Could I get some college advice please?

I'm in community college right now, finishing up with my first year. After next year I'll have finished all my prerequisites for transfer to the 4 year uni I want to go to, but I won't have enough credits to transfer in as a junior.

Am I better off transferring in as a lower level student, or should I wait another semester at the cc, take a combo of easier courses to pile up some credits and graduation requirement stuff I'd have to take later otherwise and then transfer in as a junior? I'm thinking sticking around at the cheaper school and taking more classes there seems like the way to go, both to save money and because it's a much more convenient location, but is there some advantage to transferring sooner that I'm missing? Would it look much better on my transcript or something?

Sorry.

Could you please send me the rest of the vacation pics?

I should get pics in return.

Hint, hint...

I'll have to play with it later and see what I can do.

They could probably help you figure out the best course of action.

I know they're very overworked but honestly I haven't been impressed in past visits with the counseling department. I'll probably go check over there, I was just hoping somebody here could help me out with the pros and cons.

Preferably one you would like to attend. Hopefully, one there would have a seat on the clue train.

Advisors at the 4 year might also be a good resource.

Usually I just ask my sister, since she did the two year and transfer thing, but she transferred under a different program.

They may be more helpful.

You might want to check it out.

My inclination is that the education you are receiving at community college is likely to be just as good as at the 4 year university. And in the end, the diploma you get from the 4 year is going to look exactly the same whether you start as a sophomore or as a junior.

I'm rapidly approaching a half-million dollars in student loans myself. My own personal advice is to stick it out a little longer.

is available to catch up on the hours to be a junior. Paying for 4 semesters is a lot cheaper than paying for 5. If you're planning to transfer to a school that you pay per-credit, then I'd check out the cost of taking those credits at the 4-year college vs. the community college.

I work and have a kid, so I can't take 15 units a semester or whatever it takes to keep on schedule. A classmate of mine has 18 units this semester, but his grades suck and as we head into finals week he's worried about just passing everything. I'd rather have fewer classes and keep my GPA high, currently it's marred only by the B the most demanding instructor on campus gave me.

As far as costs go, I have a fee waiver at the cc, so all I pay for is books, school supplies and parking. I don't know what my aid package will look like at the 4 year school, but it almost certainly won't bring my cost per unit anywhere close to free, plus my parking and transportation costs will skyrocket.

laid out your 4-yr (or 5 yr) plan yet? One mistake I see students making (I'm a prof/advisor at a 4-yr university) is waiting too long to start their major, thinking they have to get all their 'generals' out of the way first. This often ends up turning their 4 yr program into a 4.5 or 5-yr or even 6-yr program, depending on their major. So.... what's your major?

But I don't have any experience in these matters myself. I signed on at one school and am now 13.5 hours from finishing my last exam there before graduation :headbang:

What are you going to get your degree in?

I would. If you're talking about going to a school like the typical state university, a large research university.

I only did graduate work in the US, but what I saw (and what I experienced with a couple of undergrad courses I did) strongly suggests that, unless you're talking about a small college where teaching is emphasized and faculty don't do much or any research, undergrads are better off transferring in as late as possible. Research in American universities is rewarded and teaching, to a great degree, is not. This is certainly the case in the Research I and many Research II universities. And many faculty seem to resent having to teach -- especially undergrads -- because it takes time and effort (these bad teachers, though, rarely put forward much in the way of effort) away from the far more 'rewarding' research they could be doing, or having their grad students do for them.

So that's three compelling reasons for staying another year: money, location, and quality of instruction. Some of these research-oriented profs are just terrible teachers, basically abusing their students, and should not be allowed near undergrads (or grad students, half the time, for that matter). I know some great ones, like my two PhD advisors, but they are people who willingly go the extra mile and somehow balance the demands of their job (at US state universities, faculty are supposed to put effort into research, teaching, and service, and service usually receives even less attention and respect than does teaching) because they really care and work hard to teach even though they know their efforts go largely unnoticed by the beancounters who run universities and by their peers. When you enter as a third-year student, you're more likely to find smaller classes and teachers who are more interested in teaching, if only because the subject is closer to their area of specialty. There are, of course, a lot of variables, but that's been my experience and the experience of many I know (including those at the extremes, who entered as Freshpersons at mammoth universities like Michigan, Texas, or Berkeley and were in 101-level classes that felt more like stadium concert audiences).

My experience in US universities, and that of my peers, has been primarily in the sciences. In other academic fields, where the grant rewards are typically less and there's less emphasis on publish-or-perish and continually generating new sources of research funding (the university just LOVES that overhead from science grants, especially from the Feds, often levying a staggering percentage that requires bigger and bigger grants), the situation may be quite different even at very large institutions.

stay where you are for another semester. It's cheaper, easier, and your eventual degree will still be from the school you want.

Best of luck!

There are some additional points to consider. First most cc articulation agreements with 4 yr universities prohibit your receiving any upper division credits transferred from a junior college, so you'll just be earning credits that won't really do you any tangible good after you transfer. Most universities also have residency requirements, usually a minimum of four semesters of full time course work in order to graduate-- again, taking additional courses at your cc will only mean you'll have to spend more time later at the university. Finally, the sooner you start your majors program the better.

I'd recommend transferring as soon as you finish your 2 year degree or even sooner if you can. Of course, finishing the degree at your cc is probably lots less expensive, but my experience advising university transfer students rarely reveals any more compelling reason than that for staying on at the cc any longer than you need to.

I'm doing the IGETC to fulfill my transfer requirements, so conceivably I can go to any CSU or UC once I'm done with that. Unless I get a really great aid package someplace else that makes the cost of housing elsewhere doable, I'll likely be at CSU Sacramento or UC Davis.

I get free tuition at my community college, but I'm old enough that graduating and getting to go do what I want to do is a bit more important than saving a few bucks. I should make a fair bit of money once I get my degree, so even a significant uptick in my tuition would be worth it to be out getting paid (and doing something I'll like) anyhow. I don't want to burn money though, I'll be spending enough on my graduate work.

Went to a JC for an Associates degree, then transferred to a university in the same state system for my BS, then on to grad school. I was 32 when I transferred to George Mason University, and finished my PhD at the University of Georgia just in time for my 40th birthday :-). You'll have a great time, especially in grad school. It's a neat experience. I wish I could do it again-- not because I'd want to change anything, but because it was so rewarding.

going to graduate school or of potential employers looking at your transcript? (Or something else?) I doubt it will matter to employers, since you will get the same degree that everybody else there gets. With respect to graduate schools, I think the standard is to look at the last sixty hours, so where you get your basics will make little or no difference. (That's how it was at the grad school where I worked in admissions, and it seemed to be fairly standard, but it other schools might do it differently.)

If the other school is less convenient and more expensive, and if you feel like you're getting a satisfactory education where you are, then I can't think of a reason to jump to the new school any sooner than you need to, so I'd say to stick it out. Would mixing and matching be out of the question? (I knew people who took a class or two at the local university and a class or two at a nearby CC at the same time ...)

Once you transfer. Some colleges have majors that require a sequence of courses that might not be available at your community college. If that is the case, you will want to transfer so that you can take those courses and graduate on time. You may wish to contact the college that you wish to attend and ask to talk to someone in your potential major department if that information is not clear from the website or other information that you already might have.
If you can finish your degree at the 4 year college in 2 years if you remain at the community college, you might as well stay there since it is cheaper and more convient for you.

Transferring courses never works out as well as they promise. I teach at a 4 year state university and we don't accept some courses from other 4 year schools within the system because we know they aren't as challenging as ours.

Of course there may be other considerations (like money, commuting distance, comfort zone, etc). but I would get into the 4 year school as soon as you can and work their program.

It will cost you mo' scrilla at the University.

I think this goes both ways. If its just money and convenience dictating, stay at the community college. The only advantageous thing about transferring sooner rather then later that I can think of is "transfer" students get shafted their first year with late registrations and inability to get into classes. But after that, they have a regular student status. At least thats how it was at NYU and how it is at Hunter. Other then that small thing, which might even not be the case at your school, thats the only difference I cant think of.

Just because an advisor at the cc tells you that a course is tranferable, doesn't mean its true. Double check everything with the Uni you want to tranfer to. Why waste money on classes that won't transfer?

Your really just better of tranferring earlier. It give you an advantage in getting to know the faculty better (which is important if your thinking of grad school) and you can make more friends (I made most of my friends in the lower level classes...by the time I got to the harder, higher level classes, I had a lot more support).

Just a couple of things to consider....

I don't know if this varies by state or institution, but when I went to a community college then a major university, there was a limit to the amount of credits that would transfer, let alone what credits would transfer and what would not. Keep that in mind, as you don't want to go through a lot of hassle then find out the work did not count and you have to take the class over again anyway.

My suggestion is stay at the community college as long as you can, or is reasonable for you. BUT check with the university, bringing your transcripts with you, to see what the transfer will look like as far as credits go.

Check the requirements for graduation, if the four year university requires 4 semesters of foreign language, but waives that for adult transfer students with an associates from a community college...then get your associates.

Also, check on scholarships....do you have a chapter of PTK at the community college where you are? If you join PTK, many 4 year schools offer great scholarships for that.

If you have any questions for Steph, PM me---I'll make sure she reads your message.

For example, are you looking at getting your degree in 4 1/2 yr, or 5, or other? If 5, I would say it doesn't much matter -- you could transfer after 2 1/2 or 3 years, and your transcript would look no worse than if you did all 5 at the larger school. If 4 1/2, you have to consider whether you're going to be transfering in the middle of the school year, or whether you'll do a 3 + 1 1/2 split (probably not a good idea, but that depends on your school and major).

One thing to keep in mind is that some of those upper level courses may be offered alternate terms, or even alternate years (particularly in small depts.), so you may not be able to take the courses you want except by enrolling for at least four semesters.

Also, if you get ambitious, you may want to take grad-level courses in your senior year. That might be a harder decision to make if you haven't already had a full year to get to know the Dept., especially the faculty teaching those courses.