A program that will give some transfer students priority consideration for admission to UCLA is set to be implemented this fall.
UCLA created the Associate Degree for Transfer Pilot Program in compliance with Assembly Bill 1291, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in October 2023. The pilot program will be available to students who achieve an associate degree in certain majors at one of 10 California Community Colleges, including Cypress College and Oxnard College.
The ADT Pilot Program aims to improve transfer students’ access to the University, according to EdSource. AB 1291 also mandates that qualified transfer students be guaranteed admission to at least one other UC campus.
“They’re students who have to work double jobs in order to just get an education,” said Soschy Rodriguez, a fourth-year biochemistry transfer student. “Any program that helps support them to get into a university like UCLA is always amazing.”
Rodriguez, a first-generation student who earned her associate degree at El Camino College, said initiatives similar to the ADT Pilot Program gave her reassurance that her hard work as a transfer student would be rewarded.
The pilot program could increase diversity and the population of first-generation students at UCLA, she added.
“I didn’t have to worry of working really hard and then not getting in like I did in high school,” Rodriguez said.
Transfer admission is not contingent on program participation, and students do not have to submit an additional application to be considered for the pilot program, according to UCLA’s Undergraduate Admissions website.
Students must receive an associate degree in one of eight selected majors – anthropology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, mathematics, history, political science and philosophy – to participate in the program.
Majors included in the pilot program were selected based on compatibility with existing transfer admission criteria and alignment with UCLA degree pathways, a UCLA Admission spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
UCLA selected the 10 campuses to partner with – all located within Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties – based on location and student enrollment, the spokesperson added.
Hyerim Yoon, the 2025-26 Undergraduate Students Association Council transfer student representative, said she learned about the ADT Pilot Program through working with the UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships throughout the past year. The CCCP seeks to make a UC education accessible to community college students and increase transfer rates, according to its website.
Yoon, a fourth-year English and history transfer student, added that UCLA should expand the pilot program to address accessibility gaps for transfer students.
Dayanara Flores, a third-year English transfer student, said the ADT Pilot Program could alleviate transfer students’ concerns about admissions.
Flores – who received an associate degree from Rio Hondo College, one of the community colleges participating in the program – said she had trouble deciding which major she wanted to pursue when applying to UCLA.
“This program and opportunity is probably going to bring students confidence at community college to really challenge themselves to do a major that they truly want,” said Flores, who ran to be USAC’s 2026-27 transfer student representative. “I would have always wanted to do neuroscience, but there was a lot of prerequisites, and I wasn’t sure if I was secure in choosing that major when applying.”
The ADT Pilot Program is set to include more majors at UCLA and expand to other UC campuses in the coming years, the spokesperson said in the statement. The UC hopes to offer the program for 12 majors at each of its campuses, they added.
The ADT Pilot Program is set to expand to four other UC campuses by the 2028-29 academic year, following AB 1291 and in support of the UC 2030 Capacity Plan, according to a UCLA Academic Senate report.
According to the capacity plan report, the UC 2030 Capacity Plan aims to enroll 23,000 more California resident undergraduate and graduate students by 2030.
Yoon said she would like to see more competitive majors and programs, such as theater, incorporated in the pilot program to remove barriers for transfer students.
“The fact that there are 10 schools participating and we already have a plethora of majors listed, I think that’s worth celebrating in and of itself,” Yoon said.
Comments are closed.