Let me start off by saying, regardless of your GPA, or the stature of the institution from which you hail, you will be at a huge disadvantage when attempting to transfer to UCSB as an out of state student. The CA Promise ensures community college students from CA will take precedence. UCSB is more than happy to accept your application fee, but reading your essays will be beyond their capacity, they won’t read them so don’t invest much time. As for their ability to determine transferability of OOS courses, more than likely, even if you are coming from an Ivy League campus they will find some reason to deny the suitability of your coursework. It is a ridiculous process, don’t waste your time and money, there are many better schools out there willing to consider the most qualified applicants.
@NoLongerAGaucho: Unfortunately this information should have been disseminated to you as a transfer applicant and it is not just UCSB. UC’s are California Public Universities and their first priority is in-state California residents so it should not be a surprise that CA residents get priority. Also the UC’s are very particular in which courses are UC transferable and there are several courses at the CA community colleges that do not articulate well to some of the UC courses when transferring. As a lesson and FYI to all transfer applicants from OOS in the future, make sure you have your transcript evaluated prior to applying and keep all syllabi from all courses taken available for evaluation to determine if they will be transferable. Also GPA and completing the required transfer courses are the most important part of the UC transfer application. Going to an “Ivy league” level school does not entitle you to getting priority in the UC transfer process.