[quote=CA renter]…It’s been a long time but, IIRC, we had similar requirements when I transferred from a CC to a CSU back in the day. I’ve reviewed the new requirements for the transfer students, and they don’t seem that arduous. Students just need to stay on top of things, and everything should turn out okay.[/quote]
Well, CAR, I agree that the CSU had transfer requirements from CC back in the day, but I had a lot of co-workers in the ’80’s and ’90’s who were taking night classes at City College after work (it was just a mile down the street from work). Most took 1-2 classes at a time year-round and got their Associate Degree in about five years. HOWEVER, the ones who chose to later transfer to SDSU were able to major in Paralegal Studies, Account Clerk and other occupational areas at CC and transfer their entire 60 semester credits from CC into SDSU. Not only did they earn an associate degree but they got credit for EVERYTHING they took in CC, as long as it was “academic,” (not PE activity class, music or dance, etc). I even had a couple of co-workers who never finished CC and were able to transfer just 24-54 semester units from CC into SDSU and continued on with their Bachelor degree work.
None of this is possible anymore.
Not only was SDSU much easier for a matriculating student to get into back then, it was much easier to be admitted, even undeclared … to later pigeonhole yourself into a degree program after completing more GEs there. This is not so anymore, due to impaction of all its degree programs.
The CSU is now very, very picky as to which GEs they will accept from CC, depending on major declared and also campus. Some campuses are pickier than others depending on what programs they offer and/or level of impaction in their degree programs.
As you will see from the website I furnished here, each campus has their own criteria for transfer into their own degree programs. Some campuses have the same CC classwork required for transfer into the same degree programs and some campuses with those same degree programs have slightly different criteria.
Ex: compare CSUN’s “Accountancy” program to most of the rest of the CSU campus’ “Bus Admin – Acct Option” programs.
Not only should today’s freshman applicant declare a major upon applying with CSU Mentor, they should declare a second choice major as well. It is very possible that if they are admitted to a campus for their second-choice major that after they matriculate and keep up their GPA, some other party-animal student who was accepted into their first-choice program will fail and/or be forced to withdraw from their degree program. The advising mechanisms are now in place at the CSU to catch these “borderline” students at the freshman/soph level, force them to remediate their GPA is only 1-2 semesters/quarters, and if unsuccessful, force them out of their degree programs and then eventually out of the university. This makes room for successful peer-students (of the same graduating year) to usurp these coveted slots by their junior year.
For instance, a prospective freshman applies to CSU Mentor declaring Bus Admin – Acct as their first choice major and Bus Admin – Finance as their second choice major. They are accepted to a CSU campus for Bus Admin – Finance and decide to take that slot. Since there are eight Bus Admin degree programs at the CSU, every CSU Bus Admin student is required to take the same GEs and (200-level) “core” classes. Our sample freshman is doing well in their GE’s for their Bus Admin – Finance Degree and meets with their advisor in the business dept early on as a freshman to waitlist themselves for a Bus Admin Acct slot to open up by the time they reach Junior status. They are informed before the holiday break their soph year that a Bus Admin – Acct slot is now open and given a few days to accept/reject.
This extra advising (requiring extra advisors in each dept strictly for processing borderline GPA students and those students placed on academic probation) is a major factor in impaction of many degree programs at the CSU. There is a bit more individual attention available to matriculating students now due to (heavily publicized) low graduation rates of entering freshman at most CSU campuses in recent years and also due to lack of staff at the 300-400 level classes in many programs, causing students to remain juniors and seniors for 3-5 years. Due to state budget cuts, the CSU couldn’t replace all of the (retiring) staff in the last 15 years so they just reduced the amount of slots available in each program in order to maintain (timely) graduation rates.
There are also more stopgaps at the CSU in place today to prevent continuing students from registering for classes for the next term, even if paid in full. Advisor holds are more common, and the student with a “hold” on their record reporting to an advisor must be able to demonstrate through their actions that they are currently in the process of remediating their GPA before the hold will be lifted. In other words, your student can’t fail or withdraw/fail from a required or core class and tell themselves that they’ll “worry about this later.” They must immediately sign up to repeat the class in the very next term.
After carefully reviewing all the registrar policies, I learned that the way the CSU operates has changed a lot in the last ten years and even more in the last 1-3 years. Given my lo-o-o-ng experience with other kid(s) previously in the “system,” I think these changes are for the better.
I also want to add that I think many San Diegan parents and their HS students (both on and off this board) are too “picky” as to location of their UC/CSU choice campus. Unless your student has a 4.0+ GPA and has successfully completed at least 5 AP classes in HS, they (and you) need to stay realistic and flexible as to location of campus which your student will accept an offer of admission. You may be pleasantly surprised at all the *new* amenities now offered to students on campuses located in CA’s “armpit.” And you’ll be happier to find that housing costs are very reasonable (compared to SD’s) around some of these UC/CSU campuses! Unless your student has the qualifications to be considered for admission into Cal or UCLA (the CA “flagships”), or, to a lesser extent, Cal Poly SLO, the difference in the “prestige factor” of a diploma from the remaining UC/CSU campuses is negligible, depending on major, imho.
Your student is going to graduate and likely leave the area of his/her campus for their first job, anyway. For these reasons, it doesn’t matter where they attend college as long as they get in. And once your student is accepted to one CSU campus, they should not attempt to transfer out to another CSU campus until they have completed the required units of GE’s because they will not be considered for admission. They may come home to SD during the holidays, summers, etc and “whine” to you how hot Fresno is but they need to commit to any CSU for two years. And of course, they should never withdraw unless they have already been admitted to another UC/CSU and have accepted that admission offer or they may find themselves out in the cold for at least one academic year, while they attempt to go through the whole application process again.
And no, my youngest is not attending a CSU in CA’s “armpit” but has several HS friends who are. They are attending their “second-choice campus” and will remain there for the duration.
