Hi All,
I’ve been looking at pre-requisites for some graduate programs (for example MS in Economics or MA in applied economics) and I noticed that some of the more prestigious programs had more required courses that I should have taken (sometimes multiple levels of calculus or differential equations or advanced data analysis or something along those lines).
I was wondering, lets say I finish my undergraduate and after working for a few years I decide I want to apply to one of those programs. Is it OK for me to just take select classes at a community college that I need in order to satisfy application requirements? In that case, do I just send multiple transcripts?
Thanks,
Phil
If the community college offers the classes, this would be fine. Or, if there is a four-year school near home, you can look into enrolling as a non-degree student. You may need a four year school to find an advanced data analysis course, for example. The tricky part is a non-degree student may have lower registration priority.
Yes, you will need to send multiple transcripts if you attend multiple schools.
Yea that’s what I figured. When it comes to straight math courses, community college would work fine but I might have to splurge if what’s required is higher level economics/econometrics or data analysis.
Pay attention to registration priority. Back in the stone age, I ended up registering as a “senior transfer” so that I could get into courses I was picking up at my home-state public U before heading to grad school.
If you are short only one class you might be able to pick it up as a Master’s student. I did this and it was no problem. at all.
If you are short multiple classes I agree with other posts that you should be able to pick them up at a local CC or university.
Here’s the policy at Arizona State for students who want to take some graduate classes: https://students.asu.edu/graduate/nondegree
And for taking undergraduate courses: https://students.asu.edu/admission/nondegree
I would imagine that this is fairly typical for most state universities. You will register after degree-seeking students. But from the university’s standpoint, this is gravy for them. It’s like filing the last hotel rooms or airplane seats, but you still have to pay full in-state or OOS tuition.
Understood. Like I said, if it’s offered at my local CC I’ll take it there. I just wanted to make sure that it’s even possible and I’m glad to discover it is.
Guys I have a follow up question. If I’m possibly going to apply to a competitive masters program, is it worth it to maybe go back and get an associates in whatever is related to the masters program? Let me give you an example:
I’m going to have a BSBA in Finance when I graduate, but I won’t have taken any upper level math courses (I can get away with simplified business calculus for finance degrees)
However, maybe I’ll want to apply to a Masters in Data Analytics or Masters in Financial Engineering program further down the line which requires more complex math courses. At that point, would it be worth it to try to get an associates degree in math? Or will simply taking the requires courses be enough?
If your wanted to get a master’s in engineering and wanted to complete the prerequisites for it at a community college then getting an A.S in pre-engineering would be the way to do it becuase an A.S in math does not have classes in engineering and may not even have classes or physics or chemistry.
I never heard of financial engineering. Is it business based or is it science based like any field of engineering is?
Financial engineering is business, mathematics, and computer science based
Example from UC Berkeley:
Applicants need to demonstrate a strong quantitative background including linear algebra, multivariate calculus, differential equations, numerical analysis, and advanced statistics and probability. Check the Prerequisite Course List for details. You should also have prior exposure in computer programming (C, C++) and familiarity with computers as a computational and management tool.
I’m possibly going to do a minor in Economics, Data Science, MIS, Real Estate Development, or Computer Science. That would probably help me with the pre-requisites for some of the programs. However, I’ll probably still be lacking the math skills no matter what, and I can’t do a math minor because it takes 38 units instead of the 24 most other ones take.
There is no advantage to getting an AS versus simply taking the prerequisite courses as a non-degree student. This latter option (taking courses) should be sufficient for the majority of graduate programs. I can’t speak to financial engineering or data science programs, but that’s what I did as someone with a BS in biology who later ended up applying for mechanical engineering MS programs. Most programs sought applicants who had, at some point, taken the prerequisite courses; some programs didn’t consider applicants without a BS in a relevant or closely related discipline.