Planning to Transfer from a California Community College

I'm attending a community college in California and plan to transfer to a UC or CSU. Can anyone share how the transfer process works and what I need to prepare for?

Absolutely, happy to outline the transfer process for you.

For both the UC and CSU systems, you would primarily do so through the respective system's transfer admission planner. For the UC system, they have the University of California Transfer Admission Planner (UC TAP), and for CSU, there's the California State University (CSU) Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT).

1. Choose a Major: The first step in any transfer process is identifying your academic focus. Many transfer policies, especially for competitive programs, require or strongly prefer students applying for a specific major. In this case, it's important to know what subjects spark your interest.

2. Course Requirements: Transfers to either the UC or CSU system have academic requirements that need to be satisfied. Generally, you need to complete 60 semester (90 quarter) units of transferable college credit with a GPA of at least 2.4 (for California residents) or 2.8 (for non-California residents) for UC, and at least 2.0 for CSU.

3. General Education (GE) Requirements: You must fulfill a set of general education courses. For the CSU system, it's the CSU GE-Breadth requirements, and for the UC system, it's the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC). Some community colleges offer associate degrees for transfer that meet these requirements.

4. Major Specific Courses: Alongside your GE requirements, you should also be proactive in taking courses relevant to your intended major. This will depend on the major that you are interested in transferring into, so it's crucial to check the specific requirements for your desired program.

5. The Application: After satisfying the academic requirements, you have to submit transfer applications.

6. Submitting Transcripts: When all coursework for the summer term has been completed and graded, you must arrange for your college to send a final, official transcript to your destination college.

7. Selection Process: Both the CSU and UC evaluate applications based on a comprehensive review process taking into account your GPA, completion of major prerequisite courses, and other factors.

Keep a close eye on deadlines and maintain consistent contact with your community college's academic counselor, as they can provide personalized assistance in understanding transfer requirements. Good luck!