Need some college advice?

Question

Hello everyone! I'm an upcoming senior soon to be applying for college. My hopes are to get into a UC (excluding Merced and Riverside) but I might not make it to any of them due to my so-so academic record. However, I'm pretty sure that I can make it into SJSU and SFSU but I'm not sure if that's the right way to go. Should I go to a community college and transfer instead?

Answer 1

get into the best school you can and work hard..... you can transfer to a top UC from a lesser one or a "state" school more easily than Junior college.  at JUCO the classes and reputation arent as good and niether are the opportunities.

Answer 2

Do you what's best for you but if you would feel more comfortable at a community college then go for a year .... it's also easier to get into a college by transferring from a community college than just applying after senior year.

Answer 3

I have to say that CSUs in general don't have very high admission criteria compared to the UCs.  But all the UCs with the exception of the ones you have mentioned are good schools, especially if you compare them at the national level.

You should definitely look into transfer admission guarantee (TAG) at a JC because if you meet certain requirements such as 2.8 transferable GPA, you are guaranteed admission to most of the UCs.  (Yes, guaranteed admission!)  I call this second chance program because nothing from high school matter when you transfer.  In fact, you didn't even needed to have taken the SATs.  I have to warn you that if you do attend a CSU, it will be very difficult to transfer because they don't have any transfer programs and you will be on the bottom of the transfer list.  The first priority is given to the JC student in California.  Very few CSU students transfer to a UC.

You can always apply to the CSUs later on from a JC if you cannot keep up with a TAG program for some reason.  They do let you repeat a couple of courses (D or F) for better grade if you fail Calculus or something.  But I have to tell that JCs have people from all walks of life.  So choose your friends wisely (hopefully they are on TAG) and think of it as a second chance because you start with a clean slate.  But definitely do apply to some schools in high school and see what your options are.

If you ever have to choose between UCR and SJSU or SFSU, I'd choose UCR without any hesitation.  Merced is a different story because they are new and have limited areas of study.