Early College at a Mediocre School?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello Everyone,
I just finished my junior year at a private prep school, and I didn't do too well. It's one of the best in my rural state, but most of the people go on to LACs and I'm really interested in Engineering, as my name would suggest. My school is so small that there is literally zero choice in what classes you take. I didn't find my classes too interesting and didn't do my homework for much of the year. I just barely passed English and I got an 82 average first semester and a 78 second semester :( A few more things about me, I've done a lot of Engineering reading and projects outside of school and am a coleader of our Math/Engineering club. I took the SAT for the first time last Saturday (late I know) so I don't know what I got but my practice tests were around 2200. So everything's pretty good except my grades.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what to do for my senior year. I applied to an Early College / Dual Enrollment program at a state tech college near me, basically I would take a standard college courseload and get high school credit for it. The college is not very rigorous or well regarded, mostly it's a place for people like Electricians, Machinists and Nurses to get their degrees, and I want to go into like product design. The courses I would be taking at the college look fairly interesting and I think I would learn a lot, especially second semester. I already know a fair bit of the material, but it looks really similar to other freshman engineering classes at better colleges that I would have to take anyway. I'm confident I would do better at that school, both because I am really interested and I don't think it would be too hard. Also, it would allow me to take Calc over the summer and have Calc 3 done by the time I graduate, while my high school only offers up to Calc 1. At the technical college, I think I would learn a lot, be able to apply my skills, be done with college a year earlier, and meet some interesting people, not to mention that it is a lot cheaper than a year at a better college.</p>

<p>However, I would want to go to a better school after a year, something like WPI, RPI, or Cal Poly SLO. Would a change of schools look like I wanted to get some more hands-on experience and pursue my passions (completely true) or that I couldn't handle the more rigorous school (slightly true) and wanted to do something easier? The last part is totally not true, there aren't any other early college programs in the state and I would gladly do a more rigorous engineering program if I could. My high school says they really want me to stay, and is offering a merit scholarship, free tutoring, and the ability to take one engineering course at the local University (as opposed to the three of lower quality I would take at the state college). Should I just stick it out at my current school and try to get better grades, or go do the early college program that would be more interesting? What would college admissions look more favorably on?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading such a long long story!</p>

<p>TL;DR My grades are terrible, should I go to a mediocre college a year early?</p>

2

<p>Does this “mediocre” college have an ABET-accredited mechanical engineering degree program? Or are its math and physics courses generally considered transferable to your state’s flagship university for engineering majors?</p>

3

<p>Yep, all their programs are ABET accredited. There’s an Articulation Agreement between them and the flagship university for Mechanical Engineering, I’m not sure on the specifics but I would assume everything would be transferable. The flagship is a decent school, I’m not too interested in it though, I want to get out of the state eventually.</p>

<p>Edit: I just looked into it more, the articulation is only after two years. And to give you an idea of this school, their average SAT score is a 1375. Out of 2400.</p>

4

<p>Low HS GPA may hinder your ability to go out of state. Out of state publics generally won’t give good financial aid, although a few (like in South Dakota) are quite low priced. The private schools with the best financial aid tend to be the most selective ones. If you take a lot of college courses, including advanced ones, in high school, and get a 4.0 in them, then some more holistic admissions readers may overlook the lower HS GPA.</p>

<p>In any case, if the flagship accepts the other school’s courses for subject credit toward an engineering major, and the other school itself has ABET-accredited engineering majors, then it is likely that those courses will be of sufficient quality.</p>

5

<p>Just make sure that as a High School student doing dual enrollment that your priority is high enough that you will get the classes you really want or need. Being lowest priority this can be tricky. If you can’t get what you need don’t do it. </p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>These seem to be in conflict. The local college’s interest to promote their own value. You should discount this and speak DIRECTLY with the admissions dept of the state flagship university. Tell them you’re considering them but the local college might need to be your first stop. See what they say. </p>

<p>I don’t want you to be taken in by some slick admissions officer at the local college, having you take courses that will be meaningless for your eventual 4 year degree. People do lie.</p>

7

<p>Would you mind clarifying a few questions? You mention machinists, electricians, and articulation agreements. Is this a community college or a 4 yr university?</p>

<p>Also, have you considered a couple of different scenarios? Many schools will not accept all transfer credit. Simply bc an instate flagship will does not guarantee that other schools will. How will feel if your courses are not accepted and you have to retake them? Some schools that do accept transfer credit also bring in your transfer GPA and factor it in with your classes there. So, will you be willing to work hard enough to live with the grades forever?</p>

8

<p>You need to find out if this would be a year of Dual-Enrollment or if it is truly an Early Admission situation.</p>

<p>With Dual-Enrollment, your college courses would apply toward HS graduation as well as possibly being transferrable if you decide to go somewhere else for college. You also would maintain your freshman applicant status at other colleges and universities for fall 2015. </p>

<p>With Early Admission, you would be saying bye-bye to high school entirely, and just starting your college life a year (or more) early. Early Admission would make you a regular transfer student if you decide to apply anywhere else after a year at this first college. If it is a community college with formal articulation agreements with one or more 4-year colleges/universities, completing those requirements before transfer isn’t a terrible idea. However if it is a 4-year institution already and your goal is to “transfer up” to another 4-year, you need to know that the financial aid situation probably won’t be good.</p>

<p>Along the aid line, you also need to check out the rules for filing the FAFSA. It is my understanding that recent changes require that a person have a high school diploma or GED in order to receive any federal aid. </p>

9

<p>Thanks for the comments and good questions guys. I went and met with the college today, I asked them and it is a Dual Enrollment program, not Early Admission. I would be going through the standard senior college app process next year and get my high school diploma from the college. It’s a four year college, but about half of the students leave after two years with an associate’s degree. I would be taking all college courses if I went there, and they gave me a free ride which is definitely coming into this decision.</p>

<p>@T26E4‌ @Mom2aphysicsgeek‌ Yep, I’m worried about other colleges not accepting the transfer credits. I’m thinking about calling the state University and some other ones I’m thinking about whether they will as well as which they would prefer to see in an applicant.</p>

<p>@lab317‌ I’m not really sure what you mean by priority. The college has their whole schedule laid out already for next year, they gave me a copy of the standard MechE schedule. I’m trying to see if I can drop one class I’ve already done and take a more advanced course during the time I have open, but they said there’s no way to change the schedule.</p>

10

<p>Some of the classes for Engineering majors fill very quickly each semester. Generally you are allowed to register for classes based on your registration priority. As a High School student you are generally last to register for classes with the lowest priority. This isn’t a problem if there are lots of seats in the classes you need but if not you could be stuck having to wait a semester or two to get those classes. That could throw your whole plan off. Just double check.</p>

11

<p>It may be hard for others to give you more specific suggestions and recommendations without knowing what “mediocre school” this is. Different people have different notions of what “mediocre” is, which may or may not match up with the school’s actual suitability for taking frosh/soph level courses for mechanical engineering, with the possibility of transferring the credit to another school.</p>

12

<p>Is this “mediocre school” part of the U of MI or the Penn State U system? If so, there are very clear pathways for students from the various campuses to transfer to and complete their degree programs at the main campus. Should either of those be your case, I really don’t think you have anything to worry about provided you put in the work for the first two years at the branch campus so that you are indeed well-prepared for transfer to the main campus.</p>