<p>I'm currently a junior in HS, and I've always liked Berkeley or LA but by the looks of it I'm probably going to one of the mid to lower tier UC schools. However Boston U seems to appeal to me more than any of the mid-lower tier UCs (even UCSD, which I consider a top UC). I'll be content with 4 years at BU, UCI, UCD, UCR or UCSB, but I'll still have a transfer application in the back of my head. </p>
<p>Since priority is given only to CC students, does it make a difference if I transfer from another UC rather than a private university?</p>
<p>Yeah it makes a pretty big difference. The acceptance rate for community college transfers is very high while the “other 4 year” acceptance rate is very low. If you decide to go to a private college, you should definitely plan to stay there for four years. Not only is it hard to transfer acceptance rate wise, but it’s going to be hard to meet the UC schools’ prerequisites since some classes probably will not cleanly transfer. It’s easier to transfer from another UC school (though you shouldn’t rely on it), but still much more difficult than from community college. Those are the facts, so decide for yourself whether you’d be happy at these schools. If you’re sure you’d like to transfer, then community college is a good route.</p>
<p>I was recently accepted from UCR into all the other UC schools I applied to. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the process!</p>
<p>^What he said. It’s actually pretty easy to gauge what courses to take at your UC if you are trying to transfer to another UC. You can use assist.org and use a CC as a middleman, but this is not always full-proof. It’s more difficult at a private school because you are just left guessing by comparing course descriptions (also very low priority). I would highly suggest going to a CC because then you can just TAG to UCSD/UCI/UCD as a backup and try to get into UCLA/UCB (not too difficult).</p>
<p>Or you can attend a mid-tier UC and try to do a UC-UC transfer. It’s very doable, but you just got to make sure you keep your grades high enough. However, it’s just so much easier to transfer out of CC.</p>
<p>It’s very, very difficult and I highly recommend avoiding this path.</p>
<p>Not only is it much more difficult to transfer because you get last priority, but it’s also very stressful because you will have no idea what classes will and will not transfer. So, you basically won’t even really know if you QUALIFY for admittance. And the bureaucracy is so difficult to navigate!</p>
<p>It will be so difficult and stressful… I don’t recommend it, my friend!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I got in at Berkeley CS this year with a 3.76 at a NY LAC. I’d say that if you’re applying to an impacted major it will be hard but it isn’t worth going to community college for 2 years when you have another option you’d prefer. Go where you think you’d get the most/do best academically (your grades/extracurriculars/level if interest will be more important than your CC status). I don’t think I would have done as well had I stayed in California and gone to CC. I may not have even found out that I was interested in CS. Also, if you have funds to go to a private school, there will be a bunch of other top schools in your department which you can apply to for transfer so that should up your chances (I also applied/got in to U of M Engineering when I was applying to UCs).</p>
<p>Aside from the necessary CC quotas that admissions probably has to fill, I would think that in terms of desirability, kids who’ve shown that they can excel at challenging 4 year colleges (despite the rankings - my school’s CS department has 3 profs) have an edge over CC kids.</p>
<p>The one thing to keep in mind is doing all of the prereqs for the UC program you may want to transfer into. I got rejected by UCSD and UCLA engineering and I’m thinking it was because I hadn’t done a lot of the prereqs which Berkeley CS did not require (chem etc).</p>