<p>I've gotten into some decent U's but I haven't gotten into my dream schools. Either way, with the economic slump I literally cannot afford to go to school. The FA schools have offered me are not enough & my parents declared bankruptcy recently which makes it hard for me to get loans.</p>
<p>I know CC is "smarter" economic wise, but I cringe at the thought of wasting two whole years.</p>
<p>I know that most people who go to CC usually end up transferring after two years. If you had good grades in high school & get good grades in CC is it possible to transfer EARLIER to good schools? </p>
<p>Specifically, I'm hoping to transfer to UVA. Is it possible to transfer after one semester?</p>
<p>It’s possible but most schools want to see one year of academic work at a college level before accepting transfers. Sometimes a gap year is a good option but it is quite hard to find jobs and opportunities because of the economic situation right now.</p>
<p>If your family recently declared bankruptcy, that’s a major change in family finances that could drastically change your FA packages. You should contact all of those FA depts and discuss your current financial situation and follow up with a written letter.</p>
<p>You may be surprised at how much more money they come back with.</p>
<p>Just because you got good grades in high school doesn’t mean you’re going to have less pre-major coursework in high school. I passed numerous AP exams, had a solid GPA, and a great SAT score, but it’s still taken me four semesters to finish all my prerequisites. Granted, I didn’t decide on my major until just last semester, which certainly slowed me down. But one semester? That is not realistic.</p>
<p>You can absolutely transfer after one semester of college. If your high school record is strong enough and you maintain good grades at a CC, it shouldn’t be an issue. Unless you are looking to go to an Ivy, then I would say it’d be a stretch. I had good grades in high school, went to the University of Rochester my 1st semester of college. I transferred to a CC for my 2nd semester - got good grades there and then transferred again to RPI.</p>
<p>What is your state? Because if you’re in a state like Cali, then it seems reasonable for you to do the community college route(do really well) and transfer to UCB or UCLA to save some money.</p>
<p>However, if you have planned to go into community college and transfer into Ivies, think again. Schools like the Ivys, including some top liberal art colleges have lower acceptance rates for transfers. There are some private schools like USC, Northwestern, NYU, etc who do accept a number of transfers, but again you may face extreme competition if you’re aiming for a popular major(ie USC’s business, film, etc)</p>
<p>BTW I think there tends to be this stigma of community colleges, and “wasting” time, but as someone who went to a four year school, and who later decided to do community college, I can tell you that I think community college is EXTREMELY underrated. There are good professors and bad professors everywhere, including at top schools. The same thing can be said about the students. Community Colleges allow you immense freedom to explore your interests without feeling like you have to commit to a major so early on simply because you’re paying for expensive tuition. I will also state, that it’s also possible for you to transfer in less than a year. IE if you take community college classes immediately starting while in high school, or the summer after high school, and you take 15-20 units in the summer, 15-20 units in the fall, and a couple in the winter, and another 15-20 units in the spring, you can potentially transfer at the junior level into some schools, because you would have accumulated 60 units in about one year. A lot of what community college is, is staying focused and planning your schedule ahead of time</p>
<p>It depends on the universities you’d like to transfer to. Some universities require a minimum number of credits to be considered for transfer admission. This minimum is frequently 30 semester hours. It can even be as high as 60 semester hours. And no, you can’t generally get around the issue by applying as a freshman. (Most universities define anyone who has enrolled at another university full-time, earned more than a trivial number of credits, or both as a transfer student.) Ultimately, you have to ask the universities you’re considering transferring to.</p>
<p>Another student in the Honors Program at the community college I attended transferred to the University of Chicago. Clearly, it’s possible to transfer from a community college to a top-tier university. (As TransferPro points out, the Ivies may be an exception. They have very large numbers of transfer students applying for very few available spaces for transfers. IIRC, at least one doesn’t accept transfers at all.)</p>
<p>Yes, my buddy was rejected at Brown University. He wanted to go there so bad so he worked his butt off and he was recently accepted after a year of CC. :)</p>
<p>DO NOT let admission stats scare you. Believe it or not, some ctop-tier schools still look at a person’s interests/personality/common goals.</p>