I am currently a student at a community college. I want to transfer to Bowie State University in the spring of 2021. Bowie State requires a minimum of 24 credits and a 2.0 GPA to be eligible to transfer. The deadline is December 15th. I currently have 15 credits. After this semester, I will have 28 credits and a 3.4 or 3.5 GPA. I am worried that my final grades will not get posted to my transcript on time and I will not be able to send Bowie my transcript by the deadline. I know the first week of December is the final exam week. I decided if I miss the deadline, I will take this semester off and apply in the fall. Is that a good idea? The only thing is, I will be extremely bored because school is the only thing I have going on for me right now. I was thinking of maybe getting a part-time job. What do you guys think?
It looks like Bowie State requires applicants who will have completed fewer than 24 credits before enrolling to apply as a Freshman. So you even if you weren’t taking classes now, you could still apply but you’d need to follow the rules for Freshman applicants.
Since you will have more than 24 credits by the end of this semester, you will apply as a Transfer. You don’t need to have your final grades in those classes yet to apply. You apply with your current transcript and the list of courses that you are currently enrolled in. If you are accepted, your acceptance will be contingent on your grades this semester. That means that Bowie State can accept you now, but reject you later and not let you enroll if you don’t finish this semester with good enough grades. But I don’t think that will be a problem for you given the kind of grades you have so far.
What community college are you studying at? Do you have a Transfer Advisor there who can help you with this? Pop that person an email, and set up an appointment to clarify your concerns about the transfer process.
Some of my cousins graduated from Bowie State. They loved their time there. I hope that you do too!
I think that you should talk to the admissions staff at Bowie State.
However, it is very normal for students to apply to transfer while they are studying at a community college. It is expected that you will complete the courses that you are currently enrolled in, and start at a four year university later (such as at the start of the next semester, or the following September).
If the deadline for admissions is December 15, then you need to get your application in by that date. However, they will know that you might not have gotten your grades for your current classes at that date.
I do not think that there is a problem here. However, the admissions staff at Bowie State can tell you for sure.
Thank you! I go to Prince George’s Community College (PGCC). I have an advisor I will probably speak to about this. I was just worried because I didn’t think I was going to be able to get everything done by the deadline. So, you say I can still apply to Bowie before my final grades are posted on to my transcript?
“you say I can still apply to Bowie before my final grades are posted”
You should talk to your guidance counselor and/or admissions at Bowie about this. However, my understanding is that this is entirely normal.
Definitely apply before the deadline and include as much information as you have available at the time. Expect to send this semester’s transcript to them as soon as it is available. They know that you will not have it by December 15 – this is normal.
It is normal in Maryland for students to apply for transfer, get accepted conditionally, and then have their admission confirmed after they send the updated final transcript when the semester ends. That’s what my daughter and all of her friends did.
And give yourself a head start on courses at Bowie State by checking for course equivalencies for your PGCC classes in ARTSYS: https://artsys.usmd.edu/