I am a high schooler taking Multivariable Calculus at West Valley College. I was wondering how exactly the credit transfers worked. I tried to research it but I got really confused.
My intended major is computer science, and I know that computer science, at least at Berkeley, requires both Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, both of which I’m trying to get done before I enter college (just so I don’t have to stare at an integral ever again .-. )
However, I was a bit confused on why multivariable calculus isn’t on there. How exactly do these transfers work? Also, does my GPA really matter here? I heard that the GPA from community college courses doesn’t transfer to the UC system. Furthermore, I get full course credit at community colleges right? It’s not like AP tests where I don’t get full credit when I transfer the scores to the UC’s.
There are two ways to study Computer Science (CS) at UC Berkeley:
Be admitted to the Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS) major in the College of Engineering (COE) as a freshman. Admission to the COE, however, is extremely competitive. This option leads to a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. This path is appropriate for people who want an engineering education.
Enter the College of Letters & Science (L&S) and, after successful completion of the courses required to declare with the minimum grade point average (GPA), petition to be admitted to the L&S Computer Science major. This path is appropriate for people who are interested in a broader education in the sciences and arts (such as double majoring in other L&S fields), and/or are not sure at the time of application that they can gain admission to EECS. This option leads to a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.
There is no difference in the CS course content between the BS and BA programs. The difference is in what else you take: mainly engineering, or mainly humanities and social sciences. In particular, an interest in hardware suggests the EECS route; an interest in double majoring (for example, in math or cognitive science) suggests the L&S route.
GPA matters at your community college if the course is UC transferable, it will be included in your HS GPA if you are dual enrolled so getting good grades in both classes can impact your chances. Your CC GPA will however not transfer. You will start fresh at UCB with a new GPA.
Do note that some upper level CS classes requires Multivariate Calculus. Namely CS 189 Machine Learning which is an extremely popular class. A few others as well.
So assuming you get into Berkeley and you enroll, once your CCC transcript gets sent to Berkeley they will soon afterwards begin evaluating your credits to see what will transfer over.
Also I wounldnt bother with Diff Equations and Linear Algebra too much. You will get the credit for Math 54 by completing both, but CS highly recommends that you take both EE16A and EE16B, which are the two applied Linear Algebra and circuits classes for all CS wannabes. You’ll probably get to replace EE16A with the Math 54, but you’ll have to catch up on your own with all the circuits knowledge that you would miss in EE16A.
@Gumbymom My question is not exactly on the topic, but sorta along the lines of HS credits transfer.
I hope current high schoolers may learn something from your potential answer. My question is about Out Of State credit transfers: credits earned at out of state CCs and Universities while still being HS student. I am trying to figure how to help my son, who is a UCB student, to accelerate the recognition of his credits from our (Virginia) local Community College (4 courses, 15 credits) and our local 4-year University (5 courses, most of which are upper division math, 14 credits). He got admitted for the fall 2018, College of Letters and Sciences. It took all the way till October 4th to get his AP course credits to be recognized, and the Berkeley websites seems to say that the recognition of other credits will be 4-5 weeks after. Well, we are sorta “4-5 weeks after” - and nothing yet. He already went to the counselor at L&S, and was told he was on track as far as recognition (that was on October 12th or sometime close). The counselor advised him to “push her gently if nothing happens for a month or so.” Well, she isn’t answering ‘the gentle push’ e-mail, and now the week of the finals is upon us… No time to get to the advisement office. What’s the best way to get all those 29 credit units to be officially recognized on his UCB record? The counselor did check (when he visited her office) that transcripts form both colleges did make it into his record (and I can add that this happened in June -July).
The best advice I can give any OOS applicant with college courses on their record is to keep the course syllabus so the UC or whichever school the student is trying to get course credit, will have that information to make the transcript review easier. I am sure that it takes time for each school to find out the course content of any OOS school and try to match it to the course content of their own courses.
I wish you best luck, especially when dealing with transferring external credits into COE. My D (EECS) didn’t have much luck. She gave up after a year trying to fight the battle.
Essentially UC Berkeley evaluated her work at Stanford EPGY as 27 units (evaluation forms signed by Math and by Physics Departments of the College of L&S), but CoE tried to find every excuse (sequentially, one at a time) not to grant her anything. Stanford University tried to help, but to no avail.
If he is an intended math major, he may want to ask the math department directly about math course equivalency, as described in some of the FAQs listed at https://math.berkeley.edu/programs/undergraduate/faqs (questions 1, 6, 7).
Thank you, @ucbalumnus . He is already at Berkeley, his first semester after HS. (You may remember answering my questions earlier.) He already took MATH H110 this semester, and the last low division course MATH 55. He is taking MATH 128A and MATH H113 in the Spring 2019. Prof. Gu signed off on the equivalency of some of his Community College and 4-year University courses to MATH 53 and 54. His “5” on AP Calc BC gave him MATH 1A and 1B. The problem is, he probably cannot even declare major without having the courses he came with getting officially through the Berkeley System! His MATH 53 and 54 is stuck in this process, with him basically rounding up upper division requirements… He will fill out the major declaration form as soon as he has Berkeley GPA to put in there. All he needs is the recognition of all these units as electives, since MATH department already recognized everything that needs to be recognized. (He also needs to get credit for “Reading and Composition” - but that should be easier once the general units are recognized, because the R&C course we are talking about is in the “automatic recognition list” on the website).
So. What should he do to get the registrar to just have a look at his transcripts?? Thank you.
@Pentaprism I am sorry that happened to your daughter… I hope for a different outcome for my son. First off, he is not dealing with COE, he is in L&S. Second, the courses were not during summer, he was attending them during regular school year. I know, a credit is a credit is a credit. Or it should be. But who knows what makes a difference here…
FWIW, my kid’s CCC credits came through sometime before Fall semester started (circa late July) and AP credits came through in late September/early October.
To the OP, you will get credits for all CCC classes that are transferable to UCs. For APs you should get credits for anything 3+. The AP credits do count towards graduation, but some/a lot of the credits tend to be pretty useless ie many do not fulfill a requirement and/or replace a class.
Hey, @ProfessorPlum168 ! I wouldn’t call <> The credits are also needed towards the 120 units of graduation requirements. These can be any units. Just general units! The “elective” units if you will. Not replacing any classes, not fulfilling any other requirements besides the units number itself. (That’s apparently the fate of the OOS students: it takes forever for their transcripts to be looked at?)