Looking to go to community college for one semester and then a four year school

cslabstech · May 21, 2011, 9:16pm

Hi, I wanted to know if it was possible to attend a community college for one semester and let's say I get 12 credits of class and finish the semester with a 3.6 - 4.0 GPA. Now I want to transfer to a four year college, would this be allowed or even looked at from the four year college or do I need a certain amount of credit and semester to transfer.

I want to transfer right away because from my understand is that many four year college don't take most of the community college credit. A friend who did two year in community college said that once he got into a four year college the only thing that transfer was his English classes and 2 other courses. Another friend who goes to NYU Poly said that non were transferred and has to take some of the same courses.

So I am only to do one semester and out to a four year college.

ucbalumnus · May 21, 2011, 9:27pm

State universities typically have pre-set articulation agreements with same-state community colleges, so you can look up exactly what community college courses will transfer to the state university, and make your course selections accordingly. For example, in California, you can look up community college course transfer to any University of California or California State University on Welcome</a> to ASSIST .

However, state universities typically expect students to take about two years' worth of courses at a community college before applying to transfer.

For other universities, you need to look up each university's policy on transfer students and transfer credit.

cslabstech · May 21, 2011, 9:37pm

I will do that, I was just hoping it was easy to just take a semester and leave with a good gpa. I headed right now to search for university's I want to go to and read their policy as you stated.

liek0806 · May 21, 2011, 9:39pm

The above post is correct.
To add to the post, there are many reasons why X school didn't accept units from your friends. Maybe your friend took courses at community college that had no course equivalents to the university. It's important to take the right classes that may appear to transfer. These classes will generally be survey courses like intro classes to sociology, poly sci, history, philosophy, biology, chemistry, math, etc.

Also most 4 year schools will have their own policy for transfer students. Some schools like USC, will not take into consideration your high school record as long as you have 30 transferable units completed. If you have less than 30 transferable units, admissions will be based on your college record and high school record. Some schools will always consider high school record and sat scores in addition to your community college work. Research each school that you may be interested in, and see how feasible your plan is.

happymomof1 · May 22, 2011, 12:36pm

But why on earth do you want/need to spend a semester at a CC in the first place? Why not apply directly to the 4-year institutions?

If your HS grades aren't good enough to get into the 4-year college/university that you want, one semester at a CC isn't going to be enough to make you a viable transfer candidate. If you need/want to save money, one semester at a CC isn't going to save you all that much in tuition and fees. If the situation is that you didn't get in where you wanted to this year, and want to re-do your college list, you are probably better off taking a Gap Year, and then applying as a freshman for fall 2012.