Pierce College is number one in transfers to public universities in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).
Admissions are decreasing at universities and there is more competition than ever before. Therefore it’s important for students to plan ahead and start organizing their schedule so they can have the classes and units they need to transfer.
“High school students are coming here (Pierce) with the goal of transferring because the UC’s have reduced the number of freshman they’re admitting which increases the transfer population,” said Sunday Salter, director of transfers at Pierce.
Pierce College led the district in transfers with 4,805 students, according to the California Community Chancellor’s Office (CCCO).
There are three public higher education systems in California, the California State University (CSU), the University of California (UC) and the California Community College (CCC) system.
Pierce has a transfer center in the Student Services Building which can help students in their struggle to gain acceptance to a four year institution.
“See a counselor right away, understand from the beginning that every course you take will impact the access to the school of your choice,” said Joseph Roberson a counselor at Pierce.
Adrian Sondhi, 22, a representative from Cal State University Northridge (CSUN), was recently at a transfer workshop at Pierce to recruit students during an outreach and recruitment program.
“What you need is 60 transferable units, you need English, critical thinking, and math,” said Sondhi. “You also need at least a 2.0 grade point average.”
In 2010, Pierce College transferred 880 students to a public universities, according to the (CCCO).
“Most business students transfer to CSUN,” said David Braun, department chair of business administration. “Their business school has a good reputation, a lot of major companies recruit from their graduates.”
There were 121 disciplines that transferred from Pierce from 2005 to 2009, according to www.cpec.ca.gov.
“Pierce is number four in the state in transfers to private universities,” said Salter. “Most go to the University of Southern California.”
The transfer records are unavailable for private universities. The California Postsecondary Education Commission report lost its funding for data collection recently, according to Salter.
“There is no systematic method to collect data for transfer students to private and out of state universities,” said Salter.
The fall schedule for Pierce application workshops are listed on the Pierce college website,http://www.piercecollege.edu/, click on transfer center, then click on calendar of events.
“Relax, breath, and enjoy the process,” said Roberson.