UCSC vs Community College

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Cruz
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<p>I got admitted to UCSC. I am not sure if this school has high reputation for Bioengineering major. Is anyone who can let me know? I want to go to a better college to study the major of Bioengineering. Does UCSC has good program or good school for the Bioengineering? If I go to this school, will I easily find a job when comparing other people who studies in UCB, UCD, UCSD or UCLA?</p>

<p>I thought about going to community college for the first 2 years and hopefully I can transfer to 4 years college like UCD or UCI. But I also heard that community college has very hard time to choose classes due to budget cut from State. What is the best decision for me? Go to UCSC this Fall or just go to community college?</p>

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<p>i have the same problem too, but do you worry about the drug scene of the ucsc. what is your status…i mean what make you have to ggo to ucsc. my part is that ucsc and csulb are the only school accepted me. i am stuck too</p>

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<p>^For the drug scene, people that I have asked on this forum said yes there is drugs and what not but at the same time its not as bad as the stereotype. You can avoid and and not be near it. There was this one poster who said he/she was allergic to weed and goes to UCSC and is fine. Just make right type of friends :smiley: and stay above the influence :D</p>

<p>@mermeid: I don’t have enough information or experience to give proper advice but, I’m also in your position except mine was for UCR and UCSC, I think you need to first find out what you want to do. UC have more research options that CSU because they are research schools and when going to grad school, from what i found on the internet, you need more than just grades. Also find which one is better for your field of interest, but don’t base it only off rank, try finding out what options are held. Also make sure you will be able to adjust to the new environment and will be happy there. Being miserable for your 4 years, or 2 years if you transfer, is not worth a bit of prestige you get from going to higher rank school because you might end up doing bad because of it. Good Luck on your decision :D</p>

<p>If you want to go to UCLA UCD UCSD UCLA UCB UCI then CC is easier because UC give first preference to community college students then cal state and last students from other UC. You could do what I’m doing which is going to UCSC and going for transfer but not just to UC but privates as well (privates don’t give preference like UC though some do like non-traditional students). To be honest getting a job in this economy sucks a lot. Before you compare to students from UCB UCD UCSD UCLA I would suggest going to a job offering website and find what types of jobs for bioengineering are available in the area you want.</p>

<p>To be honest I think, if you have a good GPA, EC, research,internship,etc. you will be able to find a job just as well as any one from UCLA and UCB (except when dealing with finance then things change a bit…) This kind of sounds strange because I too plan to transfer and what not but eh.</p>

<p>When I was deciding between EE and Bioengineering I searched for jobs and many Bioengineering jobs required a MS in bioengineering so, though don’t make a decision on this please search yourself as well, getting a job with bioengineering can be hard if all you have is a BS.</p>

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<p>@FutureEEMajor, thank you so much for your replying. i am still concern, now, my aunt urge me to try UCM which i am a little depressed. she said ucm has a better potential, and ucsc does not have a to f grading system and harder to transfer, which i found her wrong. she said ucsc is a slack off school which student play more than study. idk///
i checked the UCs to ucla transfer status,it is 23.99%, which cc to ucla is 30.33%,specifically ucsc to ucla is 25.79% out of all the uc to ucla transfer and riverside has 20.36%. :< (maybe you would find this info helpful)</p>

<p>to your question. i am a neuroscience major, which csulb does not have, but the good part about csulb is that my hometown right next to the school, about 25-30 minute local drive, but their 4 years graduation rate is low. yeah as people said csulb is more like hand on and uc more theorical </p>

<p>regarding cc transfer, it is super hard to take class now, especially el camino college. i think it is hard to transfer in 2 years, which it would take up some time. what do you think</p>

<p>:< the whole college process depressed me, i had worked really hard all four years and have 4.0 weighted gpa and 3.9 unweighted. i thought i was able to get into irvine but my sat killed me with a 1620. and i only been here 5 years, after all i am more favor with the chinese people system where i can take a test, good or bad all on me.hahha </p>

<p>good luck on your decision too, which school are you leaning toward??</p>

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<p>^I know how you feel the college process is seriouslly depressing and very shocking :frowning:
I wonder if you can give the link for where the statistics came from, I would love to see it.
I’m thinking of going to UCSC because its at good distance from home…far enough but not too far that I can’t visit when I want. Also its location in respect to Silicon Valley gives rise to potential internships which I really need for transfer (going to need more just perfect grades). Also the whole forest location seems interesting.</p>

<p>If a college does not have your major, and you know this is what you want to do, don’t go there. Pick the one that has your major. At least thats how I see it.</p>

<p>I also was thinking of going to UCM but since it is a new school your aunt is right it has more potential than UCSC but most likely no big change will occur in our undergrad time but in the far future it will become a fine institution (as in better than it is now). I’m not exactly sure but UCM also had this whole accredited problem or something but not sure if that problem is still there. Well other than all that UCM didn’t have my major and I didn’t want to do Mechanical Engineering so I discarded that choice.</p>

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<p>@FutureEEMajor, sorry to reply so late</p>

<p>the link for all past years stats: [Profile</a> of Admitted Transfer Students - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions<a href=“it%20should%20work,%20but%20if%20not%20try%20the%20below”>/url</a></p>

<p>the link for 2010 stats:
[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof10.htm]Profile”&gt;http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof10.htm]Profile</a> of Admitted Transfer Students, Fall 2010 - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof.htm]Profile”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof.htm)</p>

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<p>^Thanks a bunch :D</p>

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<p>FutureEEMajor: Are you sure that UC’s are last in preference when transferring? </p>

<p>This is how I thought it went:

  1. CCC
  2. UC’s
  3. CSU’s and Privates</p>

<p>To OP: The first 2 years of any university will be worth it. The experiences you have living in the dorms and making friends will be worth it. I recommend, if you can pay for it, go to UCSC for 2 years then transfer to a better UC.</p>

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<p>^csu comes before UC for transfers
no idea about privates
but UC are given last preference when transferring</p>

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<p>Can you provide a source please? No offense, but I do not believe you.</p>

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<p>I can’t provide a source because I can’t send my counselor over the internet :smiley:
I’m just giving the information that I got when I asked about transfers.</p>

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<p>I don’t think CSU students have priority transferring over UC students. I’ve done a lot of research on transferring and that;s the first time I’ve ever heard someone say that. Only CC students do.</p>

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<p>CC students get priority at all of the universities (other than UCLA where they judge all applicants the same). Next in line is the UC-intercampus transfers. Following them are the CSU transfers and finally the private school applicants. However, you shouldn’t really take priority too seriously because if you look at the actual transfer data then its going to look pretty skewed. </p>

<p>Most of the issues for the CSU students come from having their courses transfer over. For majors with very specific course requirements, it can get messy to allow credit for certain courses. Otherwise, many CSU transfers are pretty successful as long as they maintain a high GPA. </p>

<p>I think the whole myth about transferring from a non-CC is mostly there because not that many people actually know it’s an option, UC’s kinda discourage it by saying “you get less priority”, and generally people like the college they pick as freshmen. Of course UC/CSU students might have some initial issues with transferring courses over (mostly for CSU), but the only major disadvantage they have is they don’t have programs such as TAG or TAP that can really help with their admissions. </p>

<p>Actually, I should add an important note. There are actually a few cons of going in as a non-CC transfer. Some programs/majors (depending if the UC has criteria for individual majors inside a college) actually rarely take non-CC students. UCB has several majors where their individual colleges (college of natural resources and Haas school of business for example) RARELY take UC/CSU/private students. I think Haas only accepted 2 students that were not from a CC and CNR had a few majors that were on the same level. Also you can also get a pretty inflated GPA if you attend a CC and do well, so getting into UCB/UCLA might actually be easier as well.</p>

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<p>My parents want me to go to CC to save the first 2 years of college fee and then transfer to a better college for Bio Engineering. But I don’t really want to go to CC because I have heard that students don’t take seriously in class and make some phone calls. And I don’t want to do lots of work for the transferring and it’s not 100% guarantee to transfer to UCD or UCSD. I am not sure what should I do? Does anyone who can let me know UCSC is a good or bad school?Does UCSC has a strong ranking for Bio Engineering? I want to go to USCS because I don’t want to keep seeing counselor for the transferring stuff. Is there anyone who can give me some advice?</p>

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<p>Don’t be taken back by the Community College dilemma. The transfer rates from CCC to UC’s is very high. You can enter a CC and apply to a UC following “TAG” - which is an early admission decision (applications due Sept before you transfer). The GPA to be accepted into any school as a transfer student and through TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee) is lower than for that of Freshmen transferring. My daughter was accepted into Davis with a 2.85 GPA. You should also consider your LONG TERM plans and money (repaying loans). While you may think taking out a $15,000 or $20,000 in a loan now (per year going forward), consider that once you complete your BA you will most likely consider graduate school (as a BA will not take you very far) and that will increase your debt. Saving on two years of debt/college fees by attending a Community College might not be a bad idea. Visit the schools website and look at their “transfer rates from Community Colleges” and you’ll be surprised. Don’t feel pressured because many of your friends are moving out and away, make your own long term plans and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with your well planned out decisions.</p>

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<p>i don’t know what to think after reading all your posts…i still haven’t decide where to go between ucsc, csulb… my problem is getting worst…</p>

<p>my problem is:</p>

<p>if i go to ucsc, i have to take out loans for $8400 a year</p>

<p>then if i go to csulb, i don’t have to pay anything because i am going to commute. (if i want to dorm i have to take out $7000 loan a year.), and long beach does not have my major…i want to major in neuroscience…if i do attend the school i would be bio major and i am kind like okay with it. </p>

<p>another problem is that i want to transfer to ucla after two years…which ucsc is far easier for transfering compare to csulb,25% to 7%</p>

<p>so what do you think i should do if you were me? </p>

<p>to me niether school is my kind of school, but i know cc is definitely a horrible option since my family, friends, schools expected me to go to a top notch school, which i disappointed them badly…>< hate sat and personal statement…>< also if i go to cc, what if only ucsc admitt me again after two years?</p>

<p>what should i do, please give me some advices please-----</p>

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<p>Okay first of all calm down and take a deep breath.
First of all I can see why you would be stuck on csulb, but if you think about it is it worth going there when they don’t even offer your major? I mean worst case and you are stuck there then what are you going to do?
If you go to CC then you just do the tag program and I am more than confident that you can pull the grades to get into AT LEAST Davis through the TAG program. If I’m not mistaken its a 3.0 and finish the courses. For UCSD’s TAG the GPA requirement went up to 3.5. So if you do take this route I do believe you will meet those. As said before if you are aiming for other UCs as well CC will give you the best option.
Now if you really can’t go to CC then the only question would be will you be willing to take out $33600 for four years. Also can you see yourself graduating from UCSC? I am in the same situation as you, wanting to transfer from the UC I got into after two years. I had to choose between UCSC or UCR, I picked UCSC. You need to ask yourself can you see yourself graduating from UCSC? Transfers are hard, of course not impossible, but you should be ready for the worst case where your transfer fails and you are still in UCSC. At least that is how i decided between UCR and UCSC. Don’t think my worst case thing in any way should be discouraging on your transfer, it’s just what I did to pick between UCR and UCSC. I wish the best to you and hope both of our transfers work out for the best.</p>

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<p>^ so you are commited to ucsc? about how much you have to pay for a school year, including loans</p>

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<p>I was in the same boat, except I was already at a community college for four years.</p>

<p>At first I wanted to be a fire fighter and wasted two years of my college career focusing on that. After doing volunteer work, the explorer academy, class, etc, I realized the economy was not favoring this profession. I came to a realization that I wanted to do something else, as in medical school or kinesiology or something along those lines.</p>

<p>So I worked very hard and finished mostly all of my pre-requisites, excluding organic chemistry. I have a 3.5 gpa, lots of volunteer work. My dream school was UCD, my bro graduated from there and it was everything bio.</p>

<p>I was sad to hear this april that I was not admitted to UCD or UCSB. I was admitted to UCSC, UCR, and UCSD.</p>

<p>I was for sure going to go to UCSD (Based on RANK alone) and I visited the school and HATED it. So gloomy. The people on the campus made me feel depressed. But I still was going to chose it.
I disliked riverside as well.
Then i visited UCSC… The moment I walked into the school I LOVED it! UCSC takes care of their student populations (transportations, help, etc). The social scene was WAY better than UCD, UCLA, UCSB… The people who go to the school are VERY friendly… Not snotty like at UCSD. The school seemed to be way more oriented towards student success, as in my tour there were so many highlights of student help and resources. The school was ABSOLUTELY GORGOUS! It was not depressing at all. It felt calming! The environment felt studious, like UCSD but without the snotty-ness.
In the end, I chose UCSC OVER UCSD in a heart beat.</p>

<p>You have to realized that what REALLY matters is how well you will do in the school you choose, as well as what classes they offer. NO ONE ever asks where you got your bachelors degree, unless you have stopped at that degree… Potential employers ask where you went to GRAD school. Then ranking of your school does not matter as much as how well you do in the school. Its better going to UCSC or UCR and get straight A’s because you loved the environment, the classes, the school structure, etc, than to go to UCLA and get straight C’s if you hate the classes, the environment, and the structure just because its ranked higher.</p>

<p>and F.Y.I… EVERY school has drugs, alcohol, crimes. It all has to do with your involvement. UCSC and UCSB both have high “drug/party” reputations… But i cannot even tell you how many parties that I have been invited to or have heard about at UCLA that have had ecstasy, drinking, weed, etc. Wayyy more than I have EVER even heard about at UCSC. Its just like high school… if you want to be around drugs and alcohol, go to those parties with the people you KNOW has those things. but if you wish to be academic and studious, choose not to go. Its up to you!</p>

<p>Furthermore, it will be harder to get into UC’s next year because they are all raising the G.P.As for transfers and high school students, the requirements will be MORE rigorous, and less students will be admitted because UC’s are affected by the recession as well. I had planned to stay another year because i wanted UCD SOOOO bad… but after thinking about it (and visiting UCSC), it is a better choice to go forward and get the degree because you might not even get in next year.</p>

<p>In the end, chose the school that benefits YOU the most. Weather is a huge thing for me because I hate really hot, dry weather and it would really affect my studying. If being in a gray, concrete environment benefits you most, like UCSD, go for it.</p>

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<p>I dont know if anyone mentioned this but UCSCs engineering department is really good, along with its physics department. They are both highly regarded in their fields.</p>