What are the general effects of transering colleges after 2 years of going to one college?

Answer 1

Generally, not much. I did it in Alabama, where all 4 year public universities and colleges have agreements with the 2 yr colleges to accept credits. Similar agreements most likely exist in other states. Note that such agreements, would only apply to state/public institutions.

The problem may arise, as it did for a friend who went to Med School: Some Schools he applied to only considered the courses took in the 4 yr college when calculating his GPA (discounting all his 2 yr courses). Therefore, I assume ( and this is pure conjecture), that this may happen when applying to competitive private graduate schools. I 'm in graduate school at Auburn U and they considered all my, relevant course-related, grades at application.

If you're in a 2 yr college you're saving money. At the 4 yr college, get good grades, especially if you intend to go post-graduate.

Answer 2

As a professor and former department chair, I can tell you that some of our best students were transfer students, and many of the faculty prefer dealing with them, because they have proven that they can handle college before they come to us. For the student, the advantages are the possibility of saving money or of going somewhere better suited to them, either because they didn't like their first college, or because during college they developed an interest in a subject matter which they could study better elsewhere.

There are some disadvantages you need to think about, though. First of all, it can be harder to fit in socially, since many students have already developed their friendships after two years. Secondly, many schools do a better job of orientation for freshmen than they do for transfer students, and I often find that the transfer students are lacking basic information about how things work at the university. Thirdly, particularly if you are a really good student, you may find that you are less-frequently looked at for honors than someone with the same GPA who has been at the college since freshman year. You have had less time to prove yourself and to get to know faculty who might push you for opportunities. When you transfer, your earlier courses transfer as credits, not grades, and you start all over again on the GPA. So when comparing someone who has maintained a 4.0 for four years to one who has had the same GPA for only two, whether recommending a student for a scholarship or an award, the person who has been there the whole time usually gets the advantage. Of course, that won't matter if you are only an average student, but right now our two best seniors are transfer students, and I'm constantly calling people with questions like, "Can a transfer student apply to be valedictorian?" "Why has this person not been invited to apply for the honor society when her friends, who have lower GPAs, have been invited?", etc.

Answer 3

Not too bad, if you planned. I transferred after 2 years. Here are the big things to note when transferring.

- Get your associates degree, if you can, it makes it a million times easier as the whole degree transfers and you get out of all the general eds, where if you didnt get an associate, they would transfer each class separate and not all will count at your new school and you will have to re-take them
- Your GPA does not go with you. You start all over from scratch with a new GPA at your new school
- Check out all the pre-requisites at your new school before you transfer. Just because you have a certain number of credits, doesn't mean you can move into certain classes. You might have to have a certain course, say Accounting 202, to take Accounting 302. If your Accounting 202 class that you did take at your old school doesn't go to your new school, you have to take it again. Or if you didnt take accounting 202, you can't take 302, even if you have enough credits to take junior (300-level) courses.
- PLAN AHEAD and fight for your transferred classes. You can always appeal to get the new school to accept your old school's credits if they dont right away