<p>Most of the time, I see that people apply to several colleges. Many apply to just 2 or as much as 6 or 7. However, I have always been confused with that. Why? Well allow me to explain why.</p>
<p>A week ago I went to see my counselor, I gave her my first university choice to transfer and she gave me a list of courses that I must take in order to go this university, lets call it university #1. It was simple, maintain good gpa, take required courses, then transfer; however, I have noticed that my other university choices required the same courses plus a few that are different, thus giving me a different set of required courses that I must take.</p>
<p>In simple words, if I want to transfer to University #1, I have to take a set of courses, however, for University #2, a slight modified set of courses, for University #3, another different set of courses. At the end, I would be taking lots of courses to apply to 3 different universities. </p>
<p>How do people manage to apply to several universities?</p>
<p>Do they take the required courses for every single University?</p>
<p>Or do they simply apply with only a few courses related to their major?</p>
<p>I know that for sure, I will be doing the required courses for my #1 choice, however for the other choices, what must I do? Take as much as possible? </p>
<p>Personally, i find this one of the biggest problems with the community college system. Unlike high school where you didn’t have to worry about transferable classes, at a community college you always have to be attentive on which classes transfer over, and what classes you actually need in order to apply. However, i think that the best way to manage this problem is just finishing your required courses for your #1 choice. From there the core of your classes should be transferable, and now you would just need to branch out and finish any classes that the other schools require that you haven’t taken.</p>
<p>I also feel like a great deal of research is needed as well. As a transfer i want to apply everywhere, instates, out of states, privates; however there just isn’t the time to do that as a transfer. As a transfer you really have to narrow your focus and make a list of where you REALLY want to go. Unlike high school, time is also a factor when you’re a transfer. You can easily apply everywhere but it may take you 3-4 years, or you can just narrow your focus and make sure you get out in the normal two. </p>
<p>Yes it’s a problem, but it’s inevitable, and you will just have to make a decision that fits you the best. </p>
<p>The problem is wide spread for ALL transfer students not only for CC transfers. Unless the CC you attend had articulation agreements with the 4 year Uni such as the California TAG system, you will face the same problem/limitation all over.</p>
<p>In my days, I was at a low ranked University and was looking to apply for transfer in my 2nd year. I gave up the idea because the target schools will not accept a LOT of my credits I earned and forced me to take one or more extra years to graduate. This is a wide spread practice and it was not targeted to my application. I ended up graduate in three years from my school and was still able to find employment.</p>
<p>Many states have their own in-state articulation agreements. I’m in Illinois, and we have the Illinois Articulation Initiative. All of our community colleges and state universities have signed on to it, and what it basically means is that by completing an associates at a community college, your Gen Ed core is guaranteed to transfer as the entire Gen Ed core at whatever university you’re transferring into. </p>
<p>This means that you’ll have no Gen Eds after transferring. There may be some other upper level Gen Eds that you’ll still have to complete, or possibly some campus specific Gen Eds that are distinct from the standard Gen Ed core, but generally speaking the Gen Eds will be completed.</p>
<p>Most of the time, your major coursework transfers in and covers the lower level courses so you can move right into upper level coursework. That’s not the case 100% of the time, but it usually is. Most states have some similar kind of agreement.</p>
<p>But, if you don’t finish an associates, these agreements often don’t hold. </p>
<p>For me this isn’t such a big problem. I’m transferring into an engineering program and its pretty generic for all universities/institutes. Pretty much I have to finish 1 semester of chemistry,some calc based physics courses, some calc courses, linear alg, diff eq., take some Hu/SS classes and finish 2 semesters of English courses and this is pretty much the general consensus for most universities for engineering. </p>
<p>Engineering classes (especially from my school) sometimes won’t transfer so its not recommended to take them. So really I’m just stuck doing pre-reqs for future engineering courses and gen eds before transferring. </p>