Should I transfer after 1 or 2 years of CC?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I’m enrolled in my CC and I keep telling myself it’s gonna be fun. I’ve only had 2 days of classes, but recently visited my friends at their dorms (at a huge nearby university, currently famous for football at the moment) and a huge feeling of depression came over me. That could’ve been me! I could’ve been their neighbors living with a possible new friend. But no, I decided to go to CC and get into a school I really want to go to. So here I am. My first weekend of college, bored as hell, sulking about my life.</p>

<p>Originally, I was going to ride out CC for 2 years and transfer afterwards, but seeing my friends living it up at a university made me jealous and I’d like to transfer out ASAP.</p>

<p>Is it wise to transfer after only 1 year of CC? What are the pros and cons of transferring after 1 year and after 2?</p>

<p>Will I have enough college ‘background’ for them to judge me on after 1 year? Will they still look at my HS transcript closely? (which isn’t bad, at all)
Are SATs going to be a big factor? Should I take them again? What about scholarship opportunities?</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>Should I just suck it up and do my 2 years of CC? I was told it would ‘fly-by’, but it seems like forever now. And if they do ‘fly-by’, so will my opportunities to go out and make friends.</p>

<p>I’ve only had 2 days of CC, but I can’t see myself making lasting friendships! A lot of people already know each other (I don’t know HOW… seriously) or a lot of people just leave to go home after class. </p>

<p>I’m just really concerned about the social aspects because my friends who went away are living it up, and I’m living it up in my parent’s house.</p>

2

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<p>You can transfer after only one year.</p>

<p>Pros: You can experience the “real” college experience sooner and more of it
You can get to know people for 3 years rather than 2</p>

<p>Cons: Your high school record will matter more (if it is a con for you).</p>

<p>The big pro of transferring after two years is that, let’s say you were a decent student in your HS career (3.3-3.5) and you earn a steady 3.7+ in college with lots of credits and good classes, then well, you’ll have a better shot at those colleges that may have been out of your reach. </p>

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<p>You should have enough college background for them to judge you after 1 semester. However to get a more complete picture, they will take a lot from HS. SATs/ACTs will play a factor, but not as much. I’d be willing to say they are important enough to possibly retake (assuming the school is willing to accept retakes). </p>

<p>Scholarship opportunities are roughly the same? I’m not sure because I didn’t apply for too many. I do know that some schools give special scholarships for transfer students and transfers from community colleges.</p>

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<p>If you really don’t like it that much, try for your 1 year. It’s not gonna hurt, and even if you don’t get in, you’ll have that experience. When people say it’s going to fly-by, it honestly will, even at a CC. If you challenge yourself enough, make sure all your classes are hard and keep you busy, you’ll rarely have time to think too much about your social life. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the help, Cvjn. For your post, I assume you are a transfer student… did you transfer after 1 or 2 years?</p>

<p>Other opinions are greatly appreciated, as well!</p>

4

<p>I transferred after 1 year. They admitted me after only 1 semester of transfer work though. I was 1/3 through my 2nd semester when I got my acceptance letter.</p>

5

<p>To the excellent information Cvjn posted, I’d add that an additional “con” of transferring after one year is that often the 4-year school costs more than the cc; so you lose one year of savings.</p>

<p>It’s a personal decision, though, whether that is more important than having the full university experience which you want. Totally understandable that someone might choose either.</p>

<p>As to whether you should re-take the SAT’s: depends on what schools you are targeting and what your scores were. If you want to post that info, we can comment.</p>

<p>You will definitely have enough college experience for the admissions committee to judge; transferring in as a sophomore is not uncommon. As Cvjn said, do well at your cc. And, get to know some profs well enough that you can get solid recommendations. If you haven’t read the Transfer Admissions 101 thread yet, you’ll get ideas on all of this there.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

6

<p>btw, I have copied the OP qx and Cvjn’s response into the Transfer 101 sticky thread.</p>

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<p>Nice catch, I always forget that one… >_></p>

8

<p>I’m heading to Northwestern in about a week and I went to a ccc (California Community College) for the last two years. I can assure you that the two years really do “fly by,” and that it is possible to have a positive experience. I enrolled in many honors courses, and although I saw a lot of the same people in my classes throughout the years (there are a limited number of honors courses), I ended up only making about 4 friends. My social life was identical to my hs social life, hanging out with the same people etc, but I didn’t really feel depressed about it since almost all of my friends attended the same cc as me.</p>

<p>I’d recommend staying for the full two years and taking a wide variety of courses (I finished my Associates of Arts degree this summer). My high school record was somewhere between average and bad, with a 3.5 weighted GPA and a 1430/1600 on the SAT. Right after high school I probably could have made it to a few middle tier UC’s but I decided to go to a cc so I could have more choices. Also, keep in mind that even if you don’t do spectacular at your cc there will be many colleges that will accept you that wouldn’t have accepted you straight out of high school. For example, out of the 4 friends I made, all 4 were accepted to CAL and UCLA, and none were 4.0 students.</p>

<p>Your friends may be “living it up” but you need to get over it and stay focused on your goals. If they rip on you for going to a cc, just remind then that they will be doing GEs for the next two years just like you, except you pay $500 a years instead of $10000 for tuition ($30000 if they go to a private). Take a wide variety of classes (liberal arts, no tech/business classes), and make your course selection as rigorous as possible. If your cc does not have a honors program just stick to your intended major and try to finish as many advanced level classes as possible. If you don’t know what your major is, (I didn’t until late in my 2nd year) I would advise you to just take a lot of math courses. Many cc’s offer the entire calculus series + linear algebra and diff eqs, and if you go far up the math tree the adcoms at your future school will see that you challenged yourself. Doing this will give you a definite advantage over someone who only took english/art classes and earned a similar GPA.</p>

<p>If you decide to not read my lengthy post, just make sure you read this last section. And to answer your initial question, stay for 2 years.</p>

<p>Focus on these:</p>

<ol>
<li> Course selection (Make it as rigorous as possible without having your GPA drop below 3.8. If your cc does +/- grading, find a new cc next semester because this is a huge disadvantage. Enroll in honors classes, and if not, take as many math/hard science classes as possible.)</li>
<li> GPA (Aim for 3.8+)</li>
<li> Recommendations (Make sure to find at least two professors who will write you a good rec. This is not that hard, you will find that there are many professors who genuinely want to help you get the hell out and transfer.)</li>
<li> Extracurriculars (I honestly don’t know how important this is in the transfer process. However, from experience and observation I can say with 99% confidence that #1,2,3 are more important. You probably know this already but don’t just join a bunch of clubs and only show up to the meetings as resume-padding, this is an utter waste of your time. I had one meaningful activity during my cc years that I pursued, and my professor was involved in it so he was able to incorporate it into the reccomendation he wrote me.)</li>
</ol>

<p>Good luck, and feel free to PM/instant message me if you have any questions.</p>