Information for Transfer Students

The UC Education Abroad Program welcomes transfer student participation.

Transfer students from two and four-year institutions in California are encouraged to consider participation on EAP in their first or second year at UC.

Community College transfer students make up about 13 percent of the total EAP enrollment. Recent research on CCC transfer performance shows that transfer students typically are academically well focused and high achievers while on EAP.

Application requirements for transfer students

Many short-term programs are available that specifically meet transfer student needs.

EAP offers dozens of short-term options, including language programs, and discipline-specific programs in many fields such as business and economics, engineering, the biological sciences, political science, and art. While qualified transfer students can study at any of EAP's 140 host institutions in 33 countries, the programs in Mexico have been particularly popular with recent transfer students.

Many programs are in English.

EAP offers many programs taught in English in a wide range of fields, in addition to foreign language acquisition programs, and language immersion programs that typically require two years of college-level training in the host country language.

Students earn UC credit and can make normal progress toward graduation.

UC students receive full UC credit for approved courses. With careful planning course work taken abroad can be integrated into a student’s major. EAP normally does not delay graduation or extend the amount of time a student spends at UC.

EAP is affordable.

The cost of participating on EAP is usually comparable to—and sometimes less than—the cost of studying at UC. Traditional UC Financial Aid and special scholarships are available.

Alumni indicate that EAP gave them a competitive edge.

Alumni report that EAP was the best year of their UC studies, and that it gave them a competitive edge in the job market and when applying for graduate school.

Comments from EAP alumni, 1962-present

Transfer students can participate in programs during their junior or senior year at all UC campuses.

Junior transfer student participation on EAP is growing. At UC Davis, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara transfer students may submit UC and EAP applications simultaneously and study abroad their first term at UC. UC San Diego will consider direct participation on a case-by-case basis. At most other UC campuses, transfer students can study abroad in their junior year on programs that begin in the winter or spring.

EAP options and application cycles
Application deadlines

The key to EAP is advance planning.

Transfer students should begin their linguistic and academic preparations for EAP while they are at the community college. Most programs require a 3.0 GPA, and some require two years of college-level language preparation. Interested students should contact the EAP office at their campus of interest for further information and application procedures.

Campus EAP Offices