So, I got 3 responses from colleges (case western, purdue, and u michigan), and I only got into Purdue. Neither me nor my parents want me to go to purdue, and im getting worried cause i thought i would get into case. i applied to a couple of other safeties, but i dont have intentions of going there. i have a 2130 sat score, a 3.79 gpa, 780 math 2, 760 chem sat score, and im afraid that im going to go to community college.
additionally, i dont see the point in going to my safeties and purdue considering i can easily transfer into them after 2 years of CC, while saving money. do you recommend I go to community college and transfer out, or stick to my safeties or purdue.
thanks for your input.
First off, do you have any form of merit or other financial aid to go to Purdue or any of your safeties? If not, then it might be better to go to a community college then transfer, as long as you know your courses will transfer. Check into that before completely discarding the option of a 4-year college.
@albert69 my parents CAN afford college. its just that i dont see a use in spending 20k a year, when i can get into the schools 2 years later. i dont see a reason for wasting 40k even if my parents can pay for it.
Well, that is great that they can afford that, and I applaud you for wanting to be considerate and frugal with your parents’ money. If they are really willing to shell it out, doing the community college then transfer option might leave you some money for grad school. So you didn’t apply for scholarships?
What are your safeties and what are you planning to major in? And have you looked through all the courses you plan to take and confirmed that they do in fact transfer?
You can get a great education at a community college, but some community colleges are better than others. Rankings for two-year colleges are available on a number of sites.
You should also learn how to maximize your transferability. Google “avoid community college transfer problem” for some basic guidelines. (I’m afraid that if I posted links to the actual pages they would get deleted as violations of CC Terms of Service.)
There is nothing wrong with starting at a CC. My D went 3 yrs to CC, applied to Pharmacy School and got in. It was the best decision, she feels, she ever made. Worked as a Pharmacy Tech during that time, still does, just a lot less hours and she walked into Pharm School with no previous debt. But yes, make sure credits transfer.
@albert69 i applied as a electrical engineering major, but i really dont want to do that. my parents kinda just made me. what i wanna do is major in statistics or math and minor in math, and i need to find a way to tell them that while preventing a heart attack. my safeties are sjsu and virginia tech. other schools i applied to include, stanford, usc, georgia tech, uiuc, northwetsern, cornell (but based on my decisions so far, i dont think ill get into them).
the CC i will attend is de anza college, and they have a really good reputation with UC’s (they have a transfer articulation program) i believe it has the 2nd highest transfer rates to UC’s in california in regards to community college.
@WasatchWriter i will be going to De Anza college, which has a good reputation in terms of transferring to UC’s (in california)
Yes! CNNMoney ranks De Anza as #10 of all 2-year-colleges for transferability, and it’s consistently ranked #1 or #2 for transfers to the UCs and CSUs. TheBestSchools.org ranks it #15 in overall quality.
Read through here http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/
Many students go to CC as money saving regardless of grades/scores.
What do you want to do with your math/statistics degrees, if you went into that? Why do your parents want you to go into electrical engineering?
If you really like the community college option (and it sounds like you have a good one) then that might be a good way to go. You are still going to have to decide on a 4-year college to go to at some point, though. I understand that your top choice was Case - are you hoping to transfer there later?
@albert69 with a math/statistics degree, i hope to become an actuary. i just started studying for exam p (the first actuarial exam), and although i currently do not have the math background to take the test, i enjoy studying for it. if that doesn’t work out, I believe i can still get a career in operations research, computer science, finance/economics, and if all else fails, I’m fine with becoming a teacher.
Case was my top choice, but I think UC’s will take all my credits considering my school has a transfer articulation program with the UC’s and CSU’s. ill reconsider my schools in CC. Im not sure if Case will take all my credits, and I certainly do not want to waste my time repeating courses.
I was just going to mention being an actuary if you are going into math and statistics. I think that is probably at least comparable if not better, job placement and income-wise, than EE. Perhaps you could show your parents some statistics on the pay and job availability of actuaries to sway their opinion.
Both options are probably good. Do what feels best.
For a math or statistics major, almost any CC in California should have the frosh/soph math prerequisites (calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and probably discrete math) to transfer to a UC or CSU. De Anza is one of the few that may have a calculus-based introductory statistics course (not required for the statistics major, but can give you an idea of what statistics is like, though it is not clear how regularly it is offered, according to http://faculty.deanza.edu/solerfrank/stories/storyReader$8 ). Use http://www.assist.org to check course articulation.
However, if you are advanced in math, you may find yourself running out of math courses at any CC in your second year (before transfer), since upper division math and statistics courses are not available at CCs. Whether this is important to you depends on whether you would like the opportunity to take upper division courses earlier than third year (after transfer).
Did you apply to any UCs, or any CSUs beyond SJSU, for frosh admission?
Were any of the big merit schools listed in the threads linked from http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html of any interest?
You can read http://www.beanactuary.com for more on actuarial preparation and careers.
If you do decide to go back to EE, be aware that De Anza does not have good course coverage of Berkeley EECS prerequisites, according to http://www.assist.org (few CCs do, though you may be able to cover the electronics course and the data structures course at various different CCs). Coverage is somewhat better for some other UC and CSU EE majors.
@ucbalumnus yes, i applied to all UC’s except merced, riverside, and santa cruz… and i applied to cal poly SLO and SJSU. i am doing dual enrollment, so next year will be my 2nd year at community college (even though im a HS senior now). i will need to take calc d, linear algebra, and differential equations next year as i am currently enrolled in calc B for the winter quarter. are there any math classes beyong linear algebra and diff. equations i would need to take?
If De Anza is your dual enrollment CC, the math courses to take would be
Math 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D: calculus and multivariable calculus
Math 2A: differential equations
Math 2B: linear algebra
Math 22: discrete math
Math 23: engineering statistics
These are the most advanced math courses that you can take at De Anza or other CC. If you wish to study more advanced math before transfer, you would have to self-study on your own time (non-credit, of course).
You may have the option of applying to transfer as a junior after your first year of CC after high school graduation (i.e. one year CC, two years at the UC or CSU). But you need to be sure that you can complete other requirements for transfer as well (e.g. English composition, foreign language, etc. as specified by each UC or CSU campus, or complete the IGETC list to cover all of this and general education requirements for most UC or CSU campuses and majors). In addition, you need to complete 90 quarter units (or 60 semester units – De Anza is on the quarter system) by the time you intend to transfer (AP credit can count toward these, but at the UC or CSU valuation, not at De Anza’s valuation).
Given your actuarial interests, it may be worth taking Econ 1 and 2, Business 10, and perhaps some CS courses at De Anza before transfer.
If admitted to the UCs or CSUs that you applied to as a frosh, what would factor into choosing to attend one as a frosh versus starting at De Anza?
@ucbalumnus yes, thanks for the input. i already took econ 1 and bus 10, and will take CIS 22A in the winter quarter. i will look to take econ 2 sometime in the future as well. also, if i take calc D over the summer, i believe i can get through all of De Anza’s math classes.
i finished about 1/4 of my igetc’s so far, so i will have to hurry up on the rest i guess.
again, thanks for the input.
@ucbalumnus also, would i have to take engineering statistics, if i want to major in actuarial science, statistics, or math? is engineering statistics just calc based stats?
also, i cant seem to find “engineering statistics” listed as a course.
https://www.deanza.edu/schedule/classes/?qttr=W
is it still available at de anza?
It appears that De Anza Math 23 is only irregularly offered. The alternative introductory statistics course, Math 10, is non-calculus-based (like high school AP statistics). You may have to ask De Anza if Math 23 will be offered in the future if you wish to take that course.