<p>I am a junior in HS right now and I am planning to graduate early (at the end of Junior year) and go to a community college for just a year and then transfer to a 4-year University. When I transfer I am planning to live in the dorms so I was wondering if college life will be the same for me as for the incoming freshmen who are coming straight out of HS. Technically I will be a sophomore in college but I will be all new to a 4-year university and I will be new to living on campus. Also I will be the same age as the incoming freshmen since I graduated early. I am curios because people always say college life is "not the same" if you go to a CC for 2 years and than transfer for your Junior year to a 4-year university but as you can see that is not my case. I know it will also depend on me but while I am not some party animal I think I'm a pretty social dude. So my question is what should I expect college life to be like once I transfer out of a CC?</p>
<p>In my experience and my kid’s experience, college life is mostly due to ascribing to college, rather than to the path you take to get to college. It may be somewhat different if you are an older student returning to college after an extended period after graduation, but if you do the math you are entering college just a year after everyone else in your age group, and you will be in the same age group and same cultural background (you and the incoming freshman will be both new to the school!). You are basically the same as someone who transferred into the college in your sophomore year – it’s not a hard adjustment, and you won’t stand out in some bad way unless you make it so!</p>
<p>OP-
Why don’t you stay in hs and dual enroll in cc and hs, taking advanced classes to enhance your transcript so you can be admitted to top colleges as a freshman applicant and not a transfer?
To answer your question, you will be moving from your home to a dorm like all the other first year students coming to a 4 year university.
No difference unless you tell them you came from a cc and graduated hs early.</p>
<p>It’ll probably be similar to a freshman’s except you’ll probably be a little more prepared academically from having experience with CC courses, which is always a definite plus. </p>
<p>From my experience, a lot of people who transfer in from CC’s to my school (a 4-year university) usually are a bit older than people in their expected graduating class (23-27 age range), choose to live off campus most of the time, and go through different orientation processes than freshman, so that may be why college life is a bit “different” for them. However, just because your experience isn’t exactly “typical” or the same as other people’s doesn’t mean you are necessarily missing out.</p>
<p>@beerme I don’t want the colleges to look at my HS grades or if they do, to put a lot of weight on them because I messed freshmen year which has really impacted my overall HS GPA. Even though I have gotten a 3.9 GPA this year, I have calculated that the highest I could bring up my overall GPA is 3.3. Which is just not good enough for the University I want to go to (UMD College Park). So I think it would be best to graduate HS early and do REALLY GOOD in CC (like 3.8+) and than hopefully transfer to a really good 4-year University. And thanks a lot for the info.</p>