12-13-07

Transferring Between Colleges (Part 2)

This is the second part of a two part column

4.  Know that you MAY lose some credit hours when you transfer.  It always amazes me when a student comes to see me about transferring from another college, and is at the same time either changing or declaring a major for the first time, that they are taken aback when I tell them not all of their classes count toward their degree.  Even general education courses vary from degree to degree, and certainly from school to school.

5.  When you are starting over at a new school – even if you knew how everything worked and where everything was located at your old school, even if you have 20 friends already going to the new school, even if you’ve gone to every football game and went to camp on that campus every summer since you were knee-high to a grasshopper, you will need orientation to your new school – even if you don’t want it.  That may mean a class you are required to take, or it may mean you have to attend an orientation program when you enroll.  Either way, go and don’t gripe about it.  Know that the rules/processes/etc. will be different at your new school, and part of your job is to educate yourself on the new rules.

6.  One way to ensure the smooth transfer from one institution to another, is to look for a school with an articulation agreement not only WITH your destination school, but INTO your specific program or major.  An articulation agreement shows that the faculty at the two schools have gotten together and talked about required courses at both schools and put together an agreement as to which and how many classes from the Associate’s count toward the Bachelor’s.  That way, you have an agreement stating exactly what you’ll get from completing their degree and moving on to finish at your destination school

7.  If you plan to major in a subject at a particular school, DO NOT take any more coursework in that subject at another school than you absolutely have to.  You chose the institution and major because of your confidence and belief in that institution’s ability to educate you and help you prepare for a successful career in that field.  By taking major courses at another school, you are effectively saying you think the other school’s education is equal to that of your destination school – or the reduced cost is more important than the quality of education – or the course is easier at the other institution.  None of those are statements you really want to make with your transcript to a future employer.  Although credits look the same on a transcript as long as they transfer to your destination school, don’t think for a minute that accounting courses taught at a nationally recognized accounting program are the same thing as accounting courses taught at X Junior College.  It’s just not the case.

Playing football with the New England Patriots is a lot different than playing with the LSU Tigers.  Each is one of the best teams in their league, but everyone who knows anything about football knows the difference.  The same goes for accounting (or whatever your major is).

With the right information and expectations going into the process, you should be better able to get what you want from the process of transferring credits from one school to another.

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