Going back to school - Gameplan okay for top engineering school?

Applying to College
1

<p>First, I'll start by saying my life's ambition is to get a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT, Stanford, or Berkeley. I understand the difficulty of being accepted, but as long as it's not impossible I am going to do it. I joined the Navy at 20 (I'm 24 now), and have four more years left on my contract as an Electronic's Technician. </p>

<p>I just recently started taking college classes for the first time at Thomas Edison State College. My current plan is to get my associates from TESC (online classes), and attend additional math and other prerequisite courses towards a bachelor's in EE from San Diego City College (local classes). Then, I will transfer those credits (60-90 credits) to University of Washington (my home state) when I get out of the navy, where I will finish my Bachelor's in about 1-2 years time. </p>

<p>What I am curious about is will an associates from TESC and some math classes from San Diego City look bad becuase they're from community colleges? Let's say I transfer 80 credits to UW from both TESC and SDCC, and finish the last 40 credits at UW. If I maintain a high GPA, get involved with research, an internship, have good LOR's, good GRE scores, will I have a running chance? Will being a veteran help me with my goals? Would the fact that I'm an Electronic's technician help me in any way? Or would the fact that I'm attending TESC and SDCC hurt me too much with the very high competition? I'm worried that TESC is not credible enough.</p>

<p>I know it might sound ridiculous to even speak about a graduates degree from MIT, Stanford, or Berkely before you even have an associates degree from TESC, but I don't want to mistep on my journey. I know that in reality the odds of accomplishing this is slim to none, but you have to take big chances, and you have to dream big to make it big, right? I believe my work ethic and character has what it takes to accomplish this! </p>

<p>If my current plan is insufficient, what do you suggest I do? How can I improve on it? I'm just a dumby, I haven't taken any college classes in my life, so I need some help :). And frankly, the counselor's at navy college (the college reps) have been pretty bad. So I'm visiting a counselor at the SDCC campus instead, but I wanted your opinion too. I can only attend college part time for the next four years. Especially since I'm in a rigorous program for the Navy (littoral combat ship). I appreciate your time, and thanks in advance for your response!</p>

2

<p>State universities tend to accept a lot of transfer students from community colleges. Yes, some students do go from community college to state university to PhD program at top research university in their major.</p>

<p>University of Washington has this page:
[Quick</a> Answers | Transfer Credit | University of Washington](<a href=“http://admit.washington.edu/QuickAnswers/Tag/92]Quick”>http://admit.washington.edu/QuickAnswers/Tag/92)</p>

<p>It has a link to transfer credit from Washington community colleges.</p>

<p>For California community colleges to state universities in California, you can use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to determine which courses you will need to take at community college to transfer to the desired major at a state university in California.</p>

<p>But out of state transfer credit evaluation (e.g. California community college to University of Washington) is often not pre-done, so you would need individual evaluation of your course work.</p>

<p>As an armed forces veteran, your ability to acquire California residency will not be dependent on your parents’ residence. If you wish to transfer to a state university in California, you may want to check the California residency rules:
[Legal</a> Residence Information - Office Of The Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Residency/legalinfo.html]Legal”>http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Residency/legalinfo.html)</p>

3

<p>For electrical engineering preparation at San Diego City College, some of the requirements should be fairly similar for various universities. Almost certainly required:</p>

<p>Math 150: Calculus with Analytic Geometry I
Math 151: Calculus with Analytic Geometry II
Math 252: Calculus with Analytic Geometry III
Math 254: Introduction to Linear Algebra
Math 255: Differential Equations
Physics 195: Mechanics
Physics 196: Electricity and Magnetism
English 101: Reading and Composition
English 205: Critical Thinking and Intermediate Composition</p>

<p>May be required, or can fulfill option courses:</p>

<p>Physics 197: Waves, Optics, and Modern Physics
Math 245: Discrete Math
Computer Science courses
Chemistry 200/200L: General Chemistry I/Laboratory
Chemistry 201/201L: General Chemistry II/Laboratory
Other science courses
Engineering 210: Properties of Materials
Engineering 240: Digital Systems
Engineering 260: Electric Circuits
Humanities and Social Studies courses for breadth requirements</p>

<p>For University of Washington, you can look at its degree requirements for electrical engineering, so that you can take the courses at San Diego City College that cover as much as possible before transfer:</p>

<p>[Electrical</a> Engineering](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/ee.html]Electrical”>http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/ee.html)</p>

<p>Note: University of Washington and some University of California and California State University schools are on the quarter system (four 10 week terms per academic year, of which students normally take three per year), while San Diego City College is on the semester system (two 15 week terms plus an 8 week summer session per academic year). Each quarter credit unit is 2/3 of a semester credit unit, because a typical student will take 45 credit units over three quarters versus 30 credit units over two semesters.</p>