I’m a Computer Science major taking classes at Richland College to earn an Associate’s Degree with an Emphasis in Computer Science.
I was quite happy with Richland for my general education requirements, up until I actually got into their STEM classes. I feel like those classes are essentially making me teach myself from the textbook, that the teachers are really only there to administer tests, and that I’m not learning much of anything I don’t already know.
After my experiences, I really don’t want to take classes that are important to my major like Calculus or Physics at Richland if I can help it. I was planning to finish my Associate’s Degree before applying to UTD, but I found out about something called a “transient” status, so I e-mailed UTD asking if I could enroll to take Calculus over the summer.
They said that unfortunately I would have to be a student at a four-year university in order to do that, but that I was welcome to try and get in through standard transfer admission. They also said that I shouldn’t need to finish my Associate’s Degree in order to gain admission, and that it was worth trying to get in now.
I have 36 credits now, and I’ll have 45 by the end of the semester. My GPA is currently 3.6, and I doubt it will go down much from there. I made an A in College Algebra in Fall, I made a B in Trigonometry over Winter Term, and I’m in Precalculus now.
The issue is that my High School record isn’t exactly stellar (although I did make mostly As). I didn’t take any AP classes besides Psychology and European History, and I only made a C in Algebra II. I wasn’t planning on going to college at the time, so it didn’t worry me.
So, what are my chances of getting into UTD? Also, does anyone know if their Math and Programming classes are any better than Richland’s? I’ve heard a lot of people say that most Universities classes everywhere are taught by unqualified TAs and aren’t any better than what you would get at a Community College, but I’m curious about UTD specifically… because I’m really hoping to find better classes.