Useful Links for California Community College Students Transferring to UC Schools

Terminology used in this site:
CCC: California Community College.
University: 4 Year schools with Bachelor degree.
*** tap on the bold text for direct link to the websites***

Transfer Related：

1. UC APP：The UC Application Web page is where you apply to all the UC Campuses and pay the application fees. The application period for Fall entrance is 8/1–11/30 every year.
2. Assist.org：One of the most important sites where you can search for the required courses articulated from your CCC to the Universities
3. UC TAP：The website to apply for UC Tag. UC TAP also shares data with the UC Application site such. You can take advantage of this site and update the information early on during your community college career so that when you apply for transfer, you already have all the information ready in your account. Mind that the UC Tag deadline is 9/30 for Fall applications.
4. Common Application：The Application site to most other in-state private schools and out of state schools. Schools such as USC, LMU uses this site for you to apply for transfer. Two important things to keep in mind are: (1) The deadlines for each school are different; the most common ones are 1/31, 2/15, 3/15. Make sure to keep track of your schedules.
5. University’s Admission Site & Department Website：The information on each university’s admission site is more valuable than you think. From transfer programs to campus tours you can take, there is a lot to learn from their sites. Make sure to look at their sites before applying because you might miss out on important information and opportunities.
   Also, make sure to look at each department’s site if you’ve decided to apply to a specific major, check out the faculties and their researches. Usually, there might be a thing or two to take from visiting the department site. If not, look at the “degree requirement” page; most schools have information like this regarding graduation requirements.
6. Application Portals：After you submitted your Application to the UCs on 11/30, you will receive emails to create an account for each school you apply to. UC schools generally don’t notify your acceptance via email but update in the portal, so it is handy to save these sites in your tabs.
   Portal Links:
   UC Berkeley、UCLA、UCSD、UC Davis、UC Irvine、UC Santa Barbara、UC Santa Cruz、UC Riverside、UC Mer…nah no one applies there.

Useful Information：

1. UC Transfer Data：One of the most useful sites of all, this site provide data including transfer acceptance rate, accepted GPA range, and yield rates from the previous years. There are also data from each CCC. One thing to keep in mind when viewing the GPA data is that this site does not provide the student’s profile, so there is no way of knowing if the students finished all prerequisite or not. Also, be careful when using the lowest GPA data because there is always outlier such as non-traditional students with exceptional experience but lower GPA.
   *UCLA also provides similar data from their official site click here.
2. CA College Transfer： Every year they update their “Admission Notification Dates” timeline in their blog posts. It is one of the most useful links for me during my most anxious times before the offers came out. From March thru late April, the first thing I do every day is to check every single admission portal for the results. This site helps you to keep track of the dates.
3. College Confidential UC Transfer：A somewhat outdated forum but extremely useful for CCC transfers!
   There will be discussion threads for each UC during the transfer season, people share their portfolio, and you can compare yourself to the other applicants. I have personally found this page very useful, and the information provided there generally matches my transfer experience.
4. Each Community College’s Transfer Resource Center： Extremely useful! Make sure to follow your CCC’s transfer resource center on their social media and keep in touch with your transfer counselors.

Other Resources：

1. C-ID.net：This site comes in handy if you’re looking for a specific class not provided at your local community college. California created this universal course ID code that is shared by all schools in the state, and all UC/CSU schools will abide by it for course articulation purposes. If you want to find a specific course not offered in your school or after you transfer, you have a problem with one particular unit that the school doesn’t grant you; this site can back you up.
2. Reddit/Quora： Forums that are less useful to CCC transfer students but still can be helpful in some ways. College Confidential UC Transfer would probably be the one to go to if you want to find discussions specifically for CCC students. Reddit’s Apply to College subreddit is mainly for high school seniors, but you can still find worthy discussions about schools there. Quora is exceptionally informative for finding out information about a specific program or school.
3. Niche：A ranking website that provides a variety of rankings related to students’ life, such as Best Dorms, Best Campus, Best College Food.
4. Transfer Acceptance Rates US Colleges：This is the rate of transfer students from the top 50 universities in the US. The site might come in handy if you’re applying to private schools or out-of-state schools. Note that the UC system schools have the highest transfer rates, the number of accepted students, and applicants among these top universities, so a general rule of thumb is to apply to schools accepting more than 500 transfers per year.
   (most UC schools receive around 20K transfer applicants and admit anywhere from 5K -11K students a year as of 2020, and the admit rates are from 23%-60%)

Application Essays

I am personally not a big fan of fancy college application essays. What college admission office is seeking for in a transfer student is different from what they search for in a high school senior.

Transfer students have more experience taking college-level coursework, so the level of maturity dealing with complex subjects and demonstrating your ability to thrive in upper-division major classes is what the universities are looking for. Don’t worry if you can’t think of a one of a kind unicorn essay; you can always express your creative side one way or the other. These are my take on the UC transfer essays, you might disagree with me, just make sure what you write is original, genuine, and stay true to yourself.

1. College Essay Guy：Some samples to the UC APP essays.
2. JHU Essays that worked：Also a site I used, full of fun essays if you lack inspirations.
3. Your college’s Transfer Resource Center & Writing Lab：Always seek help from your CCC. They’re experts at transferring. You can benefit a lot from these resources.
4. YouTube：Simply search for “xxx university essay,” you will find many tips and tricks.