Does anyone have experience transferring from one college to another?

I work as an advisor at a big research university, and though I don't deal with many 4-year-to-4-year transfers, I see some. My take on it, FWIW: xyzzy is right, stick with the most generic courses during your first year. (Courses typically transfer if there's an equivalent course at your new school, and stuff like General Psych is pretty much the same everywhere.) And everyone is right about racking up the best possible GPA. But also: a) See if you can meet with and establish a good rapport with an advisor at USC, preferably one in your proposed college/major. You want someone who can help you figure out which courses are likeliest to transfer and meet requirements, and what that major is looking for in its applicants. b) Get to know your profs at UCSB--go to office hours, ask intelligent questions, etc. You want people who can write letters of recommendation if needed. c) Take some time to articulate a good statement of "Why USC?" which ideally should not just be "I wanna be a Trojan" but also identifies academic programs or opportunities available to you there and not at UCSB. Admissions people look for that as well as for GPA. Good luck!

Good lord, is it really that difficult in California? I've transferred all over the country with no issues whatsoever. I applied, I turned in my transcripts, I got accepted, I would argue with academic advisors about what classes at University A constituted classes at University B, and off I'd go. I never had any hassles, and two of my "ooooh, this looks cool...jayzuz, what is that white stuff falling from the sky? I gotta go south!" schools were Ivy League. That said, if you *know* what school and program you want, and it's a university that didn't accept you out of HS, then trust me when I tell you to go to the CC that feeds that university. You will thank all of us that recommend it. You can almost guarantee admittance assuming good grades/scores if you're coming from the CC. From the other university, you're competing with all the other kids from all the other universities...and the next batch of freshman. Go with the program that feeds the school you want.

Second justgary's sentiments. YMMV, but I don't know that I would characterize annoying paperwork and some lost credits from freshman year as "extremely difficult." I mean, you're not trying to get a visa from Syria, here. (My snarky snap judgement was "they don't want you to move to LA." Unfair snark fully acknowledged -- I'm not saying that this is a fair assumption. )

I'm at USC now, and I had to hop a few hurdles trying to transfer from my overseas community college (basically running to each department and showing the heads my syllabi, etc). I think it's easier to transfer within the california schools. Depending on which school within USC you are transferring to, the transfer credit process may be different. According to here: http://www.usc.edu/dept/ARR/articulation/, there's no articulation history with UCSB, but there is for UCLA and UCR. It's a good idea to contact this department for guidance regarding your school. Here's the http://www.usc.edu/dept/admissions/undergrad/transfer/index.html. USC has a general education requirement that's quite expansive, so watch out (or be very happy depending on how you feel about this)! There's 6 categories to complete and you should try to choose classes that are transferrable as GE's if you don't want to take them at USC. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me (it's in my profile).

I'd be careful about it. My roommate freshman year was a music major who started out with a scholarship at a private, religious college. She got thoroughly sick of it and transferred to a nearby public university. The university did all sorts of weird things (which may have just been screw-ups, but trying to call a university on a screw-up can be pretty impossible) like because she'd transferred, they didn't acknowledge her credits from AP tests.

My husband transferred after one year from Brigham Young to the University of Chicago, and then from there to Stanford, where he stayed for the last two years of his undergraduate degree. Transferring didn't seem to be a problem for him, and those are all 4-year schools. You might also check out http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/18778- Puffin didn't seem to have a problem transferring.

The reason I ask is because I plan on transferring from UCSB to USC after one year, but everyone I've talked to says that it's extremely difficult. You might want to take a long, hard look at "everyone" you're getting advice from. I've been transferred to six different schools. Never been a problem, and until this thread, I've never heard anyone who thought it was a problem.

UCSB is a good school, and the campus is right on the water -- it's one of the most beautiful locations I've seen, and Santa Barbara is a great town. USC is of course also a good school, but me, I wouldn't want to be spending that much time in downtown LA. YMMV, but don't write UCSB off in advance; I'm betting you'll find yourself not wanting to leave.

I'm surprised by all the advice that this is hard - I never transferred, but I considered it a couple times, and knew plenty of people who did. I went to a small, "alternative" four year that doesn't have as much status as other schools. A lot of people who went there ended up there sort of by accident, had certainly not planned to go there all their life or anything - we were mostly pretty smart kids who had not taken things seriously enough in high school or had family problems or whatever. I knew a fair amount of people who transferred, as we used to joke that the school would no longer exist in another 20 years (it's actually getting bigger & more mainstream, but also probably more generic). My roommate switched to sarah lawrence, and then columbia, and another friend moved to yale. I initially intended to apply for transfer, but I met too many cool people & got involved in too many cool projects, so it never happened. But I never got the impression it was particularly difficult. You just have to apply to another school, the same way you had to apply the first time around. It's often a little easier to get in under a transfer application - the roommate who ended up at columbia had been rejected from that school the first time around, but really wanted to go there, so kept applying until they gave him a spot. After you get in, you have to transfer credits; if you go to traditional schools, I understand this is simple, but if you go to alternative schools, you might have to supply syllabi to make the case that your class covered material equivalent to something taught at the new place.