I’m from California and applied to UC Davis in 2013 and was accepted. I decided to go to a private LAC instead, but did not like it and after finishing my freshman year, took a gap year. I know UC’s don’t accept sophomore transfers, so would calling the admissions office and telling them my situation be a waste of time? Thanks!
Do you have 60 semester or 90 quarter units to transfer? These are the minimum to transfer into any UC plus you need to meet the course requirements. Did you apply for Fall 2015? If not, the application period is past and you have to apply for Fall 2016.
http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/admission/transfers/tr_adm_reqt.cfm
^ Yep. Can you give us more details about your situation?
Going to CC for your sophomore year would be really beneficial, since you would have priority as a CC student and could qualify for TAG
They won’t accept you as a sophomore. To transfer, you need to have 60 UC-transferable units and go in as a junior. Your best outcome will be to finish the next year at a CCC and reapply. Based on fact you got in as a graduating hs senior, you should be a shoe-in. You could even aim for UCLA and UCB with probable success.
And they won’t hold it against you that you declined their offer. But all the UCs will have access to your earlier application and will look at it, so make sure they match.
UCs only look at previous transfer applications. They will NOT look at your freshman application (thankfully because I wrote my essays terribly).
http://■■■■■■■■■■■■/home/uc-transfer-admission-update-2014/
I’m using Ms. Sun as a source because she’s really been accurate on her information. I’m currently looking through the UC counselor guide, but can’t seem to find a place where they even touch on using old applications.
I have a UC PowerPoint or something and it’s color-highlighted in bold “PREVIOUS APPLICATION” (or words to that affect), with a link, and the UCs say they read it up to a certain number of years. So, I don’t know. Let me go look. I screenshot it somewhere.
Let me tell ya, it sticks out like a sore thumb on the applicant’s UC admissions page. Now regarding freshman vs transfer, I do not know.
Ah, well it’s not on my ipad, so I will look tomorrow on iphone and computer, but I’m not sure why the application link would not show up, as they track the student through every application cycle. Everything follows a student in some form. I don’t know why a previous application, just because you were a freshman, would not show if the stated purpose noted in the ppt (or wherever it was), was to look for discrepancies, such as residence, awards, ECs, etc. And there was a time frame noted, a certain number of years where they check previous applications.
So I will look tomorrow and find the exact wording. But either way, I wouldn’t second -guess. Make sure anything of relevance is not changed.
OK, I found it. From 2013. It is a bunch of screenshots in a powerpoint of what they are seeing on their end, and it shows all the communications with the student, if they ask for additional info, etc. It notes who made the request, when the response came, and it prints out the response, so everything is just noted clearly in one location. There is also a link with the term of any previous applications. It is highlighted in pink, as if a highlighter was run over the words. I’m not sure if that is actually on their screen or if they were simply highlighting for the powerpoint. (I think it might be for the powerpoint.) But it says in the accompanying bullet points that they will look at previous applications to match up information. Now this is a transfer ppt, so I cannot say for sure re: freshman, but I would just go with the notion that they may have access to those apps and could look. I doubt there is a hard and fast rule that the line can never be crossed, especially if they think something is amiss in the current app.
I work with a few local students, which is why I come up here a lot, and my experience has been that you don’t always get the same answer from every UC rep. And each UC does things a little differently. Best practice: assume they have access and may look at all previous applications.
And @spenceyboi, the purpose of the looks seems to focus only on matching key info, not the essays. So don’t worry. 
Ah thanks. (: There aren’t any discrepancies in my application so that’s good.
Didn’t want to scare you @spenceyboi, lol.