I’m really confused on how this would work. I want to major in electrical engineering and it would be great to start making money an Electronics Engineering Technician two years in. These classes will be used towards my B.S. when I transfer to my four year… correct? The way these classes are listed I don’t understand exactly how many units I have to take to earn this.
Normally it depends on what university you want to go to. If you wanted to go to Texas A&m for example, they have a course equivalency website and it says none of the courses on that page will transfer… But that might just be because its Texas and your in California. See if the school you want to transfer to has a page like that.
https://compass-ssb.tamu.edu/pls/PROD/bwxkwtes.P_TransEquivMain?te_type=inst
Because a lot of 4 year universities don’t take many vocational school engineering technician classes except to meet elective requirements, because (speaking broadly) technician schools teach a set of skills that engineering students don’t require like “electronic maintenance core”. That is a technician class because on the job a technician needs to know how to maintain the interments, but an engineer is always required to know that.
If you want to decrease the cost of college, try starting at the 4 year university and then during every summer take 12-15 hours of community college classes at Orange Coast (like calculus 3 or some elective classes). If you take 12-15 hours per summer, for 2 summers (24-30 hours), It will fast track your degree to make you get almost 1 year faster! And if you want, with that extra year, you can build in 3 Co Ops (1 summer, fall, and spring) into your graduation plan, so that you can have 1 year of Electrical engineering experience.
While the Co Op will only last for 1 year, it will make more money than working as a technician, and it normally leads to at least 1 job offer after college. The key is to go to a university that has a good Co Op / Internship program.
That “is always required” should say “isn’t always required”
and “degree to make you get almost 1 year faster!” Should say “degree to make you get out almost 1 year faster!”
If you want to get into an EE program, and you are starting at a CC, you will have to take a completely different sequence of courses than you would to get a Technical Associates Degree. I agree that a strong Co-Op program will be your best option because you will be doing the job or an engineer in in training not a technician. This will be good for finding a job after graduation.