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The State of California, which has the largest four-year public university system in the United States, does not have an associate degree for transfer (ADT) in Engineering. Therefore, most engineering students who transfer from community colleges do not take lower-division engineering courses and, on average, transfer students must attend two to three additional years of college to obtain a degree at four-year institutions. To identify the gaps in engineering education for transfer students and to increase their success, the research team will focus on a “transfer-ready” curriculum and a faculty learning community. The BRIDGE team, including three partnering institutions, collaborates on identifying the critical success factors (CSFs) for the transfer student’s success, the development of the transfer pathway program, and the Engineering BRIDGE Program to enhance academic preparations for transfer students. This paper summarizes the findings from the Engineering BRIDGE Program during the Summer of 2023 from August 7 - 11, 2023 (five days). A total of 22 incoming transfer students (to Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering) participated in this program, assisting in the transition and ensuring academic/career success by enhancing transfer students’ sense of belonging, and addressing course content gaps between institutions. From the analysis of the pre-/post-surveys of the Engineering BRIDGE Program, the program significantly improved—in terms of transfer readiness—students’ conceptual understanding, technical communication, and higher-order cognition. 

In the U.S., approximately 20% of graduating engineering students receive their university degree after transferring from a community college. Because the percentage of transfer students enrolled in California universities is higher than the national average, in 2016, the California State University (CSU) System launched the Graduation Initiative (GI) 2025 to raise graduation rates for transfer students. The CSU GI 2025 set goals to increase the two-year transfer graduation rate to 45% and the four-year transfer graduation rate to 85% by 2025 across all 23 CSU campuses. What has yet to be discussed extensively is which factors affect the transfer students’ success and its associated impact. This paper identified the critical success factors (CSFs) for transfer students’ success with the survey responses by transfer students in the Department of Civil Engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Identifying the CSFs is essential as sociocultural, academic, and environmental factors significantly affect transfer students' academic performance. The author composed a series of questions that fall into sociocultural, academic, and environmental factors (this survey was approved by the CPP IRB 23-003). A total of 41 transfer students responded to the survey, and the author identified CSFs for transfer students as 1) a sense of belonging, 2) networking with faculty, staff, and peers, and 3) advising for career development and available resources from the university. The identified factors should be addressed when the university develops a new program for transfer students.