Apply As A Freshman or a Transfer?

Applying to College
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<p>I'm currently a junior in high school in Florida. I do dual enrollment at the nearby Community College and have finished 8 classes so far. I plan on going full time at the CC next year, but I've run into a problem: when I apply to universities next year, should I apply as a transfer student of a freshman?</p>

<p>I plan on going to a university in Florida. I haven't yet decided where though. USF and UF are the ones that I'm considering the most. I know that I have the scores to get into USF Honors. I don't know about UF though.</p>

<p>I'm under the impression that if I'm admitted as a transfer student, I can't be apart of an honors college. I am not sure whether an honors college is very important or worth going into.</p>

<p>If I am admitted as a freshman, I know that certain honors colleges will not accept certain credits (such as science credits like fundamentals of biology and general chemistry). For example, I know that at USF, their honors college does not accept more than 1 set of sciences (like Biology 1+2 or Chemistry 1+2). The rest would have to be redone at USF. Honors colleges also tend to have their own requirements for Humanities and Arts courses in order to earn an Honors Degree, and those are not available at the CC that I attend.</p>

<p>So I guess that my problem is this:
Should I apply as a transfer and forego the benefits of an Honors program? Or should I apply as a freshman and redo the courses at whatever university I attend?</p>

<p>I think that one of my underlying problems is that I don't know where I want to attend after I graduate high school. This is a problem because I can't decide what courses I will take for the next year until I decide. If I decide to transfer, I may not have enough credits because of a conservative approach.</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance to those that help.</p>

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<p>I believe you have to apply as a transfer if you are a full time CC student.</p>

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<p>I am not too sure about that because I am a dual enrollment student. I know certain universities like UF accept up to 60 credit hours for incoming freshmen. However, if I earned an AA degree, then I would have to apply as a transfer I believe.</p>

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<p>Could anybody else give their input? Thanks</p>

5

<p>My POV here is the mom of a student who did over 100 hours of CC while dual-enrolled, and wants the full four-year thing at college beginning at age 18. If you just want a BS and to get out, much of what I say will be irrelevant. </p>

<p>If you trying to get done in less than four years, then apply as a transfer and get it moving along. If you want to have the full four-year experience, then apply as a freshman. If you don’t graduate from high school until May 2011, then many schools REQUIRE you to apply as a freshman. Which is good, because you increase your chances of admission at the most selective schools and increase your chances of scholarships.</p>

<p>DS17 is just coming out the other end of this. He applied to several schools as a freshman and was accepted to 7/8 and waitlisted at the other. Since he was dual enrolled, the classes count as high school classes.</p>

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<p>It was **very **important to me at Big State U. But why are you considering only Big State U anyway?</p>

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<p>Are you sure they would have to be <em>redone</em>, or could you maybe place out of them and take the next level class? And if they really do have to be redone, maybe it’s because they actually are better than what’s offered at the CC. Typically schools don’t want you to actually <em>redo</em> stuff you already know. And for the Humanities and Arts, they are likely to be a) different material from other classes you’ve taken and b) presented in a more discussion-based format.</p>

<p>Most schools we ran into seem to have “distribution requirements”
(take several classes from each department) rather than “requirements”
(take chem 101, US History, etc.). If they have distribution
requirements, just take different classes than those you’ve already
had. If they have actual requirements, you could see about getting
out of them with a placement test. If you had calc 5 years ago and
needs to take advanced calc in college, it would be a good thing to
review if you can’t still pass the place-out test.</p>

<p>

Back to my comment up top. If you want the full experience, I think you should go with the honors program, and that there probably won’t be much you actually have to redo. You would need to talk to the school about it to make sure, though.</p>

<p>

Are you likely to be a NMF? Lots of schools will give you great big $$ if you are. Even if you aren’t, if you have the overall application strength I would guess, lots of schools may offer you $$.</p>

<p>Good luck! PM me if you want more info - I’ve (or my son has) been there done that.</p>

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<p>In my state, a transfer applicant is someone who was taken college classes AFTER high school graduation. Therefore, in my state, no matter how much credit I have from dual enrollment, I have to apply as a freshman.</p>

<p>Call the schools you are interested in–you may not get to choose which designation you have.</p>

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</p>

<p>That might be a violation of the Florida Articulation Agreement.</p>

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<p>

When I called several top privates, I unanimously got this answer.</p>

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<p>*However, if I earned an AA degree, then I would have to apply as a transfer I believe. *</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>You apply as an incoming freshmen. You don’t apply as a transfer student even if you will be awarded an AA at the same time as your HS diploma.</p>

<p>You would NOT want to apply as a transfer student because that would make you ineligible for various merit scholarships.</p>

<p>You are still considered to be an incoming freshman as long as you’re still in high school while taking those CC classes. </p>

<p>The benefit will come later when you’ll soon have your status changed to soph or junior after all your credits are added.</p>

9

<p>Sorry about the long absence. Thank you all for your input.</p>

<p>I will be applying as a freshman. It seems to have more benefits than applying as a transfer from what I can see.</p>

<p>I’ve been doing a bit of looking into this subject matter and have found some more information. The scenario that I mentioned where the Honors College would not accept the science credits only applies to those in USF’s 7 year medical program, not all honors students. So if I were to enroll as a student at USF’s Honors College, all of my relevant credits would be transferred.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the update!</p>