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For a lot of students at community college, their goal is to graduate, obtain an AA or move on to a four year university. They spend their entire time gaining enough credits, maintaining a high GPA, and trying to do it all as soon as possible.

For Annalise Verdugo, the transfer process took her three years. She spent a total of six semesters studying at PCC as a psychology major. After finishing up all her requirements to graduate, she applied to four different universities: Cal State LA, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach, and Cal State Northridge. Verdugo’s first option was Cal State Long Beach but she chose Cal State LA since it is close to home and she will not be dorming.

The transfer process for Verdugo had hurdles in it. As of right now, she is currently taking statistics and Psychology 5 at the same time. She had to petition to do because statistics is a prerequisite for Psychology 5. Besides that, the process was not bad for Verdugo, it only involved meeting with a counselor every so often to make sure everything was going according to plan.

“I feel like my transfer process was a little more complicated than it should have been, only because I put off my stats class until the last semester not knowing that I needed it as a prerequisite for Psychology 5,” Verdugo said.

Verdugo considers herself lucky to have Eros Rice, a counselor at PCC, who helped her throughout the entire transfer process. She sat down with Rice numerous times while he helped her complete all the forms that ensured she would be able to graduate and transfer. Ironically, Verdugo never stepped foot in the Transfer Center.

Graduation is imminent and to prepare, Verdugo kept up with her school work for this semester, purchasing everything necessary for June 16th, including her cap and gown.

“I’m so excited. It is really going to feel great to see all of my hard work pay off and be the first one in my family to receive a college degree,” Verdugo said.

Another student excited to graduate and transfer this semester is Raul Ruiz Jr., who has been at PCC for four years. He started the summer of 2013 and was undecided on his major for two years. After taking the class administration of justice, he decided to major in criminal justice during his third year.

Alongside Verdugo, Ruiz will be transferring to Cal State LA. This was his first option out of all the universities he had in mind. He also applied to Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton. Ruiz chose Cal State LA because he is living at home and commuting to school. He felt CSULA would be easier to commute to and traffic wouldn’t be much of a hassle since he lives in the area already.

“The transfer process was very similar to high school, I had to pass all the necessary classes I needed for my major and GE’s. After so much grinding and getting satisfactory grades and GPA, I then applied to the universities I wanted to attend and played the waiting game. I checked my email constantly to see if there were any updates,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz technically graduated already as he received his Administration of Justice Transfer Degree (AS-T) through the mail already. He is currently still enrolled this spring semester because the counselors told him that if he took one more class he could get another associate’s degree. He thought “why not” and that the more associate’s degrees could be beneficial. As of right now, Ruiz is waiting to transfer to CSULA in the fall after this semester ends.

Two counselors were very helpful to Ruiz while in the process of transferring. They gave Ruiz vital information and explained all the requirements he had to meet to get his associate’s degree and transfer. Like Verdugo, not once did Ruiz use the Transfer Center.

Although neither students used the Transfer Center as an aid in their process of switching schools, the center can be a helpful and convenient for students as it is right on campus located in L-110. The center offers advisement on how to get to a CSU, UC, out-of-state or independent four year university.

At the Transfer Center, there are computers available to use for filling out college applications, aids to help you fill out your financial aid application, transfer advisors available to answer any questions you may have about the transfer process as well as university representatives from different Cal States and UCs to speak to and answer specific questions about their university.

Trisha Vasquez
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