There are some ignorant posters on CollegeConfidential, but @NCalRent is not one of them.
@nobelcollegekid, there is nothing wrong with trying to improve your situation. I just understand @NCalRent’s rationale in that he/she just wants you to be aware that there is a i* high probability of you just spinning your wheels. (Especially if you are adamant on being a computer science major.)
You probably already know that Cal and UCLA are crazy hard. (Berkeley had 47 L&S CS admits last year and UCLA had 31.) I wont break that down further, but the point of contention seems to be centered around UCI.
UCI had 326 ICS CS admits last year.
Okay. Good numbers at first, but only 133 of those admits eventually enrolled. (A red flag in itself, but more on that later.)
Delving even deeper into the raw numbers show that of those that completed the matriculation process:
Only 1 ICS-CS enrollee at UCI came from Pierce CC last year.
From the last five years, only 7 ICS-CS enrollees at UCI came from Piece CC in total.
Even if you take the other nearby community colleges…
The College of the Canyons has sourced only 6 ICS-CS enrolees at UCI in the last five years.
Moorpark CC (a well known CS feeder school) has only 5 ICS-CS enrolees at UCI in the last five years.
Only 2 new ICS-CS enrollees at UCI came from LA Valley CC in the last five years.
There have been no UCI ICS-CS enrollees from LA Mission CC in the last five years.
Even the super large CCCs don’t fare well:
Santa Monica CC sent only 7 ICS-CS enrolees to UCI last year and only 33 total in the last five years
Pasadena CC sent 12 ICS-CS enrollees to UCI last year but also only 20 total in the last five years.
Now back to that low yield rate for such a competitive and popular major…why aren’t those students attending UCI despite getting in?
There are multiple explanations for this phenomenon but the most common ones thrown out in the professional industry are that:
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The difference between a CS degree from UCI and a cheaper comparable school (CSUN for instance) is relatively small a few years down the road.
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A lot of admitted CS transfers find out late that that it’s unlikely for them to finish the CS curriculum at UCI within a two year time-frame and opt to spend an additional year at a CC or transferring to a CSU versus attending UCI for more than the initially expected 2 years.
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They got into UCSD/UCSB/Davis; which, in your scenario, looks like it reiterates back to point #1.
I have to ask again: which is more important to you, being a CS major or finishing your undergrad at a UC?
If the former, then it’s definitely more conducive to stay at CSUN and attempt to directly transfer from there.
(Plus the UCs are still an option for Grad School should transfer admissions be unfavorable to you.)