Will my chances of transferring be lower if I don’t have the required courses? I want to transfer to an International Relations program, but my community college doesn’t have those courses and is getting rid of related fields like political science

Transfer Students
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I’m majoring in Criminal Justice and a sophomore, soon to be a junior. I want to switch my major and transfer to International Relations. I talked to my advisor at my community college about my situation, but she didn’t help me at all. I already know what to take, but my community college doesn’t have any of those classes. I don’t know what to do, even though some people say it doesn’t matter that much if I’m a different major at community college. I’m just scared that I’ll get rejected and lower my chances . I’ve started looking at other community colleges in my state, and none of them have those courses either. But other out-of-state community colleges do, and I was planning on taking them there, but I’ll have to pay out-of-state tuition, and that’s quite a lot.

Do you think this will lower my chances of transferring? Any advice would be appreciated since I’m trying to transfer to T25 schools and other competitive ones. Thank you!

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  1. I hope your potential list of transfer schools includes schools outside of the top 25 and competitive schools.

  2. What four year colleges have articulation agreements with your community college?

  3. It may take you longer than 2 additional years to complete the degree requirements once you transfer.

  4. Could you share your career goals? It’s very possible other majors can get you to your end point.

  5. Your goal right now should be to get tippy top grades so that your transfer options are more varied.

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1.Yes, I have some safety schools on my list.
2.My community college has articulation agreements with UTD, UNT, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. While these are good schools, I’m looking for out-of-state options because I want to experience a new environment and gain more independence.
3. Actually I don’t mind graduating late!!
4. .My career goal is to work in international relations, ideally as a foreign service officer or policy analyst for a government agency or international organization.
5 .Right now, I have a perfect 4.0 GPA, which is why I’m aiming to apply to higher tier schools. I’m also applying for internships related to policy or international relations n hope that will make my application stand out.

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So what colleges are you considering? It’s hard to say if your chances are good or not without knowing the colleges.

Thank you for answering my other questions. A few more:

  1. Can you afford the cost of attendance at these OOS colleges you are considering?
  2. Have you checked to see what the %age of accepted transfer students is at these colleges?
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Criminal justice is usually not considered a “solid” or transfer major by top universities (more like prep before you become a police officer or a DoC officer - Criminology is the legit major combining Psychology and Policy, and it’s usually selective.)
Is there a way for you to be listed as undeclared/transfer pathway?
I would try to switch out of the CJ major. If sth like undeclared/transfer pathway isn’t possible, what about History or Spanish? (Those would be considered legit.)

Does your CC offer advanced courses in foreign languages + courses in history and philosophy? (European, US, and non Euro/non US history would be core classes for IR, and philosophy if un necessary for IR is considered evidence of rigor and ability.)
IR will require one foreign language (perhaps 2) at a high level requiring study abroad, so advancing one and starting another, both related to your geographical area of interest, would be useful.
Depending on your area of interest the language (s) will vary - FYI if Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese; if Western Europe, French and German or another European language; if Eastern Europe, Polish and Russian, Romanian, Slovak, Ukrainian, etc; if Russia, Russian and Ukrainian or a language from their sphere or ex sphere of influence ; Sub Saharan Africa, French and Swahili or Hausa; if the MENA area, Arabic, Hebrew and French; etc.
Some of these languages can be difficult to find so don’t worry if your CC only offers Spanish and one other :wink: the key would be to go as far as you can in one language to show ability (and perhaps to get started in another language but that’s less important).
Look into Critical Language Flagships: these programs lead directly to jobs in IR/IR related fields.
https://www.thelanguageflagship.org/node/149
Unfortunately there aren’t any in Texas :frowning:
Among those offering merit scholarships, there’s
ASU -where you can combine the Chinese flagship and ROTC
https://international.clas.asu.edu/chineseflagship
UArizona has a Portuguese flagship.
Portland State has a Russian flagship
https://www.pdx.edu/russian-flagship/
Ole Miss has Chinese and Arabic Flagships

https://arabic.olemiss.edu/
West KY has a Chinese flagship

That’s about it for universities with Critical Language Flagships that MAY offer merit scholarships.

Is there another CC you can commute to so you could take the Poli sci, foreign language/lit/culture, and history courses you’d need?

Beside AU, GWU, G’town, good colleges for you to look into (due to academic strength and excellent FA) would be Penn, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Tufts, Hamilton, Macalester. Ole Miss (Croft Institute), UGA, UDenver, Spelman also have good depts and connections but their FA is likely to be lousy for a transfer.
Look into Kalamazoo, St Olaf, Grinnell, Dickinson for colleges that are strong in IR-related fields& Language/Culture and offer FA.
St Olaf’s Global Semester may be of particular interest as well as Dickinson’s programs.

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Since I’m applying for the upcoming spring. These schools are offering spring transfers, and I want to try out to get in besides my safety schools: Brown, UMich, CMU, Tulane, BU, BC, Wash U, Holy Cross, and Northeastern, Middleburry…

  1. I’ve used the net price tool for these schools cuz I’m coming from an extremely low-income background, so most of the schools would cover tuition. However, UMich might be an exception, and I’ve heard Brown is need-aware for transfers.

  2. Yes I’ve checked, which is why I’m trying my best to build my application and write a good essay.

Thank you so much for taking your time to help me!

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IR is an interdisciplinary major. What poli sci, world history or econ classes have you taken? Are you taking foreign language classes? Have you taken a negotiations class?

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Thank you so much for all the information and advice! I agree, and this is why I’m trying to switch out. My community college does offer language courses, but they only have one professor teaching all the languages, and the classes are always full. I’m planning to take them this coming fall and apply to transfer in the spring, but my college isn’t great when it comes to philosophy, poli sci, foreign language, literature, culture, and history programs. They are more focused on engineering. I’ve been looking at other community colleges in Texas, but they don’t have the courses I need. I’m looking at out-of-state community colleges, but I would have to pay out-of-state tuition, which is quite a lot. However, I think my financial aid should cover the tuition.The benefit is that some of these colleges have international relations majors and the courses I need, which would make it a lot easier for me to take those classes in the fall and transfer in the spring. I might have to do more research and find another community college to enroll in. I appreciate your information n insight!

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I would add W&M to the list of schools with strong IR, particularly their joint program with St. Andrews, though it probably would not be a financial fit for the OP as an OOS applicant.

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I’ve taken United History I and II and government, but not poli sci or econ. They’re getting rid of the poli sci program, and the negotiations classes aren’t available at my community college . Most of my classes are about criminal justice right now. For the fall, I’m planning to take macro or microeconomics, a language class, Introduction to Comparative Politics, and Introduction to International Relations. These will transfer to the schools I’m applying to.

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Yes, get rid of the CJ major as having that appear on your transcript would be a problem for the colleges you’re applying to. Switch to undeclared or something like history, Poli sci, Econ, etc.

Have you taken the math pre-reqs for Micro Economics? If not, take Macro and the pre-req math in the Fall (indicate that the math is in preparation for Micro in the “additional information” box in CommonApp.)
What foreign language did you take in HS and what level did you reach? You would need to take the next level in the sequence (eg., if you took 3 years of Spanish in HS you’d take Spanish 201 or 3rd level. If you reached HS Level 2 you would take 102 or 2nd level in college.)
Will your CC offer Intro to IR and Comparative Politics if they’re getting rid of the Poli Sci program?
What history courses do they offer at the 100 or 200 level?

Negociation could be under Business or Communication. Public speaking, speech, interpersonal or intercultural communication would all work, too.

See what instate CCs offer the courses you need, even if one class is online. The classes DO NOT have to be “IR”.
OOS CC wouldn’t be worth it.

Take the federal loans and bank them if you don’t want to use them all. It’ll give you a bit of financial flexibility .

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Just to reinforce the above advice, in the cases I know the most about, the community college recommends NOT trying to take a bunch of major-related classes if you are planning to transfer, but instead to try to check off as many gen ed sort of requirements as possible that you will actually get credit for. Maybe some intro stuff required for your major, but that’s about it.

So I don’t know what your community college offers specifically, but it does seem to me like you should probably think that way, stop taking anything specifically related to Criminal Justice, but also you don’t do stuff specifically for IR either, indeed I would NOT do IR-major-specific courses.

Like I really like the idea of doing language work, which would hopefully be credited. But I understand there are practical barriers to that at your community college? OK, so then maybe there is other stuff you can do. But also, maybe you can choose a different community college. And I find it hard to believe you cannot find any community college in Texas with language classes!

Finally, it does seem to me like maybe you are on track to have credits that won’t transfer and so it is going to take longer to finish your degree. That is fine, but if that is the case, maybe rushing to get to a four-year college is not the best plan either. Like, reorient to the transfer path versus a Criminal Justice path, maybe change community colleges, and give it enough time so you can apply to four-year colleges as someone who can smoothly transition to focusing on their IR program.

Random addition: I like the suggestions of William & Mary and also the Korbel School at the University of Denver. I don’t know anything about their transfer policies, but both are great IR schools with excellent international reputations.

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I will take macro and the pre-req math, and I took Spanish 2 in HS so I think continuing with that would be easier for me! My CC doesn’t offer those intro classes, which is kind of my problem. I contacted the department, and they said they can let me take the Introduction to Political Science by the fall before getting rid of it after the fall, but I don’t think that would count towards my credit for Intro to Comparative Politics. They offer Western & World Civilization, Mexican American, and African American history! Right now, I’m taking Speech Comm for the summer semester, so I think I’ll be good on that. I’ll try to switch to Econ or History and stay at my CC because oos CC is kind of too expensive😬

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I’ve almost completed the core requirements at my community college, so that’s why I’m trying to take some classes related to IR. My community college doesn’t offer those intro classes, but they do offer language classes, just not a lot of options, so it’s kinda hard to sign up for those. The reason why I can’t stay another year at CC is that I’m about to hit 60 credits! Thanks for your advice and insight!

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Okay then, see if you can take

  • Intro to Poli sci
  • Spanish 102 (or whatever they call Spanish/college level 2)
  • Macro Econ
  • whatever intro math you don’t have that’s a pre+req for Micro OR (if you don’t need the math class) a more advanced Speech Comm class or World Civ or Western Civ
  • Mexican American History
    -^ this schedule is coherent for a person interested in IR, with a possible focus on Latin America. It would hit all the expected, solid classes you’d need.

You don’t need to take intro to comparative politics if your CC doesn’t offer it. Top, full need colleges don’t work like public universities and will be more than fine if you take Intro to Comparative Politics with their sophomores in the Spring.

To complement your classes, see if you can volunteer with an organization that helps Spanish speaking refugees or Asylum seekers (“Asylum” here is unrelated to mental illness, it comes from an old European tradition: people who were accused of crimes or felt/were persecuted could run into a church and touch a specific place, saying “I claim asylum” -Latin for refuge, sanctuary-, and they were under God’s protection hence had to be protected by whoever was there&couldn’t leave. Today it would be victims of torture, women&children victim of domestic violence, people under threats by gangs or who supported the “wrong” political party or are part of the “wrong” religion with threats or violence enacted against them/their lived ones.) it would combine interest in policy&South American politics+use Spanish*+learn sth directly useful to figure out if that’d be a good geographical/topical focus or not + add to your resume.

(*Strictly speaking they may use Spanish as a lingua franca if their native language is, say, Qechua).

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