Transferring from SMC to Pierce CC?

Transfer Students
1

Hi! I recently finished my first year at Santa Monica College and I’ve decided that all the time I lose commuting there isn’t worth it. I had to take the bus every day of class since I didn’t have any other reasonable transportation. Because of costs and bus/class schedule difficulties, I would have to get on a bus to get to school two hours before class would even start, and because of one very regretted late afternoon class, I would end up getting home so late that all I would want is sleep. I realized that with an hour to two for each bus ride, combined with traffic and stressing over class start and end times, I was losing so much time that could have been spent studying for tests that I ended up failing and crying over. Pierce is without a doubt closer and less of a hassle, so I’ve decided to go there.

  1. My first question is, do I have to meet with any counselors at either school to inform them of my decision?

  2. Furthermore, do I need to take any placement exams for Pierce? I’ve already completed the two required English courses at SMC and I don’t plan on enrolling in any more. Math, however, is my biggest concern. Will I need to take a placement exam at Pierce?

  3. Is there anything I need to do PRIOR to enrolling to Pierce? SMC will allow me to order transcripts and mail them directly to another school without me even touching them, so I’m not too worried about that. Is there anything I need to do WHILE applying to Pierce?

Sorry for all of the questions and thank you for helping!

2

Yes, I believe you will have to take the math placement again.

3

  1. Not at SMC but you should meet with someone at Pierce and learn about academic renewal to make up any classes where you received any D or F or NP grades.

  2. Did you take the math placement test at SMC? If so, Pierce should accept those results as long as they were taken within a certain time frame, otherwise you’ll have to retake it.

  3. No, but do send your SMC transcripts to Pierce and your placement exam results. You may need to send your high school transcripts if you completed enough foreign language to satisfy GE requirements. If you took AP tests, you’ll want to send your scores.

4

You better check re math placement because at SMC anyway, you have to retake. Pierce may be different:

https://www.smc.edu/EnrollmentDevelopment/AssessmentCenter/Pages/New-Students.aspx

5

Ahhh thank you so much!