What is a good community college in California compares to a university that have a national rank of 100?
What are you asking? Are you asking for a community college that is ranked in the top 100 for colleges/universities?
In many cases, the community college option is used for a year or two to fulfill general,education requirements before transferring to a four year school to finish a bachelors degree.
Community college also offer two year degrees in some fields.
The CA community college system is a well established one…and a great price deal if you are a CA resident who is commuting from home.
I’ve heard great things about Mt. Sac in Cali.
There are no community colleges listed in the top 100 universities/colleges – because they’re two different kinds of schools. But you can attend a community college and transfer to a top 100 university.
In the Bay Area, De Anza Community College, Foothills Community College, Diablo Valley Community College all have excellent reputations, and you could transfer from there to the University of California system, which has campuses in the top 100.
In Southern California, Orange Coast College, Santa Barbara City College, El Camino College are also known to be very good.
Thank you much for your info. So if I attend one of the good community college in CA then transfer to one of the UCs is better than attending university in my state which ranked at 100th? My situation is that I am much more than qualified to get admitted in my state university but afraid that I can not get admitted into the UC system directly from HS. My UC GPA is 4.00 but my ACT score is just 26. I will be taking more tests on both ACT and SAT hoping to get a higher score. What else should I do or what plan should I go for to get into the UC system?
Why don’t you attend a community college in your own state and then transfer to your own state university?
Paying out-of-state fees for a community college is ridiculous, I think. So is paying out of state tuition at a UC, for that matter, but that’s just my opinion. Though I understand that some people might want to have a Berkeley or a UCLA on their resume.
^^^What @katliamom said is spot on. What is the lure of the UC system? I know a couple have good reputations (UCLA/Cal and others pretty good too) but if you are going to pay out of state fees for a UC, you can attend a private university anywhere for about the same price. I think you could possibly be overemphasizing the importance of ranking and reaching for something that is not practical or realistic. Perhaps if you give us some idea of what you want to study and your state, we could start from there with some ideas that may be helpful.
If you are not a resident of CA, you may find that the OOS cost of attending a community college…plus logging and other expenses isn’t exactly a bargain.
I would strongly suggest that you start looking at the programs of study, and the actual costs to attend, rather than focusing on ranking of the schools. You can get an excellent education at most any state flagship university.
ETA…are you able to be a full pay student at a UC? You will likely be expected to do so…even if you transfer from a CA community college.
My state is New Mexico. My program of study is going to be marine biology or biology in general. I am a junior now and will be moving to CA this summer to complete my senior year and be a California resident by then. My whole family moves since my sister wants to go to the UC system. I don’t know if I should stay in my state with my brother who is attending University of New Mexico or going with my family to CA for a UC.
One of the Calgrant experts will have to chime in…but o don’t believe you will be eligible for a Calgrant…as you will only have been in CA for one year.
You do understand that your family will need to demonstrate their intent to stay in CA as residents. If it looks like they moved there only for college residency purposes, it won’t fly.
Our family still own a house in CA. We used to live there for 17 years, moved to NM to open a business, it didn’t work out for us, we closed it, and now we are moving back to live in our own home in CA ( San Jose) . I guess I can provide everything that they need to prove that we intend to live there since we do. Is it still a problem of CA residency and Calgrant that was mentioned?
My original question was just to ask if my major of biology will be a good choice to be in the UC system or to be in NM. And should I stay in NM to be admitted as a freshman or to go to CA and attending in a community college then transfer to the UC I intend to which is UC Davis, if I will not be admitted as a freshman.
It doesn’t a matter of what I choose to do, my family still move back to CA this summer. I just want some advices to help me make a decision to stay or to move with them. Thanks
You can major in biology almost anywhere. I thought you had to attend high school for three years in CA and graduate from a CA HS to be eligible for the Calgrant…but I could be wrong about that.
But really…if your oarents move to CA, once you graduate from HS, your place of residence will be CA…not NM. The place of residency for most undergrad students is the state in which their parents reside.
You can use http://www.assist.org to find what courses at various community colleges will fulfill frosh/soph requirements to transfer to UCs and CSUs in your major. Since biology is a common major that does not tend to have a lot of requirements that vary by college, it is likely that most community colleges will cover most or all of the needed courses for whichever UCs and CSUs you target.
The list of reasons that a student may be ineligible for a Cal Grant are listed at http://www.csac.ca.gov/pubs/forms/grnt_frm/g-20_disqualificationfactsheet.pdf .
Be sure that you and your parents do everything needed to re-establish California residency as soon as you move to California, so that the one year waiting period finishes before you need to start college. This may include changing driver’s license, vehicle registrations, voter registrations, bank accounts, etc. as soon as possible after arrival in California.
http://ucop.edu/residency/
http://www.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/residence_classification.asp
Thank you all for your very helpful info. Appreciated.
Make sure you follow the residency requirements to the letter. That might mean you need to start a semester or two late. Most colleges are not eager to reclassify OOS students, and if you start as an OOS student you are usually stuck in that classification for the duration of your time. Reclassification is usually at the discretion of the college.
If you decide to stay in NM, you should check on their policies if your parents move OOS. A lot can depend on the source of your income. You don’t want to be in a situation where you are OOS in both NM and CA.