<p>I know the title will have people immediately questioning why I'm even considering this, but here's the deal.</p>
<p>I got into a few other schools, and one in particular which I've had my mind set on for several months. Only, beginning of this month the numbers came in and I found out that I wouldn't be able to attend either of the two that I really wanted to go to.</p>
<p>This leaves me with the choice of attending my state school Rutgers, (Arts and Sciences) which isn't exactly the degree I was shooting for either, but i can transfer departments at a later time, or my local community college for two years and then transfer out to take two years at one of the colleges that I loved.</p>
<p>Why I'm considering this is because I liked Rutgers and all, but I loved my other schools, and I didn't even really have much of a chance to apply elsewhere or look at other schools (I'd love to look at some Californian schools). So what I was thinking is that with Community College for 2 years, it would give me time to look nationwide and even bump my grades up to apply to possibly somewhere even better than I could have gotten into straight out of High School.</p>
<p>But I don't know how much more of being home I can stand, I'm dying to start my own life. But I feel that if I were to go to Rutgers I know I could transfer also, however in my mind, if that's what ends up happening there, then I may as well have never gone and spent that money.</p>
<p>Anybody get what I'm trying to say? Any advice?</p>
<p>It sounds like your FA offers at other schools were not good enough. Did the schools not meet need? Or is your family not able to pay the EFC?</p>
<p>Do you have reason to believe FA or merit aid would be better as a transfer student at the schools you might be interested in? It is usually worse for transfer students.</p>
<p>Turning down an incredible place like Rutgers to go to community college is silly and frankly immature, unless you simply don’t have the money and even then I would borrow it (within reason). In a larger context this is exactly what is wrong with some folks in this country, they have NO CLUE what tremendous opportunities they have.</p>
<p>Sacchi - Yeah the offers at the other schools were terrible, yet 2 years of said schools would be much more affordable for my family versus 4 years, I would get out with possibly 80,000$ total cost, instead of 160,000. And I’d still have the same degree. I’m not saying that as a transfer I would get better aid, but as a transfer I would have the cost cut in half, which we can afford, and I’d still have the same degree from that school.</p>
<p>Sistokid - It’s not really that immature if you look at it from the way I’m seeing it… From a financial standpoint (which is the point of this entire post), it does make sense. It’s actually more mature to see the end game result in how much money in debt that I WILL HAVE for myself when I get out of college, rather than simply drowning myself in 150,000+ debt to go to my favorite school. I’m saying i can do rutgers for a full four years, and graduate with the same amount of money in debt as i would with an OOS college that I like more if i did for 2 years.</p>
<p>By the way, I managed to miss that entire point in my first post, this is highly in part to Financial Aid and cost.</p>
<p>Are these other schools public or private? Private schools usually have lower acceptance rate for transfer students, so it may be harder to get in even if you’ve made improvements as an applicants. For example: Harvard is somewhere under 10% for freshman, but I believe that transfer acceptance rate is ~2%. Duke is something around 5%. JHU is <20% for freshman, but <10% for transfers. But if you’re aiming for something like Berkeley, UCLA, UMCP, or Penn State, it may be very doable to get in as a transfer. </p>
<p>I can see the benefit of going to a CC to save money, but I don’t see it helping you to get into a better school as a transfer.</p>
<p>Two years at the community college can make good financial and academic sense. Stop by there and talk with the counselors. Find out what four-year colleges and universities they have articulation agreements with for the major(s) that you are interested in. If you complete the first two years of that program at your CC with the required GPA you will be guaranteed admission into the third year at the cooperating institution. The transfer counselors should also be able to tell you which colleges and universities students in your major(s) have transferred to in recent years, and whether or not those students received scholarship money. Here is a link to the transfer information at our local community college. Some won’t apply to you, but most of it will: [Counseling</a> & Advising | Transferring](<a href=“http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/tertiary1.aspx?urlid=67]Counseling”>http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/tertiary1.aspx?urlid=67)</p>
<p>OK, so you think 4 years at Rutgers would cost about what 2 years at CC plus 2 years at an OOS school would cost. That might be the case, depending on the cost of the OOS school.</p>
<p>What do you think you want to study? What ECs and other activities interest you? Rutgers will provide many more opportunities than CC will, in academics and activities. </p>
<p>Why do you say that Rutgers isn’t the degree that you were hoping for? Were you hoping to go to a more selective school? Or a smaller school? Or just a school that is further away from home?</p>
<p>Al6 - The school i planned on transferring into is public, and primarily right now it is actually Penn State. But the 2 years of CC would give me time to check out other schools etc and probably end up not at Penn State, but right now that’s where I would love to be.</p>
<p>Happy - That is a good idea and I already know of a few schools in which they are accepted, and i’ve used some calculators for transfer students on several websites to assure that the CC credits would transfer.</p>
<p>Sacchi - Yeah the cost would be very close. I wanted to take Business, and I got into Penn State’s smeal college of business, and I didn’t get in for business at Rutgers. I would have to start off in the Arts and Sciences department and then work my way into the Business department. But then again, that is what i THINK i want to study, so maybe getting put into Arts and Sciences really isn’t that bad, so i can try a bit of different things. And I do love the many organizations etc that a big school like Rutgers has to offer.</p>
<p>I said the degree isn’t what i was hoping for, but i meant the major, but maybe that could be a good thing to start in a different department. And nah i love the big school feel for the most part, endless things to do. But I was wishing i’d be further from home.</p>