UC colleges crave transfers Workshop helps take the stress o obtaining

Jordan Utley-Thomson Roundup Reporter

Students attended a workshop offered by the Career and Transfer Center that explained the University of California’s Transfer Admission Guarantee on March 18.

Judy Lam, an intern with the Pierce College Counseling Center, offered a 30 minute presentation and spent another 30 minutes addressing questions that explained the intricacies of the TAG program, which is designed to ensure acceptance to a UC.

“The reason for the TAG program is because colleges really want transfer students, and this is the way to get them in,” Lam said. “For the most part, transfer students are people who haven’t been able to get in right away, and this is a second chance for them. Colleges don’t want to miss that.”

A student who fulfills the TAG requirements and maintains satisfactory conditions with the UC campus of their choice will be offered admission without exceptions.

“It takes off a lot of stress,” speech therapy major Jessica Larios said. “It’s something to stop thinking about and lets you focus on classes. You’re not stressed about transferring anymore.”

However, the TAG program is limited. GPA and course completion dates vary across each campus, some higher and earlier than others respectively. Certain campuses, such as University of California Berkeley and University of California Los Angeles have never been involved throughout the program’s history, and University of California San Diego will withdraw after the 2014-2015 TAG cycle.

“I don’t know if they’ll phase out TAG,” Lam said, dismissing the possibility of other campuses leaving the program. “UCSD decided to withdraw because they think they’re so impacted and they have so many applicants applying there.”

Additionally, the requirements for the TAG program have increased over the years for many campuses. For example, University of California Santa Barbara,

University of California Irvine and University of California Davis all previously had their TAG GPA set at 3.0. They have since raised the requirement to 3.2, although University of California, Santa Cruz remains to keep the original intact.

“If for Santa Cruz you get a 3.0 and your English and your math done – you’re in,” political science major Tomas Morales said. “That’s great. I never even knew that was possible. In high school, you never heard of that.”