Pasadena City College to UCSD
Psychology Transfer Plan
Semester-by-semester courses, IGETC requirements, and major prerequisites — verified from real articulation data.
From
Pasadena City College
To
UC San Diego
PsychologyGPA Reality Check
The UC minimum GPA to apply is 2.4, but admitted UCSD transfer students in Fall 2025 landed in a 3.55–3.94 mid-50th percentile range — that's a massive gap. For Psychology specifically, your Science and Math courses (BIOL 1, BIOL 2, BIOL 3, MATH 5A, MATH 57) carry the most weight because UCSD's Psychology department is explicitly science-oriented; weak grades in those courses are harder to offset. Aim for a 3.7 or above in all major prep to be genuinely competitive.
Major Requirements
Psychology B.A. or B.S. (Division of Social Sciences) Major Preparation
Psychology B.A. or B.S. (Division of Social Sciences) at UC San Diego
Courses at Pasadena City College that satisfy UC San Diego's Psychology major preparation, verified via ASSIST.org.
UCSD offers a joint major in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience (with the Cognitive Science department) and a separate Business Psychology B.S. Students drawn to the science side of the brain sometimes confuse these with the standard Psychology major. Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience has heavier STEM prerequisites. Business Psychology is housed in the Rady School of Management and has its own distinct preparation requirements. If pure experimental or clinical psychology is your goal, the standard Psychology B.A. or B.S. is your path.
| Course at Pasadena City College | Satisfies at UCSD | Units |
|---|---|---|
| BIOL 1 — General Biology I | BILD 1 — The Cell | 4 |
| BIOL 2 — General Biology II | BILD 2 — Multicellular Life | 4 |
| BIOL 3 — Organismic Biology | BILD 3 — Organismic and Evolutionary Biology | 4 |
| MATH 5A — Calculus I | MATH 10A — Calculus I (Formal Skills requirement) | 4 |
| MATH 57 — Elementary Statistics | PSYC 60 — Statistics (Statistics requirement) | 3 |
| No equivalent at Pasadena City College | CSE 6R — Introduction to Computer Science and Object-Oriented Programming (Computer Programming requirement) | — |
Courses with no equivalent must be taken at UC San Diego after transfer. Factor this into your first-year course plan.
General Education
Foundation GE at Pasadena City College
Complete these five courses at Pasadena City College to start your UCSD GE pattern. Finishing full IGETC/Cal-GETC at the CC is ideal — these five give you the broadest head start, and CCN-tagged courses stay portable if you switch community colleges.
BIOL 002
Animal Biology
CHEM 001A
General Chemistry and Chemical Analysis I
HIST 001A
History of European Civilization to 1715
ENGL C1000
Academic Reading and Writing
ENGL C1001
Critical Thinking and Writing
| Area | Course at Pasadena City College | Units |
|---|---|---|
Life Science | BIOL 002 — Animal Biology | 4 |
Physical Science | CHEM 001A — General Chemistry and Chemical Analysis I | 5 |
Humanities | HIST 001A — History of European Civilization to 1715 | 3 |
English CompositionCCN | ENGL C1000 — Academic Reading and Writing | 4 |
Critical ThinkingCCN | ENGL C1001 — Critical Thinking and Writing | 4 |
Statistics → Upper-Division Research Methods
MATH 57 (Elementary Statistics) at PCC satisfies UCSD's PSYC 60 requirement, which is a prerequisite for upper-division Psychology research and methods courses. If you don't finish it before transfer, you can't enroll in those courses your first quarter at UCSD — and that delay can ripple across your entire graduation timeline.
UCSD runs on quarters — PCC runs on semesters
UCSD's quarter system moves roughly 30% faster than PCC's semesters, so expect heavier weekly reading loads and quicker exam cycles once you arrive — build that adjustment into your first-quarter course selection.
Preview
Your First Semester
A preview of what Pipeline generates — exact courses, in the right order, every semester.
Watch Out
Common Mistakes for This Transfer Path
IGETC helps — but won't finish your major prep
Completing IGETC is a smart move: it satisfies lower-division GE at UCSD's Muir, Marshall, Warren, Roosevelt, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Colleges after transfer. But UCSD Psychology does not require general Intro to Psych courses — instead, it requires science courses like BIOL 1 and statistics (MATH 57). Students who focus only on IGETC and skip major prep courses arrive at UCSD still needing the full BILD science sequence, which eats into upper-division unit limits fast. Run both tracks in parallel.
UCSD does not offer TAG — plan accordingly
The UC Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) is available at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz — but not UC San Diego. There is no guaranteed admission pathway from Pasadena City College to UCSD. Every PCC student applying to UCSD Psychology goes through the competitive general admissions process, so your GPA and completed prep courses are your entire argument.
No PCC equivalent for UCSD's programming requirement
UCSD Psychology requires computer programming — specifically, a course that articulates to CSE 6R (Introduction to Computer Science and Object-Oriented Programming). Pasadena City College currently has no articulated equivalent for this requirement on ASSIST. That means you will need to complete CSE 6R after you arrive at UCSD, so factor it into your first-year course load rather than being caught off-guard.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What GPA do I need to transfer from Pasadena City College to UC San Diego for Psychology?
The UC system minimum is 2.4, but that won't get you in at UCSD. Admitted transfer students for Fall 2025 had GPAs in the 3.55–3.94 mid-50th percentile range. For UCSD Psychology, your science prep courses — including BIOL 1, BIOL 2, and MATH 57 — carry significant weight, so protect those grades above all others.
What courses do I need to take at Pasadena City College to prepare for the Psychology major at UC San Diego?
UCSD's Psychology major prep requires Natural Science (three BILD-series courses), Statistics, a Formal Skills course, and Computer Programming. At PCC, BIOL 1, BIOL 2, and BIOL 3 articulate to UCSD's BILD 1, 2, and 3 respectively; MATH 57 satisfies the Statistics requirement (PSYC 60). There is currently no PCC equivalent for UCSD's computer programming requirement (CSE 6R), so that course must be taken after transfer.
Does UCSD have a TAG program for Pasadena City College students?
No — UC San Diego does not participate in the UC Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program. TAG is only available at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz. PCC students applying to UCSD Psychology go through the standard competitive admissions process with no guarantee of admission.
Should I complete IGETC before transferring from PCC to UCSD for Psychology?
Completing IGETC is generally worth doing — it satisfies lower-division GE requirements at most of UCSD's undergraduate colleges (Muir, Marshall, Warren, Roosevelt, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth). However, UCSD Psychology's lower-division major prep is science-heavy and separate from IGETC, so completing IGETC alone won't make you prep-complete. You need to run both tracks simultaneously and check ASSIST.org for exact PCC course equivalencies.
How competitive is the Psychology transfer from PCC to UCSD compared to other majors?
Psychology at UCSD is notably transfer-friendly: the department explicitly states that none of its Psychology majors are capped or impacted, meaning admission to UCSD itself is the primary hurdle. The overall UCSD transfer admit rate for Fall 2025 was 52.7%, which is relatively high for a UC campus. That said, completing major prep courses like BIOL 1 and MATH 57 before applying still strengthens your application and keeps you on pace to graduate on time.
Explore More
Related Transfer Plans
Students at Pasadena City College (PCC) who are planning to transfer to UC San Diego (UCSD) as Psychology majors have one of the more navigable pathways in the UC system — but it requires careful, early planning. UCSD's transfer admit rate for Fall 2025 was 52.7%, which is high relative to other top-tier UC campuses, and the Psychology department itself confirms that none of its majors are capped or impacted. What catches students off guard is the nature of the major prerequisites: UCSD Psychology is a laboratory science program that requires coursework in Natural Science, Statistics, and Computer Programming — not a traditional Introduction to Psychology sequence. At PCC, courses like BIOL 1 (General Biology I), BIOL 2 (General Biology II), and MATH 57 (Elementary Statistics) directly satisfy UCSD's BILD and PSYC 60 lower-division requirements per the ASSIST articulation agreement. Transfer planning also means understanding IGETC: while completing IGETC at PCC satisfies lower-division general education requirements at most UCSD undergraduate colleges after transfer, it does not substitute for the major prerequisites, which must be completed in parallel. One gap specific to PCC students is the computer programming requirement — UCSD requires a course equivalent to CSE 6R, and Pasadena City College currently has no articulated equivalent, meaning that course will need to be taken after arrival at UCSD. Students should also note that UC San Diego does not participate in the UC Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program, so there is no guaranteed admission option for this pathway. Tools like Pipeline help PCC students build a personalized semester-by-semester transfer plan that accounts for all of these moving parts — major prerequisites, IGETC completion, unit minimums, and prerequisite chains — so nothing falls through the cracks on the road from PCC to UCSD.
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