I'm a new member here and have heard about Simon's Rock through email solicitation like many others. It sounds very interesting so I did some research and read people's discussion board about all the concerns. Everything seems to be acceptable for me so far. However, I found that some top universities still don't recognize credits from an early college program like Simon's Rock. What is even more surprising for me is that Columbia University, that lists Simon's Rock as an affiliated school for the 3+2 combined plan, does not grant any credits for transferred students from an early college program (https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/transfer). What is even more ridiculous is that they do recognize AP standardized exams (supposedly easier) more than course grades from a school like Simon's Rock. I understand that SR has been around for many years and there are many successful transfer cases. But what I am not sure is whether those students were able to get into those prestigious schools anyway because of their super talent regardless of their coming to SR or not. Sorry for my skepticism. I'm not sure if the transfer policies have just changed or I just misunderstand something. Anyone please helps me.
By the way, I am interested in the 3+2 combined plan at Columbia but if I can transfer after AA diploma, that would save me one more year but the statement about unrecognized transfer credits has concerned me. I'm not sure how many more universities are like this. Moreover, based on what I read from the official Columbia combined plan website, this program will no longer have guaranteed admission anymore for high achieving students who start in Fall 2019 or later. That is not so surprising to me actually because it is not sustainable to provide guaranteed admission for a very long list of affiliated schools (in fact, too many compared with Caltech).