I am currently studying in Illinois online to earn an Associate in Arts while in high school with the intention of transferring the degree to a school in the UC system, preferably Berkeley as a junior. I’ve been noticing that UC prefers California community college students, and I’ve realized I have 3 options.
continue studying online and earn my Associates. Then apply to transfer an associates.
transfer the credits I have already earned to an online California community college and pay online out-of-state tuition.
Drop out of my classes I’m already in, and wait until I finish HS graduation to apply as a freshman, losing all of my credits.
Will my Associate’s degree increase my chances of acceptance? Or will it not make a single difference?
Regarding entering as a frosh, frosh who earn college credit while in high school may transfer the credit to UCs, although subject credit for courses taken outside of California community colleges needs to be individually evaluated and may not be known beforehand. You may want to check Illinois public universities to see what their policies on college credit earned while in high school are.
If you do want to enter a UC as a transfer student, what matters is not the associates degree, but what course work you have completed in relation to the lower division prerequisites for your major and general education requirements.
Also note that there is no out-of-state financial aid at California public universities. Merit scholarships exist, but anything big tends to be rare and highly competitive.
Can you afford $60,000/year for the UC’s? As mentioned no need based aid for out of state students and merit aid maxes out at about $5000/year and is near impossible to get.
The financial part is no problem for me. The reason I’m enrolled at a community college is because I am from a small rural area and that is pretty much all that is available here.
Getting into Berkeley is very competitive for residents, let alone non-residents.
If you take OOS CC classes while in high school, to meet high school requirements, the UC’s may not take those units for college credit, but as high school credit. That’s what they do for a number of in-state California residents.
As a non resident, you have several problems:
<You are making plans without consulting the UC system.
<The UC’s don’t have articulation agreements with OOS CC’s. They don’t have to honor your transcript.
<There is a cap on non-residents. Your family has not paid California taxes. It is a public school that relies on state taxpayer dollars. State residents don’t like having their taxes used by non-residents.
<Be wary of taking online classes; they may not accept them from non-residents, for credit at the UC’s.
The acceptances go like this:
Freshman,
California Community College students,
UC to UC students,
Cal States,
California Privates, then,
OOS 4 year colleges
lastly OOS CC students.
Are you a dual-enrollment student? Many colleges will let you apply as a freshman as long as your community college credit was earned during high school.
If this isn’t true at Berkeley, choose another dream school. Generally speaking, dropping out of the most challenging coursework available will hurt your chances, not help them.
If you’re in high school, you’re dual enrolled and should apply as a freshman. Then they’ll evaluate the credits toward your degree and you’ll get advanced standing. It’s highly unlikely you will transfer all the credits but you’ll likely transfer many if you follow IGETC - for instance you must take a class in American history, either a second American history or an American government class, philosophy, etc. Look up IGETC.
You want to apply as a freshman with dual enrollment credit, because odds are much higher for admission from OOS.
However, why Berkeley? Why the ucs? Why pay private school level costs for a public university, no matter how good? Have you talked with your parents, do they have the money and are they willing to spend it rather than on a private university or UIUC? Run the NPC on all colleges you’re considering and show your parents the results.
^^Right. I read Aunt Bea’s post to mean, if the OP took say, Algebra II at the juco for college credit (there), UC would only count it as a high school class and not provide college transfer credit. But you are also correct in that not all DE courses will be transferable. (Of course, not all Califo JuCo courses are transferable, either!)
My fear is that if I don’t get into UC Berkeley or Stanford than somehow I will end up homeless or have a horrible future. That’s why I’m trying to force myself to get into an elite school because anything higher than a 30% acceptance rate would make me feel as if I didn’t do a good enough in high school. I guess it’s a self-confidence issue or something. I’m willing to spend the money and unnecessary time to have the opportunity to attend an elite.
I haven’t completely enrolled in the online community college classes, but most students in my area who are successful do that and then transfer to in-state colleges such as the University of Illinois. Problem is, I hate Illinois with a passion.
I’ve been considering University of San Francisco and then trying a more competitive school for graduate school. Is University of San Francisco a crummy school or is it decently selective?
Whether you are willing to spend the money doesn’t matter if you don’t actually have the money. How much can your parents afford?
Don’t say well I’ll borrow it. The freshman federal loan limit is $5,500. You parents would be on the hook for any additional money beyond that and your financial aid.
^^ That’s what I’m saying, I have believed this ever since I was a freshman. Literally I would have panic attacks for getting 89’s on tests, and would consider suicide if I ever would get a B+, which I did. I was distraught and thought I forever was going to live a depressing, horrible life because Stanford would rip my application in half for getting a B+ in Geometry. I need help.