Is it better to attend lower tier UCs or community college after graduating high school?

If you retake the English class and retake the Algebra 2 class, both are required to apply to a UC, you could apply but if you do not have a repeat grade for all these classes by application time, your GPA may not get you into any UC except for maybe UC Merced. If you attend a community college and do well, then you could have more UC options. UC’s only take Junior level transfers so plan to stay at least 2 years at your CC. Also there is TAG (Transfer Guarantee admission) for UCM/UCR/UCSC//UCD/UCI and UCSB (some majors excluded for UCI and UCSB). If you take the required TAG courses and maintain a specific GPA, you are guaranteed admission. Unfortunately UCSD does not participate in TAG.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/index.html