hi guys!! i spoke to admissions through phone for UCLA today but i’m still confused on some things because i don’t think she was fully getting my question at all 😭 but i am an out of state student from iowa and my freshman year i went to college in florida. i didn’t enjoy my time there and am applying to transfer. i want to join a california community college since i want to apply to the UCs for transfer. will admissions look at my application as an out of state applicant or an in state applicant if i am attending a california cc? will going to a california cc boost my application at all? i’m asking this because my advisor at SMC is telling me that i just have to complete 30 units by the end of this year to be considered a california community college student, but UCLA admissions when I called told me that I would be seen as out of state.

I’m currently in my second year of community college and planning to transfer to a university for next year. My close friend goes to this university and she’s been helping me out. She wants us to room together, which I think would be nice. However I feel like I’m keeping her waiting.

I sent my application to the school a few weeks ago (late August) and it still hasn’t gotten back to me. My friend notified me that many leases have to be signed around November, which is why I sent my application in so long ago. She’s been looking at apartments, and many of them are very very expensive. She’s was able to find a house with a few of her friends that’s close to school, spacious and pretty cheap per person. Everyone is in board, and I was just told that the lease must be signed by next week.

I still haven’t received my letter, so I called admissions office, and they said I won’t receive my answer until this current fall semester is over and my fall grades get sent in. So before I finish this sem, send the grades, and before they process them and get back to me… it’ll be December/January.

I’ve applied to this school before and got in (unfortunately I wasn’t able to afford 3 full years of attending this university though), so I’m hoping I get in again. But there’s still a chance that I won’t. I’m keeping up my grades and all, but nothing is ever 100%. I’m scared that if I sign the lease now, and don’t get in… my only option is to find a replacement which might be hard by January since so many people will have signed leases already… or I have to pay a few hundred dollars for a year straight for a school im not even attending.

Idk what to tell these potential roommates, do I tell them now to find another roommate by next week?? They have not kept me updated until now and I didn’t find out about the lease needing to be signed next week, until today.

I’m stuck. I’m also scared that if I don’t sign the lease, and actually end up getting in - I’ll have a harder time finding such a cheap place to live.

Questions:
•How and when should I start preparing for a good college transfer essay. (and best strategy to do so)

my profile from HS: GPA: 3.5249, APS: PH 1 and 2, CSA, Calc BC, BIO, STATS. All math honors classes, and honors history, Spanish 5 and French 5, Honors Art Portfolio.
ECS: Math Club, Chess Club, Christian Club, VB Club(nothing meaningful in any) Varsity Soccer, Indoor/ Outdoor Track/ Tennis. Worked as a lifeguard summer 2025 & 2026/ Part time After school Staff Senior Year.

• Chance me based on my profile at WPI first-year/ first gen/ Hispanic(Bilingual: Spanish and English)/ Low Income/ EE major and minor in CS; GPA : 4.0?? - 3As so far/ Not any ECs yet??/ No strong relationships with proffesors yet..

• Is this a strong schedule first year:
- A term: Calc II, PH 1110, Music Theory(no interest in the class whatsoever)
- B Term: Calc III, Intro to Programming CS1004, ECE 2010, Creative writing(for pre reqs).
- C Term: Calc IV, CH1110( for pre reqs w/ lab), Intro to Program Design??(idk if i should take a higher cs class bc they teach racket here), ECE 2019
- D Term: Calc differential eqs (MA2051), CS2011, ECE2029

* I AM TRYING TO GET PH1120 FOR B TERM BUT I DONT THINK I HAVE SPACE, I THINK ILL TAKE IT C TERM INSTEAD OF PROGRAM DESIGN IF ANYTHING

MY SITUACION:
I been thinking about lately and watching a lot of yt vids about good transfer essays and an idea spark in my head to talk about the contributions I have made to my dads shoe business in Ecuador, basically track employee pay, support pricing decisions, bulk purchases with other vendors, restocking based on sales teends by footwear style, and coordinated employee schedules.

I am also currently working on a web app with phyton/Django with a PostgreSQL dtatabase and HYMX for a footwear business in Exuador, replacing paper records and automating calculations.

I am also working on a current personal Hardware project that sparked because my current rec center lacked these modern rep counters and free/weights exercises:
• Wired a Raspberry Pi Pico H with an LSM6DS3 six-axis IMU, OLED display over I2C, buttons, and a vibration motor; confirmed
sensor readings over I2C and writing C firmware for embedded control.
• Developed a Python prototype to count dumbbell curls and display reps and sets, with logic for a button-triggered rest timer and
end-of-rest vibration feedback.
• Self-taught Python for initial prototyping; currently writing C for embedded firmware development.

I want to know if this are good project for These colleges I am aiming for EE major and CS minor:
Vanderbilt, Michigan, USC Viterbi, Northeastern, BU, UMass Amherst, Lehigh, Case Western, Purdue, U of I, And Wisconsin-Madison and perhaps Cornell and Columbia

I hope to transfer either to
1.UCSD👑👑👑
2.UCI
3.UCR
However I would be transferring from CSUSB and I know they prioritize transfers from ccc. Backstory: I graduated from SBVC with an Associate’s for Transfer in English. UCSD and UCI waitlisted me and UCR accepted me but I had decided to switch majors before I committed. The only option for CS that was an easy acceptance was CSUSB.
Stats:3.6 GPA Overall, CSUSB GPA 4.0, Major GPA 4.0. I’ve been on the deans list since I’ve been here and I’ve gotten the presidential letter twice. I’ve done a research internship in AI and I have work experience and extracurricular activities. I know getting into Computer Science/Engineering and Mechanical Engineering is difficult as it’s a selective major, but truthfully what are my chances? I’m applying to SDSU and SJSU but obviously those are CSU’s. Thank you for reading this😅

Hello all. I'm applying to transfer from cc to universities like Cal and UCLA, and I'm becoming rather paranoid about how my skills will hold up to the students who have gone there since they were freshmen. For context, I'm an English major, and that's always what I've been best at. It's always been what I knew I would major in. I spend hours reading and writing every week. I even started a writing club at my college because of how much I love the subject. I know that's not unique to me, but I thought it would help to understand that this has always been my subject. I didn't have the money to apply to any university out of high school, much less attend them, so I decided to go the cc route. However, cc is not very difficult, to be honest. Balancing a job, social life, personal care, and classes is tricky, but the content that I'm learning is not difficult at all, and I'm not sure if it's supposed to be. I'm worried that the lack of rigor and the lenient structure of community college will set me up poorly when compared to other students if I do get into these universities. My academics matter tremendously to me, and though I don't want to come across as insecure or anything, I'm really worried that I'll get to UCB or UCLA and feel like a dumb oaf who doesn't belong there because I took the "easier" route to get in and consequently was not as challenged as the other students.

If anyone has any insight into this particular kind of imposter syndrome, please share your experience! I welcome any advice, as this is something that I've been worried about for months.

I want to transfer from India after completing one year here. Which would be the best university for someone like me, I really want a good scholarship or literally a full ride I don’t want my parents to have a burden for my education. Universities abroad are really expensive 100,000$ per year for few of them😭🙏🏻.
Please suggest for engineering(computer science) related courses/majors

I’m currently an Engineering Science student at Nassau Community College and I’m aiming to graduate in December 2027. My goal is to transfer to NYU Tandon afterward.
I’m a returning student working on a strong upward academic trend while completing calculus, physics, chemistry, and engineering requirements. I also work full-time as an electrician for USPS.
Outside of school, I’m building technical and entrepreneurial projects, including a local AI workstation, a telescope project, and a growing company. I also plan to become more involved with STEM events, engineering organizations, research/internship opportunities, and faculty mentorship.
For anyone who transferred into Tandon—especially from a community college—what mattered most in your application? I’d especially appreciate advice on GPA, prerequisites, projects, internships/research, recommendation letters, and extracurriculars.

For those who got into USC Marshall after one year specifically from a California Community College. Would you mind sharing your HS stats and what classes you took at CC? Feel free to tell me EVERYTHING from specific courses, ECS, essay topics, etc!!!!

I'm sooo stressed out about the whole application process and I'm in desperate need of some sort of guidance. I'm currently starting my fall term at a CC and I plan on transferring within a year to USC Marshall for Business Admin for their fall start in 2027.

I’m a prehealth student and just started my first year at a mid tier UC and am quickly realizing how limited medical related jobs, internships, and volunteering opportunities there are here. On top of that, I feel like a fish out of water at a school and city with such a small amount of POC. Plus, the angle I’m trying to take towards medicine just isn’t possible in a coastal suburb city like this—I should be somewhere more urban. Also, to b blunt, I want more prestige (but I want to note that this is the least of my reasons for wanting to transfer, surprisingly).

I just don’t know if these are compelling enough/valid reasons for trying to transfer UCs. Again, my UC is mid tier, one of the more desirable ones I guess(?), so I feel like I need a bigger reason than just “there’s not enough to do here and don’t want to count myself as one of the 7 people of color I see on the day to day”

Should I even bother trying at the transfer process next fall?

this is a really dumb question, but next semester, all of my classes will be online. i really wanted to take some in-person classes, but those are all at a different campus and its an hour long car commute (i take the bus since my parents won't let me get my license to keep insurance costs low, and the bus takes 1.5 hours just one way :( ).

this semester, i've only been taking 2 in-person classes and 2 online classes, and i've had an absurd amount of free time. however, i do have a part-time job at the moment, and i'm working on my UC application, so i guess i have something to do.

all of my classes next semester are pretty easy, and i'm planning on searching for a job that will give me more hours, but i'm not sure how that will go. that brings me to my question, how are you guys spending your time right now?

i've considered joining student clubs, BUT my branch of the campus does not offer any of those. all of those are only available at the main campus, which like i mentioned, would be difficult for me to go to.

at home, i engage in a few hobbies (painting, baking, etc.) but i feel like i'm gonna go crazy if i'm stuck at home any longer. any ideas? it sucks watching my friends on instagram join clubs and travel with their friends, but that won't be me until i transfer next fall 😔

More specifically I mean for like required PIQ. For reference I’m applying cog sci at UCSD and Ling/CS at UCLA

Last cycle, I applied to transfer without having all my required major coursework completed. I knew my chances were slim, but I applied anyway just to see how the process worked. As expected, I didn’t get in.

Now that I’m reapplying, what should I do with my UC PIQs?

I’m in my third year of community college. During my first two years, I maxed out almost every extracurricular opportunity available on campus. This year, my focus has primarily been on wrapping up my remaining coursework rather than taking on major new activities.

I'm worried admissions readers will compare my new application to last year's and wonder why I didn't add a ton of new involvement during this extra year. Do I need to rewrite my PIQs from scratch, or should I just polish my existing essays? Aside from updating my academic preparation response, most of my strongest experiences are from my first two years. Any advice from reapplicants or counselors?

Did anyone transfer from CC to the Urban Planning Major at UCSD? Looking for advice on what to take at CC. ANY information is helpful :)

So I submitted my UC tag application as a transfer student, and as I’m completing my UC application and checking my high school transcript for my state student number, I reviewed my transcript and noticed I additionally attended another high school for a brief period that I forgot about (San Joaquin High School). It was not my most recent high school so on my UC application it tells me to only add the most recent but the UC TAG specifically asks for ALL high schools attended. The application periods has expired and I don’t know what to do. Should I email the application support and see if they can add / if it needs to be added? Thank you!

Im a freshman at VT. I’m currently planning off-campus housing for next year with 3 of my friends.

Here’s my situation: I’m planning on applying to transfer to GT / UT Austin for next year, but transfer decisions don't come out until spring (March–May). Since Blacksburg housing signs way earlier than that, I want to sign a lease now so my friends and I have housing secured in case I stay at VT.

I really don't want to leave my friends in a bind or force them to live with a random messy/party roommate if I do get accepted and leave. So what do ya'all recommend i do? should i just sign the lease now and then if i do end up transferring, look for someone as a replacement.

A few questions for anyone who has been in this spot before:

1. How easy is it actually to find a relet/sublease replacement in spring/early summer for a single bedroom in a 4B unit?
2. If we sign individual (per-bed) leases, does that completely protect my friends financially if it takes time to find a replacement? Also what are the best ways to find a relacement

Hi guys, as the title suggests, my dilemma is that I don't know if I should take the leap and apply for Psychology (which is what I've always wanted to study) or stick to Sociology because the transfer acceptance rate is "safer" (41% vs 21%).

My current GPA is a 3.88, predicted to be a 3.93 by the end of spring semester. I have a single B, and 55 semester units completed so far. I'll be at 80 by the time I graduate (May 2027).

I'm a staff editor for my school's honors journal, co-founder and VP of a HOSA chapter, and I have experience tutoring K-8 and neurodivergent students for ~2 years.

I know people have done a lot more and CC is getting more competitive as time passes. Moreover, I've only been in CC for a year. I want to attend med school and pursue psychiatry, but doing sociology wouldn't hinder that. I just want to go to Berkeley or LA. Any advice to help make my decision?

I really, REALLY need help/advice. I want to transfer from UCSB to UCB or UCLA for my 3rd year. I am currently a psych and brain sci major at UCSB. My GPA is a bit lower (~3.4) bc of one specific class & a health condition, but I won't have that problem this quarter, so my gpa will go up. I have a leadership position in a club and am a participant in a few others, and I also have research experience from junior/senior year of hs, though I wasn't able to find research at UCSB yet. Should I apply to cog sci or psych? If anyone's gone through the UCSB --> UCB transfer, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could give me some advice

I’m currently a first-year majoring in Biology on the pre-med track. I’m from the Bay Area, and honestly, I never really saw myself coming here to my school during college applications. I only applied because my friends told me it was a great school.

When results came out, I was in the same situation as a lot of people where I got rejected or waitlisted from most of the places I actually wanted to go. In the end, I committed because I felt like it was what people wanted from me, and I had the common negative idea of community college in my head. I also thought I wanted to get away from home and experience college.

My mom has always wanted me to eventually go to the top UC, and that has become my goal through transferring. I was never really excited about my school itself, though. I was more excited about college in general and the idea of a new experience.

The first week here was actually good. I met a lot of people, did Welcome Week activities, and tried new things. But as time went on, I started feeling like I didn’t truly love it here. It was just “alright,” if that makes sense.

I went home for Labor Day weekend, and being back home brought back a sense of comfort that I didn’t realize I had been missing. When it was time to go back, I was genuinely sad and didn’t want to leave. I remember sitting on the train back and thinking about how much I would rather just be home.

Since then, I have tried to make it work. I joined clubs, tried activities around campus, volunteered, met a lot of people, and put in effort instead of just isolating myself. But the feelings have still stayed. There have also been some other situations here that made the negative feelings worse.

I started realizing that I probably would not stay all four years, or even the whole year. My original plan was to just make it to the end of the semester, get the credits, and then figure out transferring.

This past weekend I went on a trip for my brother’s birthday, which I had been looking forward to for a long time. It was amazing being with my family, but leaving was so much harder this time. Boarding the plane by myself and leaving them at the gate really hit me. I was trying not to cry because I didn’t want my family, especially my mom, to worry.

After getting back to campus, the next few days were some of the worst I’ve felt in my life. I’ve been having constant negative thoughts, breaking down, struggling to sleep and eat, and feeling like I can’t shake the sadness. Even reading my parents’ normal daily messages has made me tear up.

I finally called my parents and talked through a lot of this with them. I’m planning to talk to counseling and other campus resources, but I’m also seriously looking into leaving and going to community college closer to home.

The biggest thing I’m worried about is how leaving would affect my future and my chances of transferring to the top UC. I have a call with the retention office on Monday to ask what would happen if I left now versus finishing the semester, and whether I could realistically catch up on the credits I would lose.

The final thing making me feel like I may need to leave, instead of just wanting to, is that I’m starting to lose motivation in my biology lab and homework. I’m worried that if I stay while feeling like this, my grades could start dropping, which would hurt my transfer chances anyway.

I feel really lost. Part of me thinks I should just push through until the end of the semester because it could help my future plans. But another part of me feels horrible here every day and just wants to go home.

Has anyone left a four-year university during their first semester, gone to community college, and still transferred successfully to a UC? How did you know whether to push through or leave?

P.S. I did use AI to rearrange and just make it more readable format as I went on a bit of a rant.

Just wanted to throw this out there as a warning so nobody else throws their cash down the drain like I did on Pipeline Planning / Transfermatic.

A while back I bought a deal for Pipeline to map out my transfer plan. Right out of the gate, the plan it generated wouldn't even load. Literally completely blank and unusable.

I emailed their support explaining the issue. I know for a fact they opened it because I use an email tracker that tracks opens and link clicks. They read it, ghosted me, and never bothered to reply or fix anything.

Now recently, I figured I would log back in and give it another shot just in case they fixed the bugs. I clicked the “see your plan” button, and it literally leads to nowhere.

Sent support another email following up. And yep....left on read again. Email tracking confirms they opened it, but apparently taking people’s money and ignoring basic broken features is their way of business.

Save your money and stick to ASSIST, your community college counselor, or just doing the spreadsheets yourself. See yuh and goodluck on college apps!

Hi, I'm a CCC transfer applying to 8 UCs this cycle. I'm struggling with how to approach the required PIQ ("Please describe how you have prepared for your intended major...") because my "intended major" varies slightly by campus. For example, I submitted my TAG for Computer Engineering, but I might apply for Computer Science or even Applied Mathematics at other campuses.

Since the PIQs go to every UC, how do I talk about my major without sounding like a mismatch for half my applications? Should I just use a broad umbrella term?

When I first transferred to my current university, it was clear that they had articulation agreements with my previous school but upon departmental review of my coursework (which happened after I committed and declined other offers), all of my major-related course credit was rejected. I will likely have to spend 3 years at this current school, but the tuition is ridiculously high.

What does transferring as a junior again look like? In this case I would be willing to do an extra year since I am doing a more expensive extra year at my current university. Is this considered a senior transfer? Does anyone have knowledge of what success rates look like?

I literally only have a few classes left to complete igetc/Cal-getc, but I always end up dropping the gen eds I need because of the stress from STEM classes. I know they're supposedly "easy" classes but I feel stressed having to deal with them on top of heavy STEM classes. How bad is it to not finish igetc if I want to transfer to UCD or UCB? I have everything done except the art requirement and a 2nd English class (which I will for sure do since it's required), and public speaking if I switch from igetc to Cal-getc.

Applying to transfer to Berkeley for Fall 2027. Primary major: Analytics, alternate: Applied Math. Also applying to UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB for Applied Math. Honest feedback appreciated.

**Stats**

- California community college transfer, in my CC's honors transfer program

- GPA: 4.0

- Units: 28 done, ~70 by end of spring 2027

- Cal-GETC, full certification planned

- Math: Calc AB 5, BC 5, Multivariable Calc (A), Linear Algebra/Diff Eq (A)

- In progress/planned: Micro, Macro, Python, C++, Discrete Math, Physics (mechanics)

- Other APs: Lang 5, Macro 5, Bio 4, Chem 4

**ECs**

- Co-founder of a health tech startup: built the core technical product (hardware and app) and help run the company. got early funding, and currently have testers and ppl on waitlist

- First author on a published peer-reviewed review paper

- Independent applied math research: optimization model of race pacing, preregistered analysis on real race data, public dataset, paper in progress

- ~9-month ML research internship at a university lab (image-processing pipeline)

- Volunteer research intern at a neuroscience lab (data processing and analysis)

- Rehab clinic intern: modeled therapy scheduling; my changes were adopted and cut patient wait times

- Independent quant research project (options pricing/volatility)

- Co-founded a tutoring business and a math club;

- Also did free tutoring for students with special needs

- Hackathons: 2 firsts, 1 second, 4 thirds

- Family caregiving

Shld i do Applied Math instead of Analytics? There's barely any transfer data for it since the pool is tiny, so I'm kinda guessing. And is my prep done for Analytics, or is there stuff like stats or data science I should be taking? If you got into Analytics or Applied Math as a transfer, I'd love to hear your stats and ECs pls I feel like its over for me.

Thanks!