CSU transfer paths from San Diego community colleges?

I'm currently attending a San Diego community college and planning to transfer to a CSU. Are there particular transfer paths or agreements I should be aware of to make the process smoother?

Sure, there’s a framework in place to facilitate your transfer from a California Community College to a CSU! The program you should look into is called the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) program. Under this, students who earn an Associate in Arts for Transfer (AA-T) or Associate in Science for Transfer (AS-T) are guaranteed admission to a CSU.

But there is a caveat: while it guarantees admission to a CSU, it may not guarantee admission to a specific campus or major. However, many students do get accepted to their first-choice campus and major.

Each community college will have different ADT options, so your first step will be to check with your community college advisors to understand which options are available to you based on your intended major. After earning an ADT, when you apply to CSUs, you'll be applying with a 'guarantee' label that could increase your chance of admission at impacted campuses and majors.

The ADT pathways work closely with the CSU General Education (GE) requirements or IGETC for CSU (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) to help you take the correct first and second-year courses. Your community college advisers can also help you understand these requirements.

To use the ADT pathway, you need to keep an eye on your academic performance, as you will need to maintain a GPA of at least 2.0, which is a C average, although requirements might be higher for impacted campuses or programs.

Remember, early planning can be an essential part of a successful transfer experience, so make sure to have these discussions with your college advisors early. Good luck with your transfer process!