Steps for Transfer & FAQs
Steps to a Successful Transfer
STEP 1: Meet with a counselor
Your first step is to develop your educational plan and career goals that will put you on the path to transfer.
Remember, four-year colleges and universities will expect you to commit to a specific major when you apply for admission, so you should begin thinking of your major in case you need to fulfill major specific requirements when you apply to transfer.
When you make an appointment to meet with a counselor, please think of the following questions to address in your appointment:
- Transferring with a degree? Explore the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT)
- Have you selected a transfer college? CSU, UC, private, out-of-state
- What major do you intend to pursue at the four-year college?
To explore career goals, connect with the Career Center for career guidance and assessment resources.
Tip: Continue working with your counselor on a regular basis to ensure you are meeting the transfer and degree requirements (at least once per semester).
STEP 2: Connect with the Transfer Center
The Transfer Center can help guide you to explore and gather information on potential colleges and universities through transfer fairs, campus visits, meeting with university representatives, transfer workshops and many online resources.
STEP 3: Transfer Application Season
You will begin the application process a year prior to your intended transfer term. For example, if you plan to begin at the university in the fall semester, you will need to apply the prior fall semester. It’s important to be informed of the application deadlines, particularly when applying to selective programs and institutions.
Contact the Transfer Center for application deadlines, transfer application workshops, and transfer application review appointments.
STEP 4: Fulfill your graduation requirements & complete the transfer process.
- Meet with a counselor for a graduation check to confirm all coursework for Chaffey College graduation.
- The semester you intend to graduate (prior to the degree/certificate application deadline) apply for graduation and your degree/certificate (if applicable).
- Complete the transfer application update for the CSU’s and UC’s. Typically happens in the month of January.
- Create and check your university portals for any important deadlines or documents needed to transfer (e.g. official transcripts).
- Send your admission deposit by the required deadline to reserve your place at your transfer university.
- Send a final, official transcript (after your final Chaffey grades are posted) to the university you selected.
Click Steps for Transfer to download the PDF version.
Chaffey College Transfer Center FAQs
Generally “transfer” is movement between any two educational institutions. Here, however, the term is specifically used to describe advancement from a community college to a university. Transfer means that you begin your bachelor’s degree at a community college and complete it at a university.
Lower division courses are offered for freshman and sophomore level credit. All courses offered at a community college are lower division courses. Upper division courses are offered for junior and senior level credit, and are more specific to your major. These courses are not offered at community colleges.
California has two public university systems. The California State University (CSU) has a more practical, career-oriented approach to education in contrast to the more theoretical research based approach at the UC. Both systems offer advanced degree opportunities (i.e. Master’s, Doctoral). The cost to attend a CSU is significantly lower than a UC.
Ideally, you should complete the general education requirements and major preparation courses. It is imperative that you meet with a Counselor to create an Educational Plan to ensure you are on the pathway to completion.
- What courses do I need to meet minimum admission requirements? Minimum university course requirements vary by university system and/or institution.
For CSU: Completion of 30 units of general education courses with a grade of C or better
(60 transferable semester units in total - including the “Golden Four), which on the CSU-GE pattern is one course from each
of the following areas completed with a C or better:
- Area A1 (Oral Communication)
- Area A2 (Written Communication)
- Area A3 (Critical Thinking)
- Area B4 (Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning)
For UC: Completion of the following course pattern requirements, earning a grade of C or
better in each course:
- Two transferable college courses (3 semester or 4-5 quarter units each)
in English composition
- One transferable college course (3 semester or 4-5 quarter units) in
mathematical concepts and quantitative reasoning;
- Four transferable college courses (3 semester or 4-5 quarter units each)
chosen from at least two of the following subject areas:
- the arts and humanities
- the social and behavioral sciences
- the physical and biological sciences
For Private/Out-of-State: Course requirements will vary by campus.
To transfer to a UC or CSU with junior level status, you must complete 60 transferable semester units prior to transferring from Chaffey College. Generally, units must be completed an entire term prior to transferring. For private, out of state universities/colleges, you can transfer with as few as 12-30 units.
Specific regulations vary from college to college. However, the California State University and the University of California allow a maximum of 70 transferable semester units towards the degree. Units above the maximum will be given subject credit. However, all transferable courses are calculated into the transferable GPA for admission. Different limits may apply if you have already attended a “four-year” institution. You should meet with a counselor for more detail.
The 70-unit limit applies only to the number of units that will be counted toward graduation and does not apply to courses. The university will grant subject credit for course content needed to satisfy requirements for general education or major preparation, even if they do not count the units for all of your courses toward graduation.
The GPA necessary for admission can vary from year to year and depends on the campus, the major, and the applicant pool. The minimum GPA for admission eligibility to CSU is 2.0 (2.4 for California non-residents) in all transferable college units attempted. To be eligible for admission to a UC the minimum GPA is 2.4 (2.8 for nonresidents) in transferable courses.
However, obtaining the minimum GPA does not necessarily mean that you will be able to transfer into the major and/or campus of your choice. Several campuses are considered impacted, meaning the student application pool far exceeds the number of admission slots available. Therefore, the impacted universities/majors will accept only highly qualified students into their campus and major. In these instances, students who only meet the minimum GPA may not be selected for admission. The higher the GPA the more competitive you will be when considering transfer institutions.
Impacted or selective majors are those for which the university receives more applications for admission than the campus can accommodate. Impacted is also an official designation by the CSU system that allows the department that offers an impacted major to require a higher GPA or specific major preparation. Selective is a term used by the UC to describe majors for which the same conditions exist and for which the university imposes the same kind of selection criteria (GPA and major preparation) to screen for the most qualified applicants.
UC TAP is an online tool to help prospective UC transfer students track and plan their
coursework. Any student interested in the UC campuses should create a TAP account
and begin tracking their progress towards their UC transfer goals. The TAP account
can be created once you begin at Chaffey College. Use the link here to create an account
and track your progress.
UC Transfer Admissions Planner
The Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) is offered by six of the UC campuses (Davis,
Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz). Each participating campus
develops eligibility criteria and requirements. It is very important for each student
to meet with a counselor in order to determine TAG eligibility. The Transfer Center
offers TAG Workshops prior to application filing periods. The filing period for TAG
is September 1-30 for fall admission and May 1-31 for winter/spring admission. For
more information, please visit the Transfer Center.
Transfer Agreement Program
Students are required to complete a University application in addition to the TAG application.
General Education courses are usually introductory in nature and provide you with fundamental knowledge in English, mathematics, the arts and humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences. You will complete the majority of GE coursework needed to receive a bachelor’s degree while you are a student at a community college. After you transfer to a university, you may be required to take a few GE courses. The GE unit requirements of independent and out-of-state institutions vary, but the ration of lower division to upper division is similar. GE courses are divided into subject areas and GE patterns describe the number of courses that you must take in each subject area to meet total GE requirements. Each institution has its own GE (sometimes called breadth or core) pattern. There are also GE patterns that are accepted by the entire CSU and/or UC systems for transfer to any campus in that system.
The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is a general education program that California Community College transfer students can use to fulfill lower-division general education requirements at a California State University, University of California, and some California private universities, and out-of-state universities.
CSU GE Breadth is a general education pattern and is appropriate for students who intend to apply and transfer only to a California State University (CSU).
Visit the Chaffey Counseling webpage under General Education Patterns.
GE Certification is verification that you have completed lower division general education requirements (CSU GE or IGETC). The certification is sent to the university to which you have been accepted and where you plan to enroll. The university will not hold you to any additional GE requirements with full certification. You will need to apply for your certification during the semester you intend to graduate (prior to the degree and certificate application deadline)
To find out which courses are transferable visit ASSIST, check in the Chaffey catalog, meet with a counselor or university representative.
Articulation System Stimulating Inter institutional Transfer (ASSIST) is an online student-transfer information system that shows how course credits earned at one California college or university can be applied when transferred to another. ASSIST is the official repository of articulation for California’s public colleges and universities and provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available about student transfer in California. Web address: www.assist.org
Articulation is the process of developing a formal, written agreement that identifies a course or a group of courses offered on a “sending” campus that are comparable to, or acceptable in lieu of, specific course requirements at a “receiving” campus.
The UC and CSU system do not require high school grades and test scores when a student transfers as a junior with a minimum of 60 transferable units. For private schools it will vary from campus to campus.
In general, no.
It depends on the courses taken. A student who has attended another college/university prior to their start at Chaffey College is recommended you send your official transcripts from the other institution to Chaffey and have them evaluated. Make counseling appointment to have coursework from other colleges reviewed and given an educational plan based on the student’s goal.
Yes, you must report all colleges/universities attended on your admission application, including coursework completed from outside of U.S.
You must contact each campus to determine their policy on admitting students for a second Bachelor’s degree.
