (paying 40k bucks straight out of my parent's pocket to the university neither I nor my parent like)</p>
<p>P.S : I think wasting a deposit is less important than making better decision which would change at least two years of my life ^^;;</p>
<p>Go to SMC. You will figure out what to do from there. It sounds like you are attached to LA (many people are). You can transfer to the school you really want if you focus at SMC. UCSB is difficult if you are not 100% ready for the highly competitive academic environment, especially engineering.</p>
<p>"Can someone who is attending at SMC tell me how is transfer like in reality?"</p>
<p>i didnt go there but i had a lot of SMC alums in one of my education classes at UCLA. the results were varied... some had horrible stories about bad counselors, but others thought it was good. but either way, they were well represented in the classroom, a testament to SMC's #1 transfer rate into the UC's and particularly UCLA. </p>
<p>my advice is to go to a CCC. it's an investment that will hopefully pay off and get you into a better college. you said what if you don't make it to a better college and just end up back at UCSB after two years in CCC? well, hey, at least you saved two year's worth of tuition, which is a lot! so go with the investment. </p>
<p>"My english isn't that good so when I go to UC, I would learn much better than staying in LA and go to CCC where bunch of my friends (who don't study) go and play around.
(also, if i stay in LA, i would still live in K-town where I speak korean all the time)"</p>
<p>it's better to brush up your english at a CCC first, cuz if you go into a top UC with weak english, your grades might get hurt. you won't be necessarily learning "better" english at a top UC anyway. the trick is to be disciplined and don't get sucked into all the slacking that your friends do. you have bigger goals than that. perhaps get involved in your CCC, join a club or something. that way, you're surrounded by others who want to transfer to better colleges and at the same time, you'll probably be speaking english instead of korean.</p>
<p>The UC's are a good deal for in-state residents, but for $40k, might as well go to a private school.</p>
<p>As others have said, check out Santa Monica college, honors program which has the highest transfer rate into UCLA. Ask them thier the transfer stats....I had heard that it is 80+%....make an appointment now with one of thier honors counselors to see what programs they offer.</p>