Currently At Community College - Should I Complete Associate's or Transfer ASAP?

<p>My priorities were not in order upon first entering a four year institution and consequently, my grades suffered for three semesters. I've decided to leave and attend my local Community College for the coming Fall semester to get back on track and "start fresh", and then transfer to another great University. </p>

<p>So my question is: Should I complete my Associate's in Computer Engineering Technologies, or should I transfer out after a semester? I have two main concerns. First, I want to show good colleges that I have what it takes to succeed, and that my time at my first University does not represent my academic character. I had a high GPA in high school, and I had a high SAT score. Assuming I pull a 3.8+ GPA in the Community College, would one semester of excellent performance suffice, or would I need to go the extra mile and earn an Associates to fully prove myself? As for my second concern, I want to make sure that my credits from the Community College will transfer over. I don't want to earn my Associate's and then find out that only a semester's worth of credits would transfer over, which would mean that I would need to "start over" and stay in college for another 3-4 more years. </p>

<p>Any advice is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>For whether your courses transfer, check your transfer target schools to see if they have an articulation agreement with your CC (it is most likely for same-state public universities).</p>

<p>California: [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org)
Several states (mostly midwest): <a href=“http://www.transfer.org%5B/url%5D”>http://www.transfer.org</a>
Florida: use the common course numbers to check equivalency
others: search for “transfer credit” on the school web site</p>

<p>

What do you think? Would you disregard three semesters of data at a four year college in favor of one at a CC? I don’t think so…</p>

<p>@Erin’s Dad OP never specified whether the old transcripts would be sent along. By a “fresh start” I would assume OP intends only to send CC transcripts and be a freshman again.</p>

<p>In that case, your high school performance matters a lot. If you didn’t do extremely well in high school, a second semester at the CC would probably help.</p>

<p>Most colleges do not allow students who have already attended significant amounts of college after graduating high school to ignore such records to apply as frosh.</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus I didn’t know that.</p>

<p>@OP: You have to figure out what the colleges you want to apply to would say. You can talk to an admissions rep yourself and describe this situation to see what they would recommend. You won’t find more college-specific advice than that from a rep at a college you’re applying to.</p>

<p>AFAIK, all colleges check here [National</a> Student Clearinghouse](<a href=“http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/]National”>http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/) to see whether students have already been in school.</p>