I am a senior at a high school in California who is looking into my college options. I have a low cumulative 9-11 GPA (2.9) because I did not do well my freshman or sophomore years. While I do live in California, there is a problem with my UC GPA that I don’t really want to get into right now (here is a link to a post that I posted regarding that a few weeks ago if you care that much:http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1793429-college-choices-for-near-2-9-student-with-upward-trend.html) so I don’t have a good chance at any of the top UCs nor at top private colleges.
With that in mind, I have started looking into the community college option. I’m starting to believe that my local community college, Modesto Junior College, is my best option. My school and MJC offer a program that allows high school students to attend night courses either at our high school or at the actual college campus with the $46 per unit waived and only textbooks and student fees due.
I have decided to take advantage of that program. I’m taking intro to administration of justice and art appreciation this fall semester; I can take up to three but I chose to only take two because I didn’t want to over-do it.
I’ve added all this extra information because I’m simply trying to figure out what to do next and I do not have anybody in my life who has gone to either community or regular college. I am wanting to eventually transfer to a top college; either UC or private. The specific colleges that I have in mind are UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Tufts, Georgetown, Cornell, Columbia, and Stanford. I’d like to major in political science or international relations and go to law school after finishing my undergraduate degree
I am aware that these top colleges, especially the non-UCs (Stanford in particular), will be extremely difficult to get into. At the same time, I want to have something to dream about. So here is my question to you all:
Do you have any advice on my path from here on? What clubs/activities should I get involved with? What type of classes should I take (should I follow IGETC or go even further then those requirements)? Any advice that you may find useful, please share.
You will want to complete as many of the lower division courses for your major as you can before transfer. An example of Modesto Junior College to UCB and UCSD for the political science major:
http://web2.assist.org/web-assist/report.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=19&dir=1&sia=MODESTO&ria=UCB&ia=MODESTO&oia=UCB&aay=14-15&ay=15-16&dora=POL+SCI
http://web2.assist.org/web-assist/report.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=19&dir=1&sia=MODESTO&ria=UCSD&ia=MODESTO&oia=UCSD&aay=14-15&ay=15-16&dora=POLI+SCI-INTER+REL
You can use http://www.assist.org to look up listings for other UCs and CSUs and other majors.
Completion of IGETC before transfer (as certified by your CC) will be accepted for completion of general education requirements at most UCs and CSUs (note that UCSD has different residential colleges with different general education requirements; not all of them accept IGETC as fulfilling all such requirements). IGETC is not required for admission, but if you do not complete it before transfer, you will need to complete the campus’ general education requirements after transfer if you have any additional needed courses.
For the private schools, look up their lower division requirements for your major and their general education requirements to see what you can take at CCs that is likely to cover those requirements.
Along with the great information given above, I would like to share a few other things. (I apologize for the clutter of thoughts, it’s much easier if I could show you and tell you in person)
First of all, that’s good that you’re going to have a head start with those two classes. Don’t worry too much about what you did in highschool. I had 4.0+ GPAs for all my years, but had a major slump my sophomore year (2.8). Focus on what you’ll be doing at the community college now. The earlier you plan, the better. I started to plan my transfer path since my junior year of high school. That’s obviously WAY too early than necessary, but my main point is to simply plan ahead! Use assist.org to find what lower division requirements you need for the UC schools and check your private schools if they have articulation agreements with your junior college (it’ll tell you the lower division requirements and their GE reqs). It’s a little tedious for private schools when it comes to general ed, so be sure to plan out your courses carefully and see which GEs can go toward your IGETC AND a private school’s GE. What I did was I wrote down all the reqs I needed for each school and see which one overlap – go for for those first. Then, I just prioritized my top schools from there.
I’m not sure if you saw this already, but here’s the link to the IGETC course list for your college: mjc(.)edu/instruction/documents/catalog/gepatterns/igetc(.)pdf [remove the parenthesis]
What classes do you need to take? Take both your GE and lower division req, but be sure to prioritize the lower division reqs as those are the most important. It looks better when you have those completed the Fall you apply (plenty of students get rejected for missing pre reqs). You can make up the rest of your GEs the following Spring.
As for clubs and activities, join things that interest you and things that are related to the career path you want. 
A friend of mine is also Poli Sci and she is currently interning at an organization that brings political awareness to the community, an officer in the Roosevelt Institute club, and participating in a service-based club.
Lastly, definitely look into the Honors Program at your community college. They will definitely be the most helpful when it comes to transferring and is a big boost to your college app!
If you would like some more help or information, please do feel free to contact me! I help map things out for you and what not (which you can then confirm with an actual counselor). I’m a Sociology transfer student who will be attending USC and I plan to become a community college counselor in the future (that’s why I looooove working with people on transferring, haha). If you think you can handle the rest, then good luck to you and dreams can come true!
You’ve had great suggestions. My simplistic thoughts would be to keep your GPA as high as possible, join Phi Theta Kappa when you’re eligible, and stay plugged in closely with your CC advisors. Take advantage of any seminars that are held which talk about the path to 4-year university.
PS: Best of luck to you - you’ll do great!
Thank you for the advice and links, everybody! I have another question for you guys: Is it advisable to take more challenging courses than those required or just fulfilling the requirements okay?
In high school, you’re always advised to take more challenging courses than those that are required. Is it the same way in community college? For example, if I am only required to take Math 101 (intro college math), should I work myself up to Calculus (or whatever is higher than where I am at) or only take the one required math class?
@HeyItsNick It’s different because in HS, you’re doing it to generally look competitive. In CC, just do what is required. For certain majors, there will be “recommended” courses (usually higher level [subject here]) and those you should definitely take. Other than that, you will only need to take what is required. They will look at your grades in those “required” courses (I’m referring to your pre reqs to your major) to see how competitive you are.
@mochibbycake Thank you for explaining this to me; I know they must sound like stupid questions but I’m just new to all of this! 
@grgscrjr Thank you for that link! I did not know that they had a transfer center!
@HeyItsNick It’s no problem! They’re not stupid. It took a lot of researching and asking questions before I fully understood the whole transfer process.