CC to State school

Transfer Students
1

<p>I have a few questions about transferring from a community college (Gloucester County College) to a state college (Rowan University). First, I would like to give you some information that I think may be helpful in answering me. </p>

<p>This spring I am finishing up my second year at community college and just started getting into classes that I am actually receiving credit for. I came into community college with very mediocre to poor knowledge of writing/reading/math. I really didn't do much in high school and only scored a 1340 on my SAT (reading/writing/math combined) with my scores falling like this: Reading>Math>writing(which I did extremely poor on, my score was a 2/10 iirc from the paper I wrote). I had an original plan to get an associates in business and become an electrician when I was in high school and kept that plan up until the middle of my 1st fall semester of college, but then I decided I really wanted to get into some kind of hardware/software development because I love computers and always have. I have always been obsessed with circuit boards and things of that nature since I was very young, taking apart my uncle's Casio calculators, and other electronics. My problem in high school was that I was focused in other areas, like video games(WoW, diablo, etc.) and that is why I did not learn very much in high school. </p>

<p>I came into community college with my first math class being: addition, subtraction, etc. The sad part(and embarrassing) was that I was in the class and, I didn't know how to work fractions and decimals but the good part was that I learned how to. Fast forward to now after 2 algebra classes, trig, and pre-calc; I am in calculus I. I was going to spend another year and half at community college and get my associates in engineering science, but after looking at Rowan's ECE curriculum and seeing that the majority (except 4) of the classes I have to take for my associates wont be accepted towards an ECE degree at Rowan, I really just want to apply and transfer to Rowan and start there as a freshmen essentially.</p>

<p>Now, my GPA isn't high enough to get into the uber competitive(from what I've read and heard by word of mouth) engineering program at Rowan, at least a (3.0) GPA is required, I have a (2.8), according to my unofficial academic transcripts. This is for two reasons ( I don't want to make excuses but I'm listing them anyway)</p>

<p>1.) I work and go to school
2.) about 2/3's of my classes (especially the lower-level, easier ones) didn't count towards my GPA at all.
3.) I took mostly electives outside of my pre reqs, which I had no desire in at all. I've had 2 math course and 1 science class that has counted towards my GPA so far.</p>

<p>I'm figuring that my best bet would be to transfer into Rowan as undecided and then attempt to switch to their ECE program, but for me to apply as undecided, I need to drop 2 of my classes this semester ( I was taking 5 total), that way I am not over the limit of 45 credits to be able to transfer as undecided. Now I have calculated out, with online GPA calculators that if I get an A in all three of my classes(which I think I can do because I like them) it will bump my GPA up to (3.13).</p>

<p>This is where my questions come in</p>

<p>1.) Can I "attempt" to transfer to Rowan's engineering program after I have been accepted as undecided right away? As in, before the fall semester starts, but after this spring semester? Or will I have to wait a certain time period?</p>

<p>2.) Is Rowan's Engineering program, specifically the ECE program really that hard to get into? </p>

<p>3.) Depending on your response to the previous to questions, do you think I should just stay at community college?</p>

<p>4.) Are there are any other important questions I should have asked and/or any information you need from me to help answering these questions?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

<p>Edit: The classes I am taking right are Chem 2, Calc I, and Intro to Program: Visual Basic</p>

2

<p>It should be noted that I’m going to talk to someone at Rowan about these same questions, and that they could help a lot more than anyone here probably. </p>

<p>I’m really just looking for advice too…my sister pointed out to be that I may be better off waiting another semester to get my GPA and then try to transfer right into the engineering program. Plus I will have Calc II under my belt and Physics I</p>

3

<p>Engineering in general, is extremely difficult, and I hear that ECE is the hardest of all the disciplines. If you are not used to working extremely hard and getting top grades, sorry to say you probably won’t last. Why not just major in Computer Science, not that it will be much easier but at least it’s not as intense and doesn’t require as much science. I will answer your questions to the best of my knowledge.</p>

<p>1) Transfers into engineering at Rowan are only considered in the fall. If you come in as undecided this fall, you will have to apply and compete with all incoming freshman the following fall. This is also true if you want to switch disciplines (ex: from ECE to MechE). You should know that transferring into engineering as a sophomore or later will likely put you behind since you essentially lost a year of classes, so you may not graduate in four years unless you make up classes during breaks. </p>

<p>2) Yes it’s competitive. Here are some articles on the 2011 accepted students stats:
<a href=“Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering | College of Engineering | Rowan University”>Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering | College of Engineering | Rowan University;

<p>3) No, you should get a 4 year degree, and I don’t think community college offers that. You should apply anyway, choosing Computer Science as an alternate major, in case you don’t get into ECE. Take classes that count toward both CS and ECE major and apply again the following fall, and this way you shouldn’t fall too far behind. This will also give you a year to decide if you want to stay with CS or indeed move to ECE.</p>

<p>All engineering students take accelerated Calc I and II their freshman year. This is essentially Calc I, II, and III squeezed into two classes. If you come in with Calc I and II, you can just take Calc III to complete the series. I don’t think your Intro to Programming or Phyics I classes will count for anything, put check with Rowan.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>