My son attended CSUN for the Fall Semester of his Freshman year with hopes of transferring to UCLA or UCSB, CAL, ans UCSC. We quickly found out that UC transfers from Community Colleges and JC’s have preference and some campuses of UC don’t accept any transfers from Cal State students. In fact, 97% of transfer to the UC system come from CC’s and JC’s. Just Curious if anyone knows WHY that is ? Are the CSU and UC systems academic rivals ?
Thanks
He transferred to a Community College for the Spring of 2017 but I wish I’d known and not wasted his time /credits and some money at a Cal State.
Not sure where you got the information that a student from a CSU cannot transfer to some of the UC campuses? UC’s will give priority to CC’s transfers, then UC to UC and CSU and UC transfers, private instate transfers and then OOS transfers.
There are several posters that have successfully transferred from a CSU to a UC but it is not as well of a designated path as the CC to UC transfer. CSU’s have different GE requirements than UC’s, so it is important that you look up the transfer course list from a local CC to the target UC on assist.org. You then try to articulate the CC listed courses to the CSU courses and then UC transfer course list. I would also suggest your son keep any syllabi from his CSUN courses to help with the articulation.
He did not waste time or money at CSUN since i am sure some of the courses will transfer.
The CSU’s were originally set up to educate students and send them out into the workforce. The UC’s were setup to educate students for research, graduate school and professional schools. The lines have blurred between the original goals for each type of system, but it is very possible to transfer from a CSU to a UC. It just takes some diligence on the student’s part.
Best of luck to your son.
I know it’s possible to transfer from a CSU to a UC, however I got my information from the UC Website itself.
OVERVIEW BY SCHOOL TYPE TRANSFERRING FROM
Applicants % of Total
Applicants Admits Admit Rate % of Total
Admits Enrolled Enroll Rate % of Total
Enrolled
CA Community Colleges 18,436 83% 5,266 29% 92% 3,068 58% 92%
Other UC Campuses 844 4% 193 23% 3% 121 63% 4%
CA State Universities 438 2% 40 9% 1% 33 83% 1%
Other Schools 2,569 12% 209 8% 4% 125 60% 4%
I also talked to a few transfer counselors at UCLA and UCSD and was told there are years when they don’t accept anyone from a CSU at certain UC campuses.
As you can see, UC’s take roughly 1% of their TRANSFERS from CA State Universities. It’s due to the priority Community College and Junior Colleges receive.
In 2016, 438 CSU students applied and 40 were accepted at a 9% acceptance rate.
Community College transfer students were accepted at a 29% rate.
I know my son didn’t waste money at CSUN but he did lose 1 class that won’t transfer.
I recognize the advantage of coming from a CC and that’s why my son transferred. I just wanted to know why that huge gap exists ?
this is the link :
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/transfer/advising/transferring-credits/#other
Because the California public higher education system was deliberately set up that way under the Master Plan of 1960. It’s designed to work like that.
Originally, the top eighth of CA high school students were guaranteed a UC slot; the top third were guaranteed a CSU slot. Everyone else (i.e. the majority) were guaranteed access to the California community colleges (CCCs), and the UCs and CSUs were committed to prioritizing CCC grads in transfer admissions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Master_Plan_for_Higher_Education
There is no particular discrimination against the CSUs here. Both the UC and CSU systems prioritize CCC graduates in transfer admission. So it’s true that most UC transfer students come from the CCCs – but the exact same thing is true of CSU transfer students. And it’s true that the preference given to CCC students makes it hard to transfer from a CSU to a UC – but it also makes it hard to transfer from one UC to another UC.
If you hope to transfer into UCLA, for example, your best bet is to enroll at Santa Monica College – not CSUN or UC Riverside. Again, it’s no different at CSUs: Cuesta College, for example, is well known as a “feeder” for Cal Poly SLO.
OIC. Thank you. Very well explained
^And it’s because community college students need somewhere to go if they are going to finish a bachelor’s. If you are at a CSU (or a UC), you are already at a 4-year college - worst case scenario you stay where you are and finish your BA. Community college students who have no place to transfer to, worst case scenario, don’t get a BA at all.
I totally agree. My son transferred to a Community College after 1 semester at a CSU and it was a much better value for my son and an actual advantage in getting into a UC. Win Win
My son was just accepted to UC Santa Barbara school of Economics. Thanks for your input here. We are thrilled!
Congratulations to your son. I know of someone who took a similar path. This person started out at UCSD and waited to major in accounting. After a short period at UCSD, the person transferred to a CCC. From the community college, the person was able to transfer to UCSB, known to have an excellent accounting program in the econ dept. The person is now a CPA at a Big 4 firm.
meant to type “wanted”, not “waited”