Planning to Transfer — IGETC

The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is a series of courses that California community college students may complete to satisfy the lower-division breadth/general education requirements at both the University of California and the California State University.

UC has developed an agreement with each California community college that specifies which of its courses may be applied to each category of IGETC.

If you choose to follow IGETC, you must complete it before you transfer to the University; otherwise you will be required to satisfy the specific lower-division general education requirements of your UC college or school.

All IGETC coursework does not have to be completed at the same college. Courses taken at more than one California community college may be used to fulfill IGETC. Coursework may only be applied in the area or category it was approved for in the IGETC agreement at the community college where it was completed.

IGETC is most helpful to students who want to keep their options open — those who know they want to transfer but have not yet decided upon a particular institution, campus or major.

If you have an area of study in mind, you can visit the Explore Majors section at ASSIST.org website, and click on prompts to identify the majors for which IGETC is recommended. As you explore your area of interest, you also should visit UCTransfer.org to discover the majors available at the UC campuses, and how best to prepare for them.

Students in some majors will not be well served by following IGETC. If you intend to transfer into a major that requires extensive lower-division preparation, such as engineering or the biological, physical and natural sciences, you should concentrate on completing the many prerequisites for the major that the college screens for to determine eligibility for admission. (See the IGETC Considerations section below.) Your counselor or a UC admissions representative can give you additional information about IGETC and advise you on which path is best for you.

IGETC is not an admissions requirement. Completing it is not required, nor does it guarantee admission to the campus or program of choice. However, completing the lower division breadth/general education requirements — through IGETC or the campus-specific requirements (depending upon the program) — may improve a transfer applicant’s chances for admission to a competitive campus and/or program.

GPA Requirement

IGETC courses must be completed with a grade of C or better. A grade of Credit or Pass may be used if the community college’s policy states it is equivalent to a grade of C or better.

Use of AP Exams

An acceptable score on an Advanced Placement (AP) test can be applied to IGETC. To see how these exams can be applied to IGETC certification, please visit cacctcw.org/igetc.htm and click on "The IGETC Standards, Policies and Procedures" (searchable version).

Applying Courses and AP Exams

Courses and exams may be used only once to satisfy one IGETC subject area, even if they are listed in the course agreements under more than one subject area. Courses may be used to satisfy both IGETC and major requirements.

Certification

Only California community colleges may certify completion of IGETC. Certification of IGETC completion is the responsibility of the last California community college a student attends prior to transfer (with the exception of summer session)—although upon request, a college other than the last one attended may also certify.

IGETC Considerations

Students with substantial coursework from institutions outside the United States should consult a counselor to determine whether they should complete IGETC or the lower-division breadth/general education requirements at the campus they plan to attend.

Berkeley | In the College of Letters and Science, students must satisfy general education/breadth requirements with either the fully completed IGETC pattern or the College of Letters and Science requirements (Reading and Composition, Quantitative Reasoning and Foreign Language). The Colleges of Engineering, Environmental Design and Chemistry, and the Haas School of Business have extensive, prescribed major prerequisites. In general, IGETC is not appropriate preparation for majors in these colleges. Although IGETC satisfies breadth requirements for most majors in the College of Natural Resources, specific lower-division major requirements must still be satisfied; check with the college or visit the ASSIST website (www.assist.org) for more information.

Davis | IGETC works well for students planning for Bachelor of Arts majors with few units of lower-division preparation. Bachelor of Science degrees and high-unit majors often have many courses of lower-division preparation. In these cases, the UC Davis GE pattern is the best choice.

Irvine | All schools accept IGETC. However, selection by the campus is based on demonstrated academic achievement and preparation for the intended major.

Los Angeles | The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science does not accept IGETC.

Merced | The Schools of Engineering and Natural Sciences do not recommend IGETC.

Riverside | The College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences accepts IGETC. The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences does not accept IGETC. The Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering accepts completion of IGETC to satisfy the majority of the college's breadth requirements for transfer students. Some additional breadth coursework may be required after enrollment at Bourns.

San Diego | IGETC is accepted at John Muir, Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall and Sixth Colleges only. Students completing IGETC are welcomed at Eleanor Roosevelt and Revelle Colleges; however, they must also fulfill the specific general education requirements of those colleges. At UCSD, all majors are available to students in each college, so students who choose IGETC will not be restricted in their choice of major.

Santa Barbara | Transfer students in the College of Letters and Science and the College of Creative Studies may use IGETC to substitute for general education requirements. Transfer students in the College of Engineering may also use IGETC to substitute for general education requirements. In addition to general education, all students in the College of Engineering are required to complete a depth requirement. Students who wish to satisfy the depth requirement prior to transfer must complete a yearlong sequence in the history of world civilization, history of Western civilization, history of the United States, history of Western philosophy or history of Western art. Students may want to choose courses for IGETC that will concurrently satisfy the depth requirement. Students may also complete the depth requirement with upper-division coursework after transferring. Please note: Students planning to transfer into a major in engineering, computer science or biological or physical sciences must be careful to complete lower-division major prerequisites to ensure competitiveness and make normal, timely progress through their major.

Santa Cruz | Transfer students intending to pursue any major in the physical and biological sciences or the Jack Baskin School of Engineering should not follow IGETC because it will not provide them with enough lower division preparation for their majors.