I’m currently enrolled in community college and I’m just finishing up my first “real” semester of college. I was a part-time student in the spring because I was still recovering from a serious neck injury, so I only took 2 classes (6 credits total). I took an online class over the summer (3 credits), and this fall I took 4 classes (13 credits). Along with those credits, I have some AP credits from high school, so I have a total of 33 college credits.
I was looking at maybe applying to transfer this fall for the Fall 2017 semester and getting my associate’s degree in the spring. However, to get my associate’s degree I would need to take 6 more classes, which is kind of tight for my spring schedule. The required classes are not offered over the winter semester. I’m looking to get my associate’s degree because I’ve heard it’s better for transferring because then colleges will have to give you credit for every class you take since you have a degree. So, if I’m going to get my associate’s degree, I guess I would stay until Spring 2018, and I would apply to transfer then. This would also give me more time to get involved in some extracurricular activities, of which I haven’t done many because I was chronically ill in high school and hardly have anything on my resume besides my current job and some other random activities from years ago.
I’m considering applying to some colleges now anyway just to see what would happen. My desired major is journalism. My top three choices are NYU, Boston, and Emerson, so I know they are very selective, but I’m going to apply to some other liberal arts colleges and some safeties as well. So I have some questions: firstly, would it be weird to apply to these colleges twice - this fall and next? Secondly, would the colleges still take my high school grades into account since I’ve only completed one full semester at college (My high school grades are adequate besides 11th grade when I was very sick so they are pretty bad and 12th grade when I was homeschooled and only took 4 classes - I don’t remember my GPA but I think it was around a 3.5)? And finally, is it truly better to obtain my associate’s degree when applying to transfer?
I’d really like to transfer now because I’m sick of community college, but I don’t really have a good resume to apply with, and that is my number one concern, since I know my grades and essays would likely get me into these colleges. If anyone has any advice to offer or experience with a similar situation, I would really appreciate it!