I’m having trouble deciding between a local community college and a university.
I want to transfer to UMich but I want to know if it’s more worth it to go to a university or a community college.
At Wayne State (which is the university I am going to if I don’t go to community college), I have to pay a lot more than a community college. I really like that university (but I like UMich more) but I don’t mind going to a community college if the chances of transferring are the same.
Also, one of the reasons why I think University is better is because there may be a record of me going to a community college for two years and I would think a university for 4 years would look better on job applications/other scenarios.
To sum it up:
Will going to a community college decrease my chances over a university (for transfer to UMICH)?
And just overall in general, would it be more beneficial to just attend Wayne State over the community college?
I do not want to pay more than double the money if it won’t affect anything. (got 6000$ scholarship at Wayne)
It’s really hard to know without more information. You might want to call or email the admissions office at UMich and ask them what would be your best move. Simply explain your hope (to attend UMich) and would they advise that you attend Wayne or the local CC. They will have good advice for you. Best wishes.
Does the CC you would attend have a formal guaranteed transfer agreement for your potential major(s) with UMich? If so, that is the easiest way to get in. All you would need to do is complete the specified coursework with the specified GPA and then file the application paperwork on time. If UMich doesn’t offer this, find out from the Transfer Advisor at the CC what kind of grades successful UMich applicants have had.
Did you apply to Michigan State University? If so, what happened with it?
The problem with going to community college and hoping to transfer after 2 years is that you might not be accepted in two years. Also, you life gets a bit disrupted having to change schools in 2 years. If you start at Wayne state you will have the option of staying there if your attempt to transfer does not come through. Of course the counter argument is that if you do well at community college, then transferring to Wayne State should be a safety, and both UM and MSU are possibilities.
Employers will see where you graduate from. They will rarely if ever look at your entire academic record. I only had an employer ask for a transcript once, and that was a graduate school transcript only and was for a company that does not exist anymore.
It is common for students to start at community college and transfer. One reason is that some students get their act together either part way through high school or when starting in college. Another major reason is finances. Some students just want to start near home, or only want to take a few classes until they decide what their major will be.
What would Wayne State cost you? Would you need to take on any debt to go there?
First, thank you for all of this. I really appreciate it.
I got accepted into MSU and I do think it’s a great school I would like but I got a scholarship at Wayne State (did not at MSU).
Wayne state would cost me 7.5k (with scholarship) in tuition and fees whereas 2.3k (estimate and also not including other expenses). Because of the scholarship, I’m leaning more towards Wayne State. State would cost me full tuition (I’m assuming), so 15k excluding expenses.
I’m not too worried about not doing well at community college. I will try my hardest at both. I am exactly what you said by the way (did bad in the beginning of high school but started doing good took lots of AP classes last 2 years but wasn’t enough to get me in).
I was worried if any employers would see my past record but it’s nice to know they don’t do look (at least not often), thanks.
As for finances, my parents have more than enough to pay for me (even for State), but it’s a lot and I’m hoping to pay them back in the future (which will make it harder for me to do if I go to university).
So, do you think MSU may also be into consideration? What are your thoughts based on the new information I’ve given you?
If you are choosing a college to prepare for transfer to University of Michigan, use https://transfercredit.ugadmiss.umich.edu/ to check whether its courses cover the frosh/soph courses at University of Michigan for your intended or possible majors.
A given course from another college may be listed as “not transferable”, transferable as generic departmental credit (e.g. generic math credit or generic history credit), or transferable as equivalent to a specific University of Michigan course. It is best if you find the latter for all courses that you need for your intended or possible majors, so that you do not have to retake a bunch of courses after transfer.
The agreement that @happymomof1 was referring to I’m pretty sure is called an “Articulation Agreement.” Many CCs have them with senior colleges. Basically an AA guarantees transfer of your classes’ credits to the senior college. Regardless of AAs or no AAs, you can transfer to ANY senior college that accepts you. Whether they accept all of your credits is another story. This is one reason why some choose to complete their Associate’s Degree in CC before transferring. That guarantees that their credits are counted at least in completion of that degree.
One way to find whether your CC has an AA with any senior colleges is to look online. Sorting through the website might be challenging. You can google and and that usually pulls them up.
@Dustyfeathers - Yesterday when I looked up articulation agreements at UMich, I did not find specific information about guaranteed transfer admission, just guaranteed course equivalencies https://admissions.umich.edu/michigan-transfer-agreement so that’s why I used the wording that I did. Perhaps UMich doesn’t offer guaranteed admission for any CC programs. Many state universities do include guaranteed admission for specific coursework and stats in at least some of their articulation agreements with in-state CCs.
UMich treats its transfers from CC horribly - lots of classes don’t transfer BUT count as “general credit”, which means they’re enrolled as upper level students and have to pay the extra fee, but have to retake all the “missing” UMich classes… thus boxing them in when they reach their upper limit for credits.
So, my recommendation is to attend Wayne State, do very well (perhaps try to get into the Honors program if you’re not in it yet) and reassess January sophomore year.
I might have not been clear and for that I apologize. Certainly I wasn’t trying to correct you but was trying to supply the name of the agreement. That’s all and I hope that I wasn’t implying that AAs guarantee ADMISSION. They guarantee TRANSFER OF CREDITS should the person be admitted. Often the senior college doesn’t list its AAs but the CC often will list it’s AAs with senior colleges, in my limited experience. This means google and I would be shocked if a senior college has signed any agreements with junior colleges to accept any student that came along regardless of grades, character, or other parts of their record–and then there’s the space issue at the senior college. The accepting college would want to reserve the right to refused a student for whatever reason might come up, I should think.
At the bottom of the above linked page, you will see a link to http://apps.engin.umich.edu/equivalencies/ which is for University of Michigan College of Engineering transfer credit.
Yes, accept Honors, it actually makes it easier to transfer because the classes are recognized as “higher level”. It’s also less “memorize/regurgitate” and more “think critically and discuss”. Also, Honors may “unlock” extra scholarships.