College advice for adults - without the sales pitch
If you started with one college, but now you need to finish your degree somewhere else - you're a transfer student. In fact, most of you reading this who are working adults probably have at least a few credits you need to transfer.
I've sometimes had the terrible duty of informing transfer students - with several years of college already completed - that none of their credits are transferable to my university. I'm essentially telling that student and they have to start all over again!
Why does this happen, and what can you do about it? I've identified three transfer traps you should avoid:
We've covered accreditation in detail already. Too many students fall into this trap:
Let's say you're a truck driver with dreams of becoming a supervisor. Your company requires managers to have a bachelor's degree, but you can't afford four-year tuition right now.
Many people in this situation would start with a two-year associate's degree from a community college.
So far, so good.
But if you choose a nationally accredited community college, you've potentially set yourself up for a big disappointment.
Nationally-accredited community college courses will almost certainly not transfer to a regionally accredited four-year college or university. You'd have to find a nationally accredited four-year school to have the best chance of transferrring those credits.
Guess what? Most four-year programs are regionally accredited.
Now you see why I sometimes have to deliver bad news. My university is regionally accredited, so transfer students who show up at my office with a nationally accredited two-year degree have essentially wasted their time and money if they're determined to earn their bachelor's degree at my school.
That's a tough pill to swallow, for them and for me.
If you're just starting and know you'll eventually transfer, review my notes on accreditation. Then go talk to admissions and advising people at your starter school and any school where you're thinking of transferring. Make sure their accreditation agencies are compatible before taking any courses.
If you don't know where you'll eventually wind up, go with a regionally accredited school to give your credits the best chance of transferability.
Every higher education institution makes its own decisions about which credits to accept from other schools. Ask for an official Degree Audit showing which transfer credits were accepted.If you're a transfer student, or plan to become one, make sure you ask about these policies upfront.
For example, if you've earned an associate's degree, which usually requires about 60 credits, will they all be accepted by the four-year university you're considering? If not, how many will transfer? Which courses will you have to retake, and why? Ask these questions.
Once you're admitted as a transfer student, I'm sure you'll want to jump right into finishing your degree.If official transcripts are mailed to you by mistake, don't open them or they won't be considered "official" anymore But your new school can't tell you - officially - which credits they've accepted in transfer until you send them official transcripts from every college, university, or other source of college-level credit that you have.
Contact the Registrar's Office at each of your former schools and ask them to send official transcripts to your new university. This is your responsibility, by the way, and you often have to pay for each transcript. Delay in sending your transcripts can cause confusion over which classes you have remaining to finish your degree. You might wind up taking courses that you didn't need.
Don't delay - send in those transcripts today.