<p>I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life etc. and I've been thinking that I want to go into early childhood education and teach pre-k or kindergarten or maybe first grade. I love my school, but they don't have early childhood ed so I'm thinking about transferring.</p>
<p>I would love to go to another Jesuit school, and there are a couple out there that have early childhood ed, but I'm not totally discounting other places, like I'll probably apply to Temple since that was my first choice school when I was applying senior year and I didn't go there even though I would've loved to. </p>
<p>Has anyone transferred into an education program? I would imagine it would be slightly difficult since I've only taken one education class and at least at my school the education stuff is super sequential. I have a lot of liberal arts credits though, and a lot of nursing credits...so I don't know how it would all play out.</p>
<p>Speaking to some transfer admissions counselors would help, since they should be able to help you figure out if your sequence would be all thrown off if you transfer in. It really depends how often they offer certain courses, how different their education program is to the one you’re currently in, etc.</p>
<p>I’m not in an education program, I am still technically in a nursing program although I am taking this semester off and working and going back next semester.</p>
<p>Okay, since you said you had an education course I assumed you were already in that program. Then it would be like starting fresh, except some of your courses might transfer to fulfill general ed. requirements. Your nursing credits might transfer, but may not fulfill anything beyond a biology requirement (so the credits would go toward the number you need to graduate, but not really help you along with any of your requirements for graduation). Again, this depends on the school. When I was a design major and transferred to become a psych major, they only took 1 art class to fulfill that gen. ed. requirement and did not even accept the other art/design course credits, as well as a business course, which put me a semester behind. Nursing programs are usually set up a little different from other majors so the same may be true, but you won’t know until you speak with an admissions counselor at Temple and any other school you’ll apply to.</p>
<p>I’m taking one, 3 credit education course this semester. </p>
<p>If most of my stuff won’t transfer, I won’t transfer because I don’t feel like starting over new…but if a good deal of it will, then there’s a much higher chance of me going as well. Most of my credits are core (gen ed) and then a chunk are nursing.</p>
<p>If you transfer to a new school that also has a nursing program, it is possible that they will transfer and just be counted toward your credits needed to graduate. My admissions counselors looked at whether their school had comparable courses to the ones I was trying to transfer in. If they didn’t, then there was a good chance it wouldn’t transfer, or some went under “electives” that didn’t fulfill any gen. ed. or major requirements. My art classes were a special case because they wanted a portfolio review, but because the head of that department was on vacation and it was a last-minute transfer decision, I didn’t have the opportunity to have a review. The business course was not comparable to anything they had, so they did not transfer it. </p>
<p>If an admissions counselor really wants to recruit you, they will spend the time to look at your specific case and give you a clear understanding of what they can transfer and how it will affect your graduation timeline. If they don’t want to be bothered taking that time, then you probably don’t want to be bothered with them. I had a horrible experience with one college where the counselor would not return any of my phone calls or e-mails - just sent a post card accepting me less than 2 weeks after receiving only a /portion/ of my application - it was not even completed nor did I pay my application fee! I could not get answers to some questions I had (which was why I had not yet completed my application) so I did not respond to the offer, I was disgusted. Hopefully you do not have experiences like that.</p>
<p>Perhaps, every school is different. You might come across a school that does not have a nursing program but that is willing to transfer your courses as electives or as comparable bio courses (depending on what you’ve taken - e.g., anatomy & phys. is pretty general everywhere). Look at where you want to go most, chat with their counselors, and if you’re not happy with their responses then you can decide whether to stay where you’re at or find another school.</p>
<p>If you know what state/city you want to work in, check out the requirements for teachers there. Not every public school district requires an ECE degree. Even in a district that does, sometimes private and parochial schools don’t (though pay and benefits may be lower than in public schools). Verify what you will need before you invest in making a change.</p>