How do I transfer to a 4 year?

Hi Haroon,

There are a few approaches to this, and a lot of it will depend on where you want to go and what you want to study. Do you want to stay at the community college for the full two to three years and earn an associate's degree? Do you want to transfer before earning a degree? Do you want to transfer to a "partner institution" (a four-year school with which your community college had an articulation agreement, as Ms. Haden mentioned)? Do you want to transfer out of state? Out of the country? All of these answers could affect the "how to" answer.

If you want to transfer to a four-year school sooner rather than later, you should know that most four-year schools will regard you as a "transfer student" after you've earned between 24 and 30 credits (depending on the school). What that means is that your four-year school will be entirely basing their decision on your transcript from community college and application materials. If you've got fewer credits than that, you'll be regarded as a high school student who has college credits, meaning that they might want to see your high school transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, etc.

If you transfer without a degree, you'll likely be part of a competitive admissions process. They'll be evaluating your transcript closely, focusing on your personal statement (essay), etc. Your GPA will be a big factor. Etc.

Many community colleges have agreements with area four-year schools, as mentioned. These are usually either an articulation agreement or a guaranteed admissions agreement (GAA). The GAA between two schools generally says "if you earn an associate's degree that we accept and meet these other criteria, then you're guaranteed admission to our school." (Bear in mind that admission to a university DOESN'T guarantee admission to every program there. Programs like engineering and business often have their own set of criteria for acceptance to those particular programs. So it's possible to be accepted to a university but not to the program you want.)

An articulation agreement is more complicated, but very helpful. It basically outlines things like how your ENG 101 class will translate into the courses at that school, for instance. As well as other guidelines for getting admitted.

The real key is planning, and that's where the idea of seeking out transfer advisers from both schools comes in handy. Your community college will have something called an advising sheet or advising worksheet, in all likelihood. It's a document that tells you what courses you need to complete your degree there at the community college. Many four-year schools also offer "transfer guides," which outline what courses they're hoping to see from their transfer students. You'll use the transfer guide to help you make decisions about your advising sheet. In other words, if your community college requires that you do a History course, and your transfer school really wants students to have taken a Western Civilization course, now you know exactly what to put in that History slot. (The advisers will help obviously.)

So my advice would be to find out whether your school has those agreements, and with what transfer schools. Figure out what you want to study and where you want to transfer. Then work backward to select your major, your classes, and your schedule for each semester. Everything falls into place.

Does that make sense? I'm happy to answer questions if you've got them.