I am currently a senior in high school and my girlfriend is a junior in high school, I am planning on going to community college for a year until she makes up her decision on where she wants to go to university, do you all think it’s possible to transfer to a uni after one year of cc? I have a 3.0 gpa and a 1200 sat (taking act very soon).
Depends upon which 4 year universities you are targeting. Some will take Sophomore level transfers and some will only take Junior level transfers.
Also I would not make this decision based on a HS relationship. You need to think of yourself since relationships do change. I would consider applying to a few 4 year universities along with having a CC as a backup. Life happens so you never know.
Can you explain the sophomore and junior level transfers?
If you attend a CC for 1 year, then you usually would be a Sophomore level transfer under 60 semester or 90 quarter units. Many schools would consider your HS GPA, test scores along with your CC GPA in their admission decision. You also would be applying with only 1 semester or possibly 2 quarters of grades under your belt.
Sometimes AP/IB and DE credits could be used toward the transfer units/credits needed for the minimum.
A Junior level transfer would be an applicant with 60 semester/90 quarter units or more so having almost 2+ years of courses/grades upon applying and transferring. Junior level transfer acceptances will based on your CC GPA and EC’s.
I am only familiar with the California universities. The UC’s and Cal states only take Junior level transfers while private schools like USC will take Sophomore level transfers.
I suggest you look at the transfer requirements for any 4 year universities you are interested in applying.
My suggestion is to pick out a few universities that seem like they might be a good fit for you. Then check their policies wrt transfers. You might want to start with your in-state public universities, but you probably should consider a few other schools as well.
Which state you are in might make a difference. Are you able to tell us your home state and also give us some sense of your budget? Also, have you thought a bit about which universities you might want to consider?
I am generally leery of students making university decisions based on boyfriends or girlfriends. Most high school relationships do not survive the first semester of university. However, you might also save money by doing your first year or two at community college. Also, the academic strength of your local community college is probably not all that different from schools that you are likely to be considering with a 3.0 GPA.
For you, this might be a good plan.
It is true HS relationships often break up when they go off to college, but many of these are long-distance relationships (they are at separate colleges). You’re staying in town where you can be around her a lot.
Another caveat on this forum is giving up opportunities that might not be open later, turning down a slot at a selective college to attend the same college as one’s SO to one’s later regret if the relationship doesn’t last. But this doesn’t seem to apply either. You’re doing the work but with a 3.0 can hardly be accused of taking school too seriously or working too hard at it, and this will be reflected in the colleges available to you out of HS.
The fly in the ointment might be if your GF gets into a college next year that won’t take you and then all this would have been for naught. But she can choose to only apply to ones that are likely to take you as well, and you can remind her that you stayed local for her and now it’s her turn to invest in the relationship.
Some schools do not give much or any financial aid to transfer students. Nor do they have much or any Merit money. Your chances for money do go down most of the time as a transfer student applying to a 4 year school vs applying as a freshman.
Where I worked this year, the 4 year state schools were specifically amenable to transfer students who were coming to their schools with junior standing. Not so much for one year CC students. This is so stun you need to check with the schools you have in mind. Sometimes a CC has a relationship with a 4 year school where the transfer is pretty much guaranteed if certain terms are fulfilled, and the two years there might be part of the terms.