Cal Poly Pomona to USC?

SC2013
Mon, 13 May 2013 23:36:58 +0000

I just wanted to say that it might not actually be worth it to go to CC. I was given guaranteed sophomore admission to USC contingent on getting a 3.3 for a year at another institution, (I had a high GPA through high school, something bad happened, low GPA for a year, but consequential “interesting life story”/otherwise qualified so they offered me this agreement), and I really did not like CC. I had a few fantastic professors (honestly, some jaw-droppingly awesome professors), but I found a great many of the students to be severely lacking despite being in difficult and honors courses. I also found the social scene to be stale because most people were still at home, and it seemed to be a less fun continuation of high school with many people who did not seem to mature after the jump. In addition, clubs and such on campus left much to be desired and were largely inactive.
My agreement made it so I had to go to a community college, but knowing what I do, if I was in your position and money was not an issue, I would elect to go to a four year school. You might not get into USC and squander two years at community college when you could have had the freshman and sophomore college experience at a very respectable four year. You can still apply from Cal Poly, and worst case scenario you don’t get in, you’ll have been comfortable with your friends and great new experiences from your last two years. You can apply every year from a non-CC as well.

However, I do want to say that a CC will make it much easier to get into a UC if you really do not want to go to Cal Poly. I went to a community college in South OC where the honors program had a 50% acceptance rate to Cal and 60% to UCLA after two years, all pre-reqs filled. I also wanted to mention (little known fact), that if you have a learning disability including ADD, are an athlete, are a veteran, or in honors courses, most community colleges will give you first pick so that you will definitely get your classes. It depends on what you want to do. If its specifically USC you want to go to and you would otherwise be happy at Cal Poly, go to Cal Poly and apply twice and see what happens. If it’s that you don’t want to go to Cal Poly and you have some friends to hang out with and don’t necessarily want or need to make new ones/are willing to sacrifice a year or two for a possible USC or UC acceptance, go to community college and use honors programs and RateMyProfessor as much as possible.