As far as admissions:
In a general sense I’d say that, yes, one year transfers have distinct disadvantages when it comes to the admissions evaluations:
There is no clear designation for one year transfers as we are in the same pile as everyone else so having less for the committee to review relative to our peers is a negative. One year transfers are usually spending most of their effort trying to meet minimum requirements while traditional applicants usually have no such issue and can spend their time fine tuning instead. With Berkeley and UCLA, who approach admissions much more holistically than the other campuses, we are especially prone to being short-shafted in this regard.
Also as a one year transfer your biggest question mark is a lack of a track record, so you need to spend extra effort to prove that you are not a one semester/year wonder. In this sense it’s impertinent that your application can help verify a sense of consistency. Some people overcome this by taking intersession and short session courses to establish a more coherent academic timeline. Others, like myself, began this process early and dual enrolled at a CC prior to graduating high school. A popular option is to use extracurriculars to justify consistency, but this seems to be less effective than the previous two unless you have a world class talent/skill.
Additionally, AP credits, a huge reason why most people consider a one year track, aren’t factored as “true” positives in transfer admissions so while the one year transfers who rely heavily on AP scores get “points” for their HS achievements, traditional transfers get even more “points” for good grades in CC classes in comparison. All else being equal, an applicant with A’s in CC classes will fare better than another applicant that has with AP credit in the same classes…a huge difference from high school admissions where AP credits are viewed as clear positives.
On a more personal note:
To me, the biggest negative as a transfer is that we only get to spend 4 or 5 semesters here. It wasn’t until I started attending Berkeley that I realized that I overlooked just how much the UCs have to offer. Take your time at CC and place yourself in the best position to maximize your learning during your short stay at your eventual UC.
@EECSProdigy, Specifically with Berkeley…it’s freaking Cal! Everyone is here is hella smart and motivated. What separates the average students from the great ones is not how they got in, but rather who placed themselves in the best position to learn once they got in. Bluntly speaking, you should be trying to get as much coding experience as possible before you are “Hilfingered” rather than worrying about how old you’ll be when you graduate.