I did a similar thing in Colorado.

I got a 2 yr tech degree, and then did a 4 yr Environmental Design Degree. (Frankly, the tech degree did more for my professional ambitions.) Anyway..I am going to UCLA this fall...3 more yrs...blech.

Its a cliche to say that "its what you make of it"...and yet this is true...

but,
If I were you..I would go for the or SCIArc option, if possible. Its a matter of preference obviously, but a 5 yr BArch sounds so tempting to me after personally choosing an 8 yr plan. I know you are looking for that campus lifestyle though. Still a 5 yr with a few of work experience is really a full foundation for the average Architect. .. just a thought.

Just out of curiosity, which community college are you in?

um, for some of us, the b. arch was a 6+ year ordeal (cc followed by a 5 year program you couldn't transfer into)

As for #4, in case you are worried about feasibility, you could easily do this. Many people go into MArch programs with unrelated undergrad degrees (possibly even most students? I'm not sure of numbers). Make sure you do well in school and maintain your architectural activities as best you can on the side (drawing, painting, furniture-making are good related skills that show off well in a portfolio; if you feel up to it, you could even work on a competition entry on the side). Also, trying to get any work that you can in architecture firms during the summers won't hurt. You'll only be making copies / getting coffee but at least you will maintain a connection to the field and also learn what it's like on the inside. Couldn't hurt...

UCB is not necessarily known for its academics, however. If you're looking for a big university feel and would like to get into a great grad school you may want to more heavily consider UCLA / USC.

Lastly, although I'm sure I'll get slammed for saying this, if you eventually may want to head east for your MArch be aware that a bias against Californians does to some extent still persist in academic settings in the East. (Also in non-academic settings, but that's a story for another time...) It may help you to combat this by going to a better-recognized school, like UCLA / Berkeley / USC / CalPoly.

For that matter : have you visited CalPoly SLO? It's central coast, I know, but the setting is not that different from SB and the school is an excellent undergrad arch education. Worth a visit if you are serious about staying in state. Also quite a lot of bang for your buck (they were a good bargain before and as of a year or so ago the school was gifted an enormous donation which will allow them to be even more top-notch in the future)

Yes I'm not certain that you would transfer into 2nd year in many programs. That one would definitely bear checking out.

sorry, UCSB*

Also, I'm surprised at the dead-set desire to stay in SoCal -- college is the time of your life when it is the easiest of all to try out a different region / city etc ... beyond any other time. Are you sure you don't want to at least visit or apply to a couple other schools just to see where you might end up?

to be honest i honestly cant live anywhere but California. family, friends, weather, lifestyle, connections...

Sorry I might be crazy...but thats just me.

Not crazy, just inexperienced. That's ok though. :)

What CC are you at?

west valley college in bay area...from LA originally

Hmm, ok, just curious to see if it was one I knew any faculty at. Nope.

if you like UCSB I say go to Cal Poly SLO. Its a similar vibe and a good program. USC is a good program and I would say the 2 yr UCLA degree doesnt help much.

I did community college and transferred to cal poly slo. The education you get at university is much better than community college and it doesnt hurt to start back a year and learn more.

So, your main goals are to become a registered architect and to stay in SoCal. (For whatever reason - not to be negative about mantaray's point on broadening one's horizons, but let's assume that individuals know they want and what is best for their lives, and there may be other important decision-influences that a poster does not want to share with all the Internet!)

Research how far your current education will get you in certain schools. Maybe the career counselor at your CC can tell you which in-state schools will accept their credits. If not, email an administrator at your schools of interest and ask them. As I recall, state colleges usually accept credits from CCs within the same state because that is hypothetically the entire point of CC. It will be especially smooth if your architecture studies program at CC is known as a "feeder" to particular area schools. In-state schools are most likely to let you skip courses entirely. Non-state or out-of-state schools will either refuse CC credits entirely, or allow you to skip out of requirements and replace them with additional electives, but you have to enroll in the same # of credits as everyone else. This is basically so they aren't awarding degrees to people who've knocked entire semesters and years off their degree, otherwise everyone would go to community college for 2 years to save money, then transfer to get bachelor's degrees from the top schools! Many schools do some combination of refusal/elective-replacement/skipping, and sometimes it can seem arbitrary.

If I were you, unless you are a) independently wealthy or have someone helping and can just pay your way without loans, or b) dead set on a particular school for various academic/career prospect/etc. reasons and you just love the school so much that you are willing to take on huge debts, I'd avoid Sci-ARC and USC solely because they are expensive. You can accomplish your primary goals to study in SoCal, have a big university experience, and eventually become a registered architect, all without going into massive debt. So that leaves CalPoly, UCLA, UCSB (yes you can get in to a M.Arch without much of an architecture portfolio - I did), and Berkeley (no, it's not south, but it is in California at least). The ideal school will depend totally on your goals. Do you want to be involved in academic discourse and teach/publish? Do you just want to get your damn degree and get registered already? Figure that out and then even more randoms will come out of the woodwork to deluge you with advice.

i go to berkeley and i just want to note that if you're looking to apply to transfer into the architectural studies program there, i hear it's very hard to get in, just because you won't have had the pre-reqs completed. by junior year, students have had 2 years of drawing/studio and the ced website even states that you must have done those prereqs to be admitted. even if you were accepted (maybe you applied for a different major) and you wanted to switch into arch, you can't really because those classes are limited to enrolling freshmen and sophomores.

i'm kind of surprised ucla doesn't work this way also... definitely make sure you check up on that. if you really wanted to go to ucla for some reason, it may be more practical for you to apply to a related major (like art history) that you have a high chance of being accepted to.

I appreciate everyones feedback...I would love to go to CalPoly SLO the problem is that not 1 damn person got in from our architecture program to SLO last year....and many of these people had better GPA's and sharper portfolios than I do

lalaland,

thanks ya...i basically realized that...Berkely falls into the Calpoly SLO category as well thats why i dont mention them as schools I want to transfer to

What about CalPoly Pomona? Not a big school but at least back in your home city...

surfaces, just to defend myself here I did indeed appreciate the OP's desire to stay in CA and in fact wrote a couple lengthy responses to him/her before mentioning the CA request. When I did it was in the nature of double-checking and you'll note I accepted his/her answer. Often times people start out being "dead set" on a particular course of action and over conversation it develops that maybe they'd be willing to give up on one criteria in favor of achieving another, once other avenues are explored/discovered... it's always worth making sure people are certain of what they want. I did in fact assume there was more to the story than the OP wanted to share and left it at that. No biggie, just didn't want everyone thinking I was some kind of suspicious asshole...

pomona is alright...its more of a commuter school but ill apply there too

sci arc is nothing like community college, I know I did both. Just live close by, you don't want to be driving too far half asleep.

And in terms of life style, you're not going to see your friends/family for four/five years anyway so don't restrict yourself to Southern California.

Below is a list all program in California that have accredited programs -- it is from www.naab.org --

Be sure to look at all of your options.

Academy of Art University Architecture Program
California College of the Arts Architecture Program
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Architecture Department
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Department of Architecture
NewSchool of Architecture and Design
Southern California Institute of Architecture
University of California at Los Angeles Department of Architecture and Urban Design
University of California, Berkeley Department of Architecture
University of Southern California School of Architecture
Woodbury University Department of Architecture

Cal Poly SLO is a great program. It was hard to get into 10 years ago when I applied and I hear it has been getting harder ever since. I have heard good things about New School in SD.. Gil Cooke who is or was the dean there was the dean at Cal Poly when I was first there. I didn't know him well, but he was well respected amoung faculty...

Cal Poly woudl be good if you any interest in Solar and Sustainable design too,...so I hear.