<p>I am wanting to go to my home-state college, Ohio University, next fall 2013. I have been home schooled my high school years with the exception of my freshman year. If I was in high school I would be graduating my senior year this coming june. I have been going to community college since my sophomore year and will have a accumulated around 45-50 credit hours by the time I would be starting OU with a college gpa of about 3.0. I called the admissions office and they said I could apply to either one but they were leaning more to the freshman one. I feel it would be easier to apply as a transfer student reason being I dont have to go out and take a ACT/SAT test, I dont have to go get a ged or show them a long list of homeschool books and documents and it just seems like it would be less competitive. Its a state college, its not to hard to get into. Any thoughts or opinions? Thanks :)</p>
<p>Transfer admissions are more competitive and give you worse financial aid, pretty much universally. The only possible advantage you could get from applying as a transfer is finishing school earlier.</p>
<p>^^^ ditto</p>
<p>Better to apply as a new freshmen. The CC classes would be equivalent to “dual enrollment” if you were in a traditional HS. As CC classes, I think they would transfer the same way regardless. You are not that much different from a new freshman with Sophomore standing due to AP and Dual Enrollment credit. Confirm which CC classes would transfer. Not all classes will be accepted. Core classes are more likely to transfer. Specialty classes are more dicey.</p>
<p>You might want to ask the FA office about differences. You might also want to talk to your Admissions Rep about differences in review. Some programs do not accept transfers until the Junior year (they have too many freshmen and sophmores).</p>
<p>Ask the college or go to the College Board’s Big Future website and compare fr and transfer admit rates. While it is often more difficult to be admitted as a transfer to selective colleges, it is not a universal, and particularly your in-state public it may have a pretty high transfer rate. </p>
<p>Agree that you should call the FA office and ask if there are any policy differences between fr and transfers and if transfers receive similar FA packages as fr.</p>
<p>Finally, if you are looking for merit scholarships, they are generally more abundant and for larger amounts for fr than for transfers.</p>
<p>What experience does the Transfer Advisor at your community college have with students like you? Are there a whole bunch of home-schoolers enrolled there?</p>
<p>What is your overall GPA like? A 3.0 is not likely to get you merit-based aid anywhere, and at public universities need-based aid generally is limited to federal money, which means that you would actually be at an advantage as a transfer, because you would be able to borrow more money sooner.</p>
<p>Lastly, if you are happy at the community college, why not stay and finish your full AA or AS there? If there are articulation agreements between your community college and this university for your major(s), you would only need two years at that university.</p>
<p>I am not concerned about finical aid what so ever. My family more then enough money to put me through college. I am just asking why I wouldn’t apply as a transfer student. Im not finishing my AA because I wont be finished with it until after school starts.</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies!</p>
<p>If aid isn’t an issue, then pay another visit to the admissions office, and ask whether or not applying in one category or another makes a difference for you. For example, if you enroll as a transfer, you might have better priority for class registration.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that as a transfer, your ability to switch majors will be limited to nonexistent, so you need to be pretty sure about what you want to do.</p>