Hey. I made a post here a couple of days ago, and had another question. Context: I am at a 4 year UNI and started my freshman year as a business major. However, after taking CS classes I got a lot more interested in CS/Engineering. The CS/engineering department at my school is not super strong, and I wish to transfer to a top 20 engineering program after my Sophomore year end. However by that time I will have taken 78-81 credits in college(at my 4 year, and a couple of CC classes). I would have this many credits mainly due to the fact that most of my freshman year classes were business related, and gen-ed at my college and useless for CS/engineering. So in reality if I get into a good engineering program more like 40-50 of my credits will actually be transferrable. But my question is this: will the fact that I took around 80 credits be looked down upon transfer admission departments? And the only reason why I would have that many credits by the time I finished is because I did not start with engineering.
Many colleges limit what they will accept for transferring. Also each school might not accept your math /science that you took and maybe some cs classes. Each school will have different rules. Take your transcript and send and take to the transfer admission person at “each” school. This is the only way you will know how many actual classes will transfer. Don’t assume.
But… Can you use some of those extra classes as electives is a question I would ask or for extra breadth they are called.
There’s a lot of space between “top 20 engineering program” and “bad enough to justify a transfer”. I’m trying to get an idea of where your current school’s program lands. Are you comfortable sharing the name of your school? If not, can you look it up here and tell us if it’s accredited by ABET for engineering? That doesn’t matter much for CS, but CS and engineering are often linked at schools. If it’s accredited for engineering, that means the engineering school is fine. The school you attend doesn’t matter much for jobs in CS, and especially after your first job.
CS admissions competitive, especially at elite schools. I think transferring will be a pain and you should think carefully before pursuing it. What is your budget and can you afford a top-20 school? What if you don’t get in?