What are the disadvantages of transferring into a 4 year university from a 2 year?
#college #college-transfer
3 answers
Jaron Hightower-Mills
Jaron’s Answer
I am glad that you are reaching out for support around transferring. One of the biggest academic questions is credit transfer. Since I don't know anything about the two institutions, I can't give you more detailed advice. From your current university, make sure that you don't have any financial holds on your account. Financial holds will prevent you at most universities from being issued an official transcript. Once you have verified your account balance, request at least one official transcript and ask someone in the Registrar or Records Office about the university's accreditation. In the U.S., regional accreditation is more widely accepted by other institutions than national accreditation. If your current university is in Ohio and is regionally accredited, they would be accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. If your current institution is nationally accredited and the 2-year college who want to transfer to is regionally accredited, they may not accept any of your credits. However, whatever a school accepts any credits from another institution is shaped by each school's policy. Once you have the transcript and accreditation information, contact the 2-year school where you want to transfer and ask them about their transfer credit policy. Ask if they will give you a preliminary evaluation of your ability to transfer what credits that you already have.
Outside of academic credit issues, there are few blank advantages or disadvantages. As you can imagine, the social dynamic on 2-year campuses is different from 4-year campuses. Most 2-year college students are not of traditional college age or have other family or professional responsibilities that limit their time outside of class. Therefore, you may need to be more intentional about connecting with fellow students in your classes. Depending on the size of student population, the type or level of student support services may been different or have a different level of accessibility. To understand what might change if you attend the 2-year institution, it is important to visit the campus and talk with students. Ask students about your main concerns about academics and student life.
Feel free to ask follow-up questions if you need to a more detailed response.
Jaron recommends the following next steps:
Ken’s Answer
Starting at a community college is a great idea. That is how I got a good start on my degree. I only see advantages
- the classes are smaller
- the cost is more reasonable
- the teachers are professionally involved in the area in which they teach
- they have the opportunity for internship and coop experience
- community colleges have special relationships with 4 year colleges, which makes transferring easy
- you can still live at home, which results in a cost savings and allows you to make only one major transition (adjusting to the difference between high school and college) in your life at a time, instead of both having to deal with that transition along with adjusting to new housing at the same time.
Here are some tips on reducing the cost of college: ## http://www.educationplanner.org/students/paying-for-school/ways-to-pay/reduce-college-costs.shtml
It really does not matter what school you attend, as the most important factors are how well you do with the school work, which is an indication to an employer about what kind of employee you will be, and the effort that you put forth in your networking to set up networking connections that will help you throughout your education/career journey. Here is an important video for you to watch: ## http://www.ted.com/talks/julie_lythcott_haims_how_to_raise_successful_kids_without_over_parenting?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=talk&utm_term=education ##
Alexandria’s Answer
I was a transfer and I would agree with the above statements. I think the main disadvantage was not making friends as a freshman and growing with them. But I will say I met amazing people at CC and you can easily make the most of that experience with clubs/groups.
The advantages of transferring (in my opinion outweighed the cons):
- Saving money was a huge plus
- Small classes in CC helped me develop my skills for what I want in a 4 yr
- I learned a lot about finances in CC that I may of not learned if I was in a 4 yr
- Less loans
- I still met amazing people that I'm friends with post grad!
- Most 4 yrs will have transfer centers where you can meet like-minded folks who have had the same experience as you
For jobs, whether you transferred or not really doesn't matter. Most transfers and 4yrs will end up in the same spot post grad.
Alexandria recommends the following next steps: