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CHERRYPICKER

Guide

UC and CSU transfer planning guide

The layers of a California community college transfer plan, what UC and the community colleges publish about each, and where an admission guarantee does and does not exist.

Last reviewed: (October 19, 2026)

The short version

Three things to plan, and none of them is a promise

A transfer plan has a unit-and-GPA floor, a general education pattern, and preparation for your major. The major preparation is where plans usually go wrong, because it differs by university and by major. Meeting every published minimum does not guarantee admission: UC says some campuses and majors may require a higher GPA for admission selection.

What UC publishes as its basic requirements

  • At least 60 semester (90 quarter) units of UC-transferable credit. De Anza and Foothill both count in quarter units, so 90 is your number.
  • A 7-course pattern completed by the end of the spring term before the fall you enroll at UC. UC notes that completing IGETC, Cal-GETC or a campus-specific general education pattern may already satisfy it.
  • At least a 2.4 GPA in UC-transferable courses (2.8 for nonresidents).
  • The required or recommended courses for your intended major, with the minimum grades.
  • A grade of C or better (or a Pass equal to a C) in each course, and good academic standing at the last college you attended.

Source: UC Admissions, basic transfer requirements. Every course must also be UC-transferable, which ASSIST shows.

General education: Cal-GETC and IGETC

UC’s Cal-GETC page says that if you enrolled at a California community college in fall 2025 or later, Cal-GETC is the pattern available to you. It also says Cal-GETC is not a UC admission requirement, although some campuses may prefer that you finish it before transferring when they select students. Students who started earlier should ask a counselor which pattern, Cal-GETC or IGETC, applies to them.

General education is separate from major preparation. Finishing it does not mean your major courses are done. For CSU general education rules, use the CSU’s transfer pages and your counselor; this guide does not restate them.

Major preparation

UC points students to ASSIST to see the major preparation each campus expects, and also offers UC Transfer Pathways, a single set of courses meant to prepare you for a major on any of the nine undergraduate campuses. If you are aiming at more than one university, check both: a shared set of courses is the safest place to start, and each campus’s own agreement tells you what is different.

Cherrypicker lays out the ASSIST agreement for your college, university and major on a pathway page, with a link to the official agreement. Start from De Anza or Foothill, and read how to read an agreement before relying on one.

CSU and the Associate Degree for Transfer

The California Community Colleges describe the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) as a degree that guarantees admission to the CSU system, but not to a particular campus or major: a student is guaranteed a place in a similar major somewhere in the CSU. If you are set on one campus or one major, the ADT does not promise it. Which ADTs your college offers, and whether one fits your target campus, is a question for your counselor and the community colleges’ ADT page.

The UC Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG)

TAG is offered at six UC campuses: Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. Berkeley, UCLA and San Diego are not on UC’s TAG list, so there is no TAG route to those three. To use it you submit a TAG application in the filing window, finish the coursework and meet the GPA in your TAG agreement, and then submit the regular UC application. Requirements differ by campus; UC publishes a TAG matrix with them.

A timeline you can check

Only dates UC itself publishes. Confirm them for your admit year before relying on them.

  1. Early: UC campuses recommend finishing math and English early, and some strongly recommend doing so by the end of the fall term a year before you enroll.
  2. September 1–30: TAG filing window for fall admission (May 1–31 for winter or spring admission).
  3. October 1–November 30: the UC application window for fall admission.
  4. End of the spring term before you enroll: the 7-course pattern is due.

Where Cherrypicker fits

Cherrypicker does the part that is tedious by hand: it reads the agreement for your college and target, lists the courses that count, and shows which are being offered this quarter. It does not know your transcript beyond what you enter, and it cannot tell you whether you will be admitted. Take the result to a counselor at the De Anza or Foothill Transfer Center. New here? Read what Cherrypicker is, or go to the home page.

Sources

Facts about transfer rules above come from these official pages, read on the review date. Rules change; the linked page always wins over this one.

Cherrypicker is an independent student project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to De Anza College, Foothill College, the Foothill–De Anza District, ASSIST, the University of California or the CSU. Meeting a requirement does not guarantee admission. ASSIST and a counselor are the authorities on what applies to you.