I am an 11th grade high school student enrolled at an independent studies alternative school. This has allowed me to take full time community college classes, and I am nearing being able to transfer as an Econ major.
So should I still apply for freshman admissions? Obviously transferring would save me time and money, but I’m still not 100% sure about majoring in Economics. Sometimes I lean towards wanting to study a STEM field (so broad, I know…).
Additionally, I keep being warned against missing out on that 4 year “college experience.” I’m really involved though in the community college: in several clubs, executive member on the Student Senate, etc.
Transferring would also alleviate all my stress about the SAT, etc! Plus there’s TAGS (admission guarantee).
However, as a transfer I would mostly be limited to state schools (UCs), because transferring into a private school (or, gasp, Ivy!) is so much harder. As a freshman I would apply to several private universities, including Ivies.
So… transferring questions.
1.) Do you miss out a lot socially as a transfer? Shallower friendships because they were built in half the time?
2.) Networking and internships: more difficult to find, less connections with campus (clubs, professors, etc)?
3.) Getting stuck in a major
4.) Overall, as a transfer student what would you have chosen to do in my situation?
Thank you for all of your input. This is really an issue that’s been bothering me. I am really grateful for having had the opportunity to study at my community college!
Transfer admissions is usually harder with a lower acceptance rate than freshman admissions with the exception of a few. Colleges may also not be need blind or give you a worse financial aid package.
You can enter college as a freshman and see how many credits you have to graduate early. Also, transferring as an Econ major doesn’t mean you have to do Econ. Most people end up changing their majors.
Freshmen year is unique in that no one knows what they are doing and everyone is trying to make friends. You become especially close with your hall. With that being said, most people find their place and might not even end up best friends with their freshmen friends. But by the time junior year rolls around, people usually have a solid group so it may be hard to break in.
No
If you enter as a sophomore or junior, you won't have time to explore other interests and potential majors. If you are dead set on your major, it won't be a hindrance.
^^ Actually, UC transfer applicants have a higher rate of acceptance from CCCs than as freshmen. You are in the correct forum to learn this. UC Transfer students do get financial aid if they qualify.
For the most part, to transfer to UCs you must be a junior standing with a minimum of 60 semester UC transferable coursework toward your major which must be declared (or for some, a pre-major) and GEs such as for IGETC or if for engineering, there may be different GE requirements.
You will have to speak with the CCC transfer advisor with your unique situation of being a high school student too. UC transfer students must complete as many major prereqs prior to transfer so if you are thinking of STEM as a possibility, you will most likely need to finish those prereqs prior to transfer. Many UCs don’t make it easy to change majors once you transfer and some don’t allow changing to a STEM major.
UC only considers you a transfer applicant if “you enrolled in a regular session (fall, winter or spring) at a college or university after high school”, according to http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/index.html . I.e. taking college courses while in high school does not cause you to be a transfer applicant.
In your situation, it is still likely better to enter as a frosh, since you will have the option of taking the full four years to graduate, or accelerating your graduation if you want to and the college courses completed while in high school meet enough requirements to allow that. Entering as a transfer means committing to a major now, and requires that the college courses completed while in high school meet the specific general education requirements and major preparation requirements for your target campus and major (which high school students taking college courses usually do not plan for when choosing courses).
If I were you I would apply to privates and hope to get into an Ivy/Top school. Transferring would save you money and you would graduate at a young age, but I really regret not having had that freshman experience. I applied to a private school and in their rejection letter it said they wish they had more room in their class (the transfer class here was 25 students!), it made me feel horrible. Not saying that if I had applied as a Freshman I would have gotten in since that “we wish we had more room” response is pretty universal/generic but I certainly wished I could have redone my life and done well enough in high school to have applied as a Freshman. For top schools it’s much more difficult to get in as a transfer. At public schools like UC it’s generally easier to get in as a transfer.
You are very fortunate to have been able to do so much at this community college while still technically a high schooler and I think that sets you up well to apply to top universities/ivy’s. You can always double major in Economics since you already have most of it complete, while taking STEM classes and without having to worry much about GE’s (I imagine you took most of those already).
As a transfer you’re kind of expected to know what major you want to be in, and there are caps with financial aid and stuff where they only want you to stay in school for 2 years. You won’t feel as supported as you would as a freshman, you’ll be treated more as an untraditional or mature student and won’t get to share in as much of the fun that your freshman peers got to experience. If you enter as a freshman you could always explore more and since you’ve taken many college courses already you have even more freedom to truly explore what you want to do without having to worry so much about fulfilling GE or lower division courses since you’re already set with Econ if you end up falling behind.
Majority of transfer students are older than their straight-from-high-school Junior peers. Meanwhile you’ll be younger than either of those groups. Perhaps you would enjoy it but at some point you do miss interacting with people who are the same age as you who aren’t burdened down by work or family/children/spouses. It’s a much different experience and you’ll probably be generalized into that “mature/nontraditional” group vs your young self.
I say this as somebody who is generally pretty young yet whose closest friends at community college have all been 25-30 year olds. I personally feel I’ve missed out and didn’t get to experience socializing with people my age. But I’ll be transferring this Fall so hopefully it won’t be too bad of an experience, but already I feel I’ve missed out on the friendships and opportunities to simply have fun and get to know people. Study abroad is another thing that is more difficult for transfers. You have a smaller window to plan this out because you have to meet residency requirements (such as, take your senior year on campus or take your first/junior year on campus, ect.) and most study abroad applications are do about a year or so before the actual travel semester/quarter. It’s possible, but it requires a lot more planning and initiative from the very start. It’s not something you can just wait for at the very end of your Junior year to randomly decide to do.
I would also add that as a California high school student, you can look into taking the CHSPE and continue with plans to transfer with a specific major to UC/CSU.
Before you choose a UC there are 2 things you need to look into. (1) Must you transfer all CC credit or can you choose which you want credit for? (2) Does the CC credit require you to graduate earlier even though you applied as a frosh applicant?
I don’t know the answer to (2) but I bring it up because UC says this:
Note how it says AP credit. So what happens if you apply as a frosh with 2 years of CC credit? Do they then consider you to be stepped up to a junior level due to the units you have and only allow you to attend until you hit the unit cap in 2 years or so?
It appears that different UCs or divisions of UCs have different rules on credit unit ceilings. Examples:
UCB L&S has a unit ceiling for students who take more than 8 semesters after frosh entry or more than 4 semesters after transfer entry, but does not include community college units exceeding 70, or college courses prior to high school graduation for the unit ceiling: https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/schedule-planning
UCSD has a unit ceiling, but transfer credit is only included against the unit ceiling if the courses apply to subject requirements for the major or general education: http://ucsd.edu/catalog/front/UgrdDegReq.html