After filing transfer applications for universities, students must play the waiting game to see whether or not their dreams will be answered.
A few months later when a large envelope arrives in the mail the student thinks “Could it be?” He or she opens it and reads, “Dear student, on behalf of the university, we would like to welcome you to our fall semester admission.”
Students like these can’t wait for the summer to be over so they can begin taking classes at the university of their dreams.
“Attending a community college like EC actually gives students a higher chance of getting into the university of their choice because there is less competition as a transfer student than out of high school,” Rene Lozano, transfer counselor, said.
The difference between attending a community college before a university, she said, is that in the California community college system, students may sign a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) or a Transfer Admission Priority (TAP), thus increasing their chances of being admitted.
Although there is no exact number of how many students will be transferring in the fall since many private schools don’t release this information, an estimated 1,300 EC transfer students will be enrolling at CSUs and UCs.
“Transfer numbers are a challenging thing because not all universities are obligated to share with us, so we just do our best with the information that we have,” Lozano said.
Since 60 units are required to transfer to a CSU and a UC, it takes students about two to three years, depending upon whether they are full-time students, what level of math and English they must take and if their major requires extensive classes.
Architecture major Jose Iglesias, 21, who has been at EC for three years, is one of those students who wants the summer to fly by so he may begin his upper-division classes at Woodbury University located in Burbank, Calif.
“It was a long process, but ultimately it was a great one,” Iglesias said. “I don’t regret being here a third year because in my third year, I got involved in so many things, like ASO and the architecture club. It was definitely a rewarding experience, but I can’t wait (for Woodbury).”
Unlike Iglesias, the majority of transfers students go to nearby universities like UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Dominguez Hills and USC, Lozano said.
For the 2008-2009 academic year, there were more than 1,000 EC students transferring to the CSUs and about 300 transferring to UCs, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
Although generally it is easier to be admitted into universities as a transfer student, this year, the admissions process was not what students were expecting due to budget cuts. Many were not happy with the results.
“This year, because the state being in such a bad situation with budget cuts and all that, (universities) have to limit how many students they can admit,” Lozano said. “While last year they might have been admitted with the GPA they have this year, this year it wasn’t good enough.”
Zachary Livingston, 20, arts major, experienced a similar situation when he was not offered admission by some of the UCs he applied to because he miscalculated his total number of units when he applied.
Even though he will have the 60 units by the time he transfers, the UC application showed 59 units and that is all it took to be denied admission.
“It was really stressful and a little harder than I expected (having to appeal), but other than that, I’ve met some interesting people that have changed my way of thinking about school,” Livingston said. “You can get the exact same education here, so I don’t feel like I was shorted at all by coming to EC for two years.”