<p>I know I'm not the only one with a child who will complete an AA and need to transfer to a 4-year institution, and I know that there are always students who are unhappy with School 1 and then move on to School 2 (and maybe even School 3, School 4, etc.). Some of you have already been through this whole process, and have advice for those of us who are at the beginning of it.</p>
<p>What do I need to know?</p>
<p>Please advise!</p>
<p>Transferring after one semester at school 1 was the best move S made.</p>
<p>^same here, but he transferred after one year. </p>
<p>The process was easy and less stressful than it was for the initial college freshman application process.</p>
<p>Grades and professor recs are key. Send out completed transfer applications EARLY and make housing deposits ASAP.</p>
<p>OTOH many transfers have a harder time finding a niche/friends and don’t find the happiness they sought.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately this wasn’t D1s experience. The process is very similar to fr admissions (the same HS information required), plus new essays and college information (LORs & college report). This all had to be done while keeping up with college coursework. And there’s the additional emotional part of: doubts about whether it’s better to stay or transfer, whether to talk to friends about transferring, what to do about housing for the following year when you often don’t find out about transfer decisions until May, will it be easy to make new friends, etc.</p>
<p>While often necessary and beneficial, transferring is not for sissies IMO.</p>
<p>What you need to know depends on several factors (eg. CC, soph or jr transfer, FA/merit situation, etc.)</p>
<p>I don’t agree that transfers have a harder time finding friends. This idea that transfers have a hard time transitioning in campus life is too general of a statement. Unless one is looking to transfer into a small, preppy, cliquey private school, it isn’t difficult to blend right in with the rest of the campus population and easily form new friendships with peers as well as great relationships with professors.</p>
<p>The transfer application process is not difficult. </p>
<p>– Fill out application and write an essay. This is not a big deal. By this time, students should be able to spit out a well crafted essay rather quickly.</p>
<p>–Ask two professors to write and send out recs to the possible transfer schools.</p>
<p>–Many of the other necessary things can be done online such as: request college transcript to be sent, request SAT/ACT scores if needed, request HS record if needed. It’s not difficult.</p>
<ol>
<li> Send out transfer apps early</li>
<li> Submit necessary supplemental material ASAP<br></li>
<li> Research transfer merit scholarships at various colleges (usually not as available or generous as freshman merit aid).</li>
<li> Research availability of housing for transfers</li>
<li> If possible, live on campus for a semester or two. This will make meeting people easier when transitioning into the new school.</li>
<li> Send deposits early----especially for housing</li>
</ol>
<p>If your child’s college GPA is appreciably better (in comparison) than SATs or HS GPA, imho, kid is better off waiting two years to transfer. My kid did, and had a much greater choice of schools to choose from. Yes, waiting two years may result in issues with having to spend more than 4 years in school. You can minimize this with summer school. Check your target transfer schools as to what their core requirements are, major requirements are and where they accept transfer credits from.</p>
<p>Accept that housing and financial aid will be issues. </p>
<p>My D just started at her transfer school, and has plenty of friends and opportunities.</p>
<p>D’s experience was like entomom’s D’s … stressful. Once she got there, she was happy to be there, but it was difficult socially for awhile. She is absolutely glad she did it, though.</p>
<p>S begins a new school tomorrow. He will attend a commuter school, and he is living at home. He is not thrilled with any of it, but it is what it is … He has outgrown the friends who live nearby & are not away at school. He will have to meet people in his classes & try to form bonds, which is harder to do at a commuter school than it was at his stay-away school last year. I am sad for him, but I also know that it is absolutely possible to find friends & things to do … he just has to reach beyond himself & make an effort.</p>
<p>Transferring is NOT for the faint of heart, that is for sure. It often turns out for the best … or at least it can be just fine.</p>
<p>Happymom, is your child transferring to a school that has an articulation agreement with his CC? If so, this can make the process sooo much easier. If not, encourage him to submit transcripts early and really pay attention to the course articulation process. Some schools offer an online service that lets students enter their current school and course numbers and gives them the exact (though unofficial) course articulation.</p>
<p>My D starts at a new school next Tuesday. The application process is essentially the same as the freshman app process. Even though she applied to a school that had accepted her as a freshman applicant, she had to complete the forms all over again and send in a complete new application packet. Forms, LORs, essays, etc. More transcripts (college as well as HS). Typically you also need a Dean’s letter from your current school - so you need to go ask for one and tell them you are looking at transferring. Not necessarily a comfortable or pleasant moment. Same with requesting rec letters from professors with whom you may have only taken a single class.</p>
<p>Transfer acceptance rates may be different than freshman acceptance rates. For some schools, the rate may be higher. For other, lower. Check the College Board site for individual school transfer acceptance rates. There are some limited summary tables for 2009 on the Transfer Book web site. The transfer acceptance rates may give you a more realistic idea of your chances at a particular school.</p>
<p>You need to determine how or if your credits will transfer. A year’s worth of classes at one school won’t necessarily be accepted as a year’s worth of classes at another. Happily my D had lots of AP credits so she lost no time - she starts as a first semester sophomore. Unfortunately her new school has more core requirements, so she lost some flexibility in her course load as she now has a language requirement to meet as well as some other requirements that she did not have at her prior school. She ultimately may now need to take a gap year before applying to med school if she goes through with taking the pre-med series and MCAT. As previously noted, merit money may be scarce for transfers. She was offered merit money by numerous schools as a freshman applicant and none as a transfer (and not because of her grades).</p>
<p>Timing is completely different than the freshman app process. Each school is different and you typically don’t find out about acceptance until May. Some let you know early, and then you may have to put a deposit down while you wait to hear from other schools. If you choose a later school, kiss the deposit goodbye. Some schools only do fall transfers, some do fall and spring. You really need to look at the details for each school.</p>
<p>Transferring is not a decision to be made lightly. We hope she will have a better experience at her new school, but only time will tell. Hopefully the extra hassle, time and expense will be worth it.</p>
<p>The transfer application process may have been easier for my S because he was only applying to one college and it was one to which he had been accepted previously. So their transfer counselor just reactivated his freshman application. He had to submit his final HS transcript plus his first semester transcript from the first college. And he was actually offered more merit money as a transfer student at the second school than they initially offered him as an incoming freshman.</p>
<p>He did have to make up some credits during the summers as the second school only accepted 6 of his credits from the first school.</p>
<p>He was fortunate to be placed on a floor in a dorm with a great group of guys and he quickly became one of them. By the end of that spring semester they forgot he was the “transfer kid”. It was like he had been there from the beginning.</p>
<p>You were indeed fortunate. My D applied to 3 schools, only one of which she had applied to as a freshman. It was new apps all around. While she was accepted at all 3 schools, the one she ultimately chose (after dropping a deposit at one of the other schools that accepted her early) doesn’t do merit money except for NMS winners (she’s not and it’s token at that). The other two schools typically do provide merit money, but didn’t offer her any. Of course she had merit money at the school she left. C’est la vie. </p>
<p>Interestingly, her new roommate is transferring back after having transferred out after her freshman year.</p>
<p>My son was offered a transfer option at his dream school after being on the waitlist. He attended a different school with my guidance to “keep his options open”, completed the mini transfer application for students with this option. He met their requirements for transfer, made the <em>very</em> difficult decision to transfer and is now a happy transfer at dream school.</p>
<p>Dream school does accept a lot of transfers and runs a nice orientation program for the transfers – probably key for having happy transfer kids. The transfers are housed together in suites, scattered through the upperclass dorms. We’re 10 days in. It’s working.</p>
<p>sk8rmom -</p>
<p>Happykid’s Theater Tech. major doesn’t have any articulation agreements, but all of the Maryland CCs, public Us, and some of the Maryland privates participate in a statewide system that allows students to verify transferable coursework. The full AA guarantees admission to her in-state safety (space available), and eliminates all but two of the Gen Eds there. Admission to the major doesn’t require a portfolio (scholarships do) so that isn’t a problem either. However, she may have to petition for transfer credit for several of the courses within her major because of limited guarantees on the transfer for individual courses in that major. Her current department has a lot of experience with this, so it should not be too huge of a problem. My biggest concern is the availability of on-campus (or very near to campus) housing. Techies often leave the theater hours after the actors, and she probably will have many late nights.</p>
<p>The two private (both OOS) institutions she has visited both are very transfer-friendly. At CollegeA, her AA would eliminate all the Gen Eds except for a junior-level writing course. At CollegeB even though she would have several Gen Eds to complete, the head of the department looked us in the eye and said “We do everything in our power to guarantee that students who arrive as juniors finish in only two more years.” CollegeB encourages transfers to enroll in the BA rather than the BFA for that reason. Both CollegeA and CollegeB guarantee on-campus housing for all students who want it. They also have strict policies on when everyone has to be out of the theaters at night, so the students aren’t there to all hours.</p>
<p>First Transfer App. sent off yesterday, one day before that school’s “priority” deadline for transfers. Second App. not due until after the first of the year. Whew!</p>
<p>Wishing the other parents of transfers well!</p>