<p>Please, go to a community college.</p>
<p>You can make up for any mistakes you made in high school and transfer somewhere good down the road. You’re given a clean slate. That being said, you’re going to have to handle college level CS classes pretty well.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you would think that you could even stand a chance of getting into UC Merced when you can’t get into Cal Poly Pomona. I wouldn’t say UC Merced is worth it simply because it’s another 10 grand a year for basically the same level or less education. I don’t think I’ve ever heard one good thing about it and I do not personally know anyone who applied there when I was at community college. Most of the time it was UCLA, USC, Cal Poly SLO, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, or Cal Poly Pomona. But you have to pay 30 grand at any UC, so you might as well make it a good one. Many people I’ve known do choose one of the Cal Poly’s over mid-tier UC’s when considering engineering/science, though. If you like practical, come to a Cal Poly. Just work your butt off.</p>