<p>The specific language that you community college uses to teach its CS classes won’t have any effect on your chances of getting accepted. Just try to do well and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>While it’s not required to complete IGETC before transferring, I definitely recommend it, and here’s why. Every UC has very different graduation requirements. At UCSD, it’s even more complicated because the undergraduate school is split up into six different “residential colleges”, each with their own set of graduation requirements. So if you don’t complete IGETC, you may end up having to take a ton of general education courses in order to meet your specific school’s requirements, even if you’ve already taken a bunch of general ed courses at your community college. Completing IGETC prior to transferring means that you’ve completed some agreed-upon transfer curriculum, so most of those general ed requirements will be waived.</p>
<p>You’re right that it may take longer than 2 years to complete IGETC. But if you don’t complete it, it will take you longer to graduate once you transfer to a UC. So the question is whether you want to spend more years at the UC or at your community college. I don’t necessarily think it’s bad to spend more years at the UC, btw. The quality of the general ed courses you’d take there are likely much better than the general ed courses you’d take at a community college. On the other hand, UC tuition is higher…</p>