I am currently a junior in my spring semester. I came into this school undeclared because the school wouldn’t let me change it because I had to come in as a summer start freshman. I had landed at this school which is out of state because it was the only school I had been accepted into that I applied. Also, my state did not have any schools that I wanted to attend that would fit my needs. This university was the most affordable at the time if I had all my loans and financial aid factored in.
at the beginning of my sophomore year, I was finally able to set my major to engineering which was originally what I wanted to go to school for. However, I wasn’t doing so well in it and ended up changing my major after that school year. The University had me take summer courses to catch up a little bit. Assuming I was all caught up which was really my bad, I decided to continue out my college career here. I had just found out and realized I am still behind, and no matter what I do I still need to come back to school for the fifth year. It wouldn’t be an issue, but I really can’t afford another out of state tuition here after my senior year according to my parents. I know I should have just taken the initiative and asked before going to my fall semester, but I had trusted my advisors because they had said they were going to exempt some required courses like science and math because I had taken physics and up to calculus 2.
I don’t mind this university and at times I really love it here, but I am starting to feel like coming here in the future isn’t worth it because I will end up hitting a wall and end up being in college for way longer having to retake credits again and even waste more money in the process. That is why I am asking should I now after this semester and try and go to school in state or just stay here? I don’t want to keep taking classes here and have them not be able to transfer over as i feel it would dig me into a deeper hole. Please, someone, help me or give suggestions!
Sit down with an adviser and map out what courses you need to graduate. My daughter did that but the adviser wasn’t clear what still needed to be taken and in what order. The adviser didn’t tell her if she took XYZ , math in the summer, and all upper division classes next semester she can graduate in 8 semesters (she took one off). I think the adviser was just assuming she’d go the 9th semester.
I did a little playing around with the courses offered and figured out how to do it in 8 semesters, with one class in the summer. The advisers sometimes don’t realize how much it costs to go an extra semester or year. In D’s case, she’ll lose her merit aid after 8 semesters. I can get pretty creative when it comes down to costing me money. For us it will be cheaper for her to take one course this summer at a local university than to return for an extra semester next spring.
If your advisers said they would waive a science requirement or substitute a course for another, follow up on that, get them to put it in the computer and sign off on it.
So meet with your adviser, think about taking a class at an instate school this summer or even next fall, take only those courses that are absolutely necessary. Make a plan. If the plan won’t work, see what your status would be at an instate school if you transfer.
Condensed version of what I think you said in your long winded post:
- will have 6 semesters complete at out of state school. Will not be able to graduate in 8 semesters.
Choice is
a) pay for 5th year at OOS school which parents say is unaffordable
b) transfer to an in-state school and do both 4th and 5th years at a more affordable price potentially needing to take additional courses due to most schools having a transfer limit of 2 years worth of credits.
I don’t think you’ve given us enough details to advise you. Are you sure that you need an entire full year to graduate? Or can it be done in 1 semester?
What you need to do is:
- Look up the requirements for your major and other graduation requirements.
- Compare with the courses that you have already completed.
- For all remaining courses you need, write down a schedule of taking them in future semesters, taking into account when they are offered and what prerequisite relationships they have.
That will tell you if you need extra semesters or summer courses. Note that summer offerings are often more limited (and more likely to be available for lower level courses), and if you take them at other colleges, you need to verify that they will be transferable to requirements you need to fulfill.
Since you did not mention your college, major, and what you have already taken, others here will not be able to give you more detailed assistance.
You’re on a five year plan, I think. If you transfer to a cheaper school, you will usually have a minimum residency of two years before you can earn a degree. Make a list of all the classes you need to finish your degree at your current school. Put them in two columns-- for your major and for general education. Prioritize taking the major classes where you are and look for cheaper ways to tske the general education classes and transfer them to the school you are almost done at. This might be at a school in your home state or a community college for cheaper tuition, or even studying for a CLEP test if the school accepts those. The classes you want to transfer from another institution need to be preapproved by the school that is receiving them. Get it in writing.
yeah, I will probably talk to my advisor tomorrow, but hopefully, if I do transfer i won’t be on a 6-year plan instead of 5-year.
Most transfer destination schools have a two year residency requirement before you can earn a degree there. That is why suggest NOT transferring. Try to enroll somewhere cheap as a nondegree candidate and take your last few classes to transfer back,where you already have four years of classes if your current school will approve that.