Advice for Transfer Students to California Colleges

I'm thinking about transferring to a college in California. Are there any unique requirements or challenges transfer students face there compared to other states? Any specific ones I should keep on my radar?

Each state can indeed set its own policies in terms of transferring in or out. So, for California, transfer students are generally well-supported, particularly when they are moving within the state's education system.

Starting with the California Community Colleges, they have an agreement with UC schools and CSU schools known as the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT), a special associate degree that guarantees you a saved spot at a CSU, while UC schools offer the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG). The TAG can assure your admission to one of six UC schools if you meet certain criteria. About 25% of UC and 55% of CSU graduates started at a California community college. It's notable, though, that some popular majors may not be available for TAG at UC, so students should confirm their intended major qualifies.

For transfers from out-of-state schools or private schools within California, it may be harder to ensure all your credits will meet the specific course requirements. Many of these students use assist.org to understand how their credits might transfer, though it doesn't include private or out-of-state schools. It would be worthwhile to get in contact with admissions offices and potentially academic advisors at the schools you're interested in to ensure you're meeting the required coursework.

Since CSU and UC schools measure eligibility in terms of completed courses rather than accumulated credit hours, an essential thing to know is that Golden Four requirements must be completed by CSU transferees. These are: a written communication course, an oral communication course, a critical thinking course, and a math/quantitative reasoning course. CSUs also require a minimum of 60 transferable semester (or 90 quarter) units completed before transfer.

Keep in mind that CSU and UC schools also have minimum GPA requirements, 2.0 for CSU; 2.4 for California residents and 2.8 for out-of-state applicants for UC.

Lastly, certain highly sought after schools like UCLA may have more competitive transfer requirements. UCLA, for example, though technically requires a 2.4 GPA for California residents to apply to transfer, often has much higher average GPAs for accepted transfer students, usually above a 3.5.

Keep these factors in mind when considering transferring to a university in California. They'll help guide you on focusing on what's needed for the transfer to be successful.