I will be attending a VCCS (Virginia CC’s) school next year and want to transfer to UVA after a year or two. My reasoning for one year is that I believe I can do well enough to transfer in without the guaranteed admission agreement, which in summary basically says I need to maintain a 3.4 (would go for 4.0 whether or not I have the GAA) while working towards the associates degree. I also want to go for a year to get more of the college experience both academic and socially, any advice on this would be great. A con about one year is that I would not be able to get financial aid (it would be helpful, but not necessary) since I would be just getting credits rather than working towards any degree at the CC and would be paying more for 3 years of public university (not a huge issue).
For the two year plan (getting an associates) and using the agreement, I could get financial aid and there would be a planned route I would take rather than the chunk of classes I take for that one year. I could also opt to start in fall of 2015 and get my associates completed after summer 2016 and then enter UVA in the fall of 2016, effectively sending me a year ahead of my HS graduating class, which I think would be a bit weird, but I think I could deal with it. That is due to current AP credit I have and will get from the ones I took senior year as well as some credits from when I took courses at the CC btwn jr and sr yr. That is one option, but I could also take two full years, taking two summers off, keeping me on pace with my HS class. This would have also leave me with only 2 years at a 4 year college, going back to that whole college experience thing. Any advice on my predicament or anything similar please let me hear it.
Also, I am considering law school down the road, would there be a difference from doing one or two years at CC?
extra: I plan to major in politics and something with math (econ for now) if that helps with anything. Also, if anyone has done this tell me how the transition went from CC to UVA, socially and academically.