Community College

The California Community College system is made up of over 100 colleges throughout the state. Each college offers diverse educational programs with specializations that reflect the local region. Education at a CA community college is affordable. Students attend community college for various goals, including earning an associate degree, receiving professional training, and transferring to a 4-year college.

Programs include:

Associate degree programs in arts and sciences
Certificate programs in arts, sciences, technical, and occupational fields
Credit and non-credit classes
English training
Citizenship classes
Remedial or “catch-up” classes
Community education classes

Local Community Colleges:

How to Apply Steps & Links

Transferring to a 4-year College/University

It is extremely important for students who are considering transferring to work closely with their community college counselors at the time of admission to discuss this goal. If you know the specific campus or major you want to target, you will be more successful in transferring courses. Students should balance their course load by taking both general education courses and lower division courses in their proposed major. In addition, many community colleges offer transfer guarantee programs for specific universities.

Refer to the college catalog of the institution you wish to transfer to and check transfer requirements. Visit the web-based ASSIST student transfer information system for more information about the transfer process.

Admissions officers look at several factors, including:

Completed transferable coursework.

A college GPA of 2.o (for CSU) or 2.4 (for UC). Some impacted majors and campuses may require a higher GPA.

Whether or not you are in “good standing” at your last college.

Some campuses also require you to complete certain English and math courses with a grade of ”C”or higher.

Resources
A Degree With a Guarantee – Associate Degree for Transfer

If you plan to attend community college after high school please follow these 5 steps

Community College FAQs

What GE Route should I take? There is a GE Route 2 meant for CSU and a GE Route 3 also known as IGETC (UC). I plan to apply for both UC and CSU. What should I do?

This will be an important conversation to have with the SEP counselor. You can apply to both CSUs and UCs - but you need to keep track on what classes count for which schools. This website is a helpful tool to help you track courses that are transferable as you select classes. https://www.assist.org/

Is it possible to transfer after 1 year?

It's dependent on the number of credits you have. You need 60 to be transferable (https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/transfer/minimum-requirements/); however, the transfer application process is during the fall the year before you enroll (just like when you applied during your senior year).

What's TAG?

TAG stands for Transfer Admission Guarantee. When you attend community college you can "TAG" to one of the 6 participating UC's. Here's a PDF to learn more about it https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/tag-matrix.pdf - If you complete the courses required and maintain the GPA that they list for that UC you are guaranteed a spot; however you can only pick one for that guarantee.

Do you know anything about OCC Honors Program? Does it improve my chance to get into UCLA?

There's a program called TAP - Transfer Alliance Program, which will give you a higher chance to be accepted to UCLA. At OCC in particular about 80% of students who participated in OCC's honors program were admitted to UCLA through TAP. Talk to your SEP counselor at the community college to learn more or read about it here http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_tr/ADM_CCO/tap.htm.