Consider one of these five colleges if you’re a Californian looking to transfer from a two-year school to a four-year university.
Photo: Foothill.edu
If you’re considering attending a community college in hopes of ultimately graduating from a four-year university, it’s important to choose a school that’s known for helping its students successfully transfer. Check out these five California schools, all on CNN Money’s list of top community colleges in the U.S. because of their high transfer and graduation rates.
These community colleges will help you get on the path towards transferring to a respected four-year university.
1. Foothill College
Foothill College’s transfer center is dedicated to counseling students through the process of transferring to a four-year university. The college is particularly known for its UCLA Transfer Alliance Program, which gives select students priority consideration for transfer into University of California, Los Angeles, considered the second-best public university in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. With an impressive transfer rate of 70 to 98 percent, this program has proven to be a very successful way to gain admission into UCLA.
2. Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College produces the most transfer students of any two-year college in California; in 2010, they produced an impressive 1,053. Transfers usually go to either California State University (CSU) schools or University of California (UC) schools, some of which are very prestigious, like University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley.
3. Santa Barbara City College
Santa Barbara City College’s Transfer Academy program guarantees students the ability to efficiently transfer to a school in the UC or CSU system. About a third of these transfer students choose to stay in beautiful Santa Barbara to attend University of California, Santa Barbara, ranked the 11th-best public school in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
Photo: Extremetour.org
4. De Anza College
Ranked 10th on CNN Money’s list of community colleges with the best graduation and transfer rates, De Anza College produced the second-most transfer students of any two-year school in California in 2010. Students can transfer to CSU schools, UC schools or independent colleges with the help of De Anza’s transfer planning program and partnership program, which help students get into great universities like University of California, Berkeley.
5. Irvine Valley College
The transfer center at Irvine Valley College is uniquely dedicated to helping students transfer to schools outside of the UC and CSU systems (though it facilitates students wanting to transfer to these schools as well). The program works to funnel students into respected California universities like University of Southern California, Pepperdine University and Loyola Marymount University, and they assist students who want to attend out-of-state institutions such as Arizona State University and New York University. The center also holds special events like workshops and happy hours in order to spread information and awareness about transferring effectively.
Now that you know which community colleges to consider, you can get on the path towards transferring to a respected four-year university.