Transferring from a California Community College
The UCLA Arts Office of Enrollment Management understands the unique challenges of transferring from community college into arts majors. California Community College (CCC) students often encounter a counseling and information gap. Transfer counselors frequently do not know how to support students through a supplemental portfolio or audition process, and CCC arts instructors sometimes do not know transfer protocols.
To be clear, we’re not saying that transfer counselors and/or arts instructors aren’t doing their job, we are acknowledging an information gap that exists even when people are doing their jobs! Transferring from a CCC into the arts requires highly specialized knowledge for a minority population, and we’re here to bridge that gap and help everyone involved to the best of our ability. Students, transfer counselors, and arts instructors alike: please feel free to reach out to us!
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Transferring to UCLA in the arts majors is very different from applying to most majors in the college. Most majors will have clearly listed coursework that will count towards major preparation. For example, if you are attending Santa Monica College (SMC) and are applying to UCLA for Political Science, you will find coursework listed on ASSIST.ORG that shows the classes at SMC that will articulate to UCLA for Political Science.
For arts majors, not so much. The reason for this is because not all CA Community Colleges have a range of arts coursework, and if you do not have access to arts coursework then we still want you to be able to apply. Particularly in economic recessions, we have noticed that CCCs tend to cut arts classes, but if you are creating work outside of the classroom, that work is absolutely valid for our supplemental review. So, if you work towards IGETC (assuming those classes don’t get canceled) and apply to us with the work you have, we can consider you for admission.
If you do have access to arts coursework, then each major is going to be a little different in how we look at coursework that can potentially count towards your degree at UCLA. For Architectural Studies and World Arts and Cultures, they do not have any recommendations for lower division major prep coursework, so most, if not all, coursework is taken at UCLA. For Art, Dance, and Design|Media Arts, there is generalized information on how to choose best match coursework for major prep on ASSIST.
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No, we do not. Completing IGETC or an associates degree does not affect your academic eligibility, nor your competitiveness in our admission evaluation.
The benefit of working towards IGETC is for your own degree progress: the more IGETC classes you take, creates more room and time for studio coursework in your major when you get to UCLA.
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The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture does not participate in transfer agreements (TAP or TAG) since we are a professional school. TAP/TAG applies to majors that have clear major prep coursework, and all of our majors are research-based/interdisciplinary: there isn't an equivalent collection of courses at any community college because all of our students come to us from different backgrounds and interest points.
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While you can always reach out to our office for information about the supplemental application process specific to your major, we also recommend connecting to one of our outreach initiatives so you can have more contact with a knowledgeable person and better support.
If you are already working with someone in the offices below, feel free to include them in your email to our office so everyone is connected and aware of your questions.
Undergraduate Admission - each California Community College is assigned an admission representative from our office. You can look up your CCC rep at this link, or your transfer center should know.