<pre><code>Now that many of us have successfully completed the long journey at our local community college and will soon be (or already are) attending a fabulous four-year university, it's time to reflect on our academic past. I am interested to see how much support and direction regarding transferring you all received and experienced throughout your time at community college.
For the past two years, I have attended Cabrillo College, a CC in Beach-Town California. I really appreciated the education I received there, and really admire more than a handful of dedicated, intelligent instructors. Although, when it came time to think about transferring, I felt like I had to walk myself through the bulk of the process. Now, I'm all for independence and figuring things out on your own, but I felt that there were far more resources to be take advantage of for those who were planning to transfer to schools like UC Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay, and San Jose State. While these schools are all in the local area, I did feel that those who were planning to transfer to other CSU's were given more attention and helpful information to make their transition easier. Because I wanted to go to UC Berkeley, there were times I felt lost, or that perhaps my goals weren't very realistic.
My counselor was always helpful, but didn't seem incredibly informed about requirements and proceedures at Cal. It was up to me to find this information out and complete nesscecary processes, which of course was doable and fine, but it would have been nice to have more resources readily available to me.
So, did you guys find there was a sufficent amount of materials and guidance available at your school while you were going through the application process? Were you able to successfully receive enough information and tips regarding a successful shot at the college you were most interested in attending, or did you have to dig for it more on your own?
I am interested in getting involved in or starting some sort of group or organization that actually assists people at community college to transfer to their school of choice. This forum has been most helpful, and I learned a great deal of information. But I think it would have been cool if, on days when universities set up their information booths at local CC's, there was a table of real-life successful transfer students that could share their stories and encourage others, or maybe even hold seminars. Maybe this was a realistic thing for some of you. But if this existed at your CC, do you think you would have taken advantage of it?
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<p>That sounds like a great undertaking that you are planning on doing izzie it is needed. You know I dont know if there is a shortage or something on counselors because I attended three cc's I wont mention them but they are all in the southern cali area but these people didnt know nothing all they did was hand me an IGETC sheet and told me I had my work cut out for me one counselor even asked me to consider pursuing the csu's or a trade because supposedly the uc's were "out of my league" Needless to say I got into cal and ucla without the help or advice of any counselors. Sure I made appointments and checked with them but I felt like they were going through the motions and they had practiced what they were telling me. After waiting half an hour to see a counselor she refused to see me and directed me to the transfer center because she say they only dealt with graduation requirements. At one cc I corrected a counselor numerous times and had proof from several ucla and berkeley official pages to the point that she got upset and asked why I had scheduled an appointment with her then. I guess I was just paranoid and wanted to double check with someone who was actually getting paid to know this stuff and answer my questions but it really was a waste of time with every single one. Unless you really dont have any direction see a a counselor but none were any help in fact many discouraged me from applying altogether which is a shame to think about all the people that actually listened to them and didnt apply because they may have gotten in. Yes I feel like I just made the cut to the uc's with my 3.4 gpa but unless I had applied I wouldn't have gotten in so for anyone out there who feels they dont have a shot apply there are fee waivers and even if you have to pay it will all be worthwhile when you get that acceptance letter in the mail. Good luck.</p>
<p>Well i finished my first year at SMC. Have 42 semester units.</p>
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So, did you guys find there was a sufficent amount of materials and guidance available at your school while you were going through the application process? Were you able to successfully receive enough information and tips regarding a successful shot at the college you were most interested in attending, or did you have to dig for it more on your own?
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<p>We have UCLA conselors who come once a semester to talk to us. COunselors are ok, however they give u mixed answers. It's best to research on ur own.</p>
<p>Yeah, I totally agree with you, and congrats for beating the odds and proving those counselors wrong. I would never discourage people from applying to or attending CSU's or the so-called 'lower tiered UC's' but if you have the desire to shot higher, then by all means, go for it. I saw far too many bright, amazing students with stellar gpa's settling on the local CSU just because they felt like it was the best they could do, and because all the flags, banners, signs, and encouragement in the counseling office pointed them in that direction only.</p>
<p>highschoolda, you're lucky to have a fabulous university nearby. The UC in my town is UCSC, and even though I have respect for the school and it's students, I wasn't very interested. We had a lot of UCSC hype going on at my cc, but I believe it's because it was our neighborhood university. I guess what I'm trying to say is that community colleges (especially in a state like CA with such excellent universities) should work to give all these schools representation. That way students who are capable of getting into schools like UCLA and UCB (or beyond) won't eliminate (wow, almost wrote elimidate) those choices.</p>
<p>I went to Santa Monica HIgh, maybe 10-15 miles from UCLA. All anyone ever spoke about was UCLA. </p>
<p>Now i attend SMC. Also close 10-15 miles from UCLA. SMC send like 600 people to UCLA last year. All everyone talks about is UCLA. We have counselors who go our CC from UCLA.</p>
<p>So yeah, local schools get a lot of hype. </p>
<p>The only negative expirience i had w/ a counselor was one that told me not to do IGETC after i was almost done w/ it. BUt he was wrong, but he scared me for a bit.</p>
<p>Doesn't your cc have the automatic transfer agreement with UCLA...like if you complete honors courses and receive a certain gpa..I could be wrong..</p>
<p>Since u started a topic about CC, i am gona share my cc expirience.</p>
<p>First i really hated it. All my friends went to good UC. I went to cc for financial reasons. Hated the atmosphere and some of the people around it. Very depressing expirience.</p>
<p>Then i kind of got used to it. ALl the student in my science classes were bright and i enjoyed being in the same classes w/ them. I got used to not sociallizing as much. Which was proly my biggest.</p>
<p>I had a so so 2nd semester b/c i got bad enrollement date and ended w/ bad teachers. Still have a 3.58. Which is not bad considering the dificult classes i am taking.</p>
<p>Enjoying it and looking forward to applying actually. </p>
<p>Still a little undecided about major.</p>
<p>But overall it's been a fast and good expirience so far.</p>
<p>highschool, i am sure you will do fine, and good luck with your major decision.</p>
<p>its not uncommon to hear people saying that they came away from their first semester in community college feeling dissapointed, but im glad to hear that things are looking up and you're getting to know some people in your field. i know what you mean about the lack of a social life. most people are just there to take a few classes and get back on the freeway in time to work a night shift. no sense of unity or community there. </p>
<p>i too was dissapointed that i was attending a cc, but i really didn't have much of a choice. i graduated high school early at 16, and my parents did not feel comfortable alllowing me to move away from home when people would be much older than me. they were nervous about me being introduced to a more mature social life, and i was worried i would be outcasted. I had the choice to go to ucsc or to commute the 30-40 mintes to san jose state (i live in santa cruz), but knowing that the transfer process was easier from a cc, i decided to go that route.</p>
<p>i learned to love the english department at my cc, and made a few friends, but im more than happy to finally be transferring, where the real fun begins.</p>
<p>I go to College of the Canyons, in Southern CA. Basically, the counselors there are the most ignorant fools Ive ever met. I met with my counselor twice. The first time I scheduled an appointment but ended up actually going to the office three times over the course of two weeks before I actually met with her. The second time she didnt remember me, so she spent the whole time trying to remember my situation. They knew NOTHING about AP tests and actually tried to tell me that I was ineligible for admission to a UC school. In general, she knew nothing about the process of transferring to a UC school. If I wasnt such a proactive person, I wouldve gotten absolutely nowhere. It was incredibly frustrating. </p>
<p>Now, I obviously had a horrible experience with counseling, but overall I enjoy my school. Some teachers are bad, but most are decent and a few were actually really good. </p>
<p>Izzie- I think your idea is great. People need help from those who know whats going on.</p>
<p>Yeah, the counselors can be very...well, just as you said.</p>
<p>They are not prepared to deal with students that have higher aspirations than the local state school. And believe me, they will push that local state school 'till no end. </p>
<p>I found that many of the students I went to class with let these counselors persuade them into only applying to these local state schools, when they could have done better. Towards the end of the semester, when everyone was talking about where they were going in the fall, I felt arrogant and stuck up because I had to answer that I would be attending school at UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>These sorts of things shouldn't occur. The education quality and instructors can really be top notch at some community colleges, but they really need to re-evaluate the way in which they assist future transfers.</p>
<p>You beat me to the post about College of the Canyons. Had I listened to my counsler when I first talked to her, I would be spending at least another year at my CC. She basically told me that she thought I had no chance at getting into UCLA, because my GPA (which was a 3.92)was not high enough. Our school had something called course planners, where the counslers would tell you what you need to take. The plan she set me on would have taken me 3 years left me 8 units short of transfering and did not even have me completing my English requirment. Needless to say that when I found her error I was farily upset.</p>
<p>As for the professors at the school, it was a mixed bag. Some of them were great, and I throughly enjoyed their classes. Others were terrible! I had one History professor (who I ended up with twice due to some bad luck) who gave us the exact same lecture 3 classes in a row on the French Revolution. We did not have a final exam in that class because he had no clue that it was the final night until the end of class when he assigned our reading for the week and we informed him that it was our last class meeting. So in that case it was a toss up, I had some great professors, and I had a couple who were absolutly terrible.</p>
<p>Other departments of the school were farily good as well. It was actually a decently nice campus which was nice, and our tutoring lab (though I only used it once in my two years) was great. I also was very pleased with my experience in the schools Honor program.</p>
<p>Overall I was farily pleased with my CC. However as easymack63 said above, the counsling department was a disaster.</p>
<p>Hey Izzie, I am also from Santa Cruz and have a good suspicion that we probably went to the same CC. I also enjoyed my professors, but every counselor I visited really sucked. I visisted both the transfer counselor and a couple of regular counselors, and although they were very nice, it semmed like they had no idea what they were doing. Everytime I sat down with one, I was given a different GPA, a different number of units I had completed, and absolutely no help for transferring. I ended up applying to numerous CSU's and filled out a transfer agreement with Santa Clara. To this day, I still haven't recieved an official acceptance letter from SC, but when I called them they said they sent out my acceptance letter the month before. Anyways, sorry for the rant, but I really, really did not like any of the counselors I met with.
Kyle</p>
<p>oh yeah, I forgot to say that I got accepted to Cal Poly SLO, and will be attending.</p>
<p>I'm in agreement with the consensus Counseling dept is deplorable but my experience with my professors and my overall cc experience was awesome.</p>
<pre><code>Yeah, considering there's one cc in this little town, I'm positive we went to the same one, haha.
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<p>My counselor was Barbara...oh I forget her last name. She was always really supportive and sweet but when it came to anything outside of the CSU system (which is not a bad system what so ever, and congrats for getting into the flagship state school), she was pretty clueless. Okay, so maybe I'm anal about details, but when I had an appointment I would come in with paperwork and print-outs and know things about the transfer process that she would have no idea about. What a nice woman, but geeze, I felt like I was better qualified for her job. I told her a few times that I had been accepted to Berkeley, and each time I came in, she asked where I was headed. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Congrats on all your hard work, and good luck at the beautiful Cal Poly!</p>
<p>I totally agree with all of you. My CC's main priority is gearing the students toward getting to the local schools, those being UCR and CSUSB. Which is fine, but I wish they'd realize that there are students out there aiming higher for themselves.</p>
<p>Izzie and mexbruin, as a fall '06 applicant it's good to see some people who were able to work through the system with little to no help from the counselors. Congrats and good luck to you both this coming fall.</p>
<p>But my question is, did any of you have contact with your desired school(s) before admittance? If so, do you think that helped you with the transfer process? I have been seriously thinking about applying to UCLA but I'm not sure how I should go about it since
basically everyone at my CC either wants to go to UCR or spend a few more years around here.</p>
<p>I mainly browsed around Berkeley's web site and used the transfer information page as reference. I checked with <a href="http://www.assist.org%5B/url%5D">www.assist.org</a> to make sure my classes were working with my desired department's requirements, and basically checked this forum for students in similair transfer situations. I never talked to an admission officer or live representative at Cal until after I was accepted. I was lucky to have someone close to me who transferred to Cal last year. He was very helpful.</p>