How do community college classes transfer to UCSB?

I'm planning to start at a community college and later transfer to UCSB. Does anyone know how the process works for transferring classes? I'm especially interested in the key courses I need to complete first.

When it comes to transferring community college credits to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is a series of courses prospective transfer students can complete to satisfy lower-division general education (GE) requirements before transferring. This means you'll have already met a large part of GE requirements when you arrive at UCSB, allowing you to focus more on your major.

Additionally, UCSB also prefers transfer students who have completed key major preparation coursework before transfer. The key major prerequisites vary significantly depending on your intended major, so you'd want to check UCSB's transfer major prerequisites for your specific area of study. Some major programs at UCSB are selective and require additional preparation and a competitive GPA.

UCSB works closely with California community colleges, so, often, courses on major pathways will directly articulate to specific requirements in UCSB major programs. It means a class at the community college level may substitute for a similar class at UCSB.

The University of California has a valuable tool called ASSIST, which shows how class credits earned at one California college or university can be applied when transferred to another. ASSIST is particularly helpful to identify classes at your community college that will be recognized as fulfilling prerequisites at UCSB.

In the end, close relation with an academic advisor at your current community college can help in strategizing your course selection and guiding you through the transfer process. They can effectively help you in selecting classes that not only meet IGETC requirements but also align well with your intended major at UCSB.