Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ transferring college question

[yilduz]

I know some of you guys have been to, or are in, college. I'm wondering about transferring from a community college to a university and how it works. I'm starting to research a community college I want to go to and they have an agreement with one of the universities in the state, and even have a satellite campus for that university in their campus. I have a question about how and what gets transferred, though.

If you're going for an associates degree and transfer to the university, does your major have to be the same as your associates degree? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking about going to college to be a law enforcement officer for the forest service, or bureau of land management (basically, a tree cop). The BLM recommends a college degree and emphasis on criminal justice, natural resources, etc... the university satellite does not have criminal justice for any major or minor - so my plan was to get an associates in criminal justice and then transfer for the 4-year degree in Natural Resources. Since those two subjects are so different, is that a possibility?

If nobody knows, that's fine - I'm sure I'll be able to find out later, but I couldn't find information on the subject on either school site, and I'm curious now.

edit: lol the censor blocked out the abbreviation for bachelors degree.

[northicehero99]

You need to go and talk with the counselor at both the University and Community College you plan to attend. Some will only give partial credit, others accept full transfer of credits and each school is different. Thus you are better off checking with both sides to verify both are providing the same information.

[sportscollectoroz]

I know some of you guys have been to, or are in, college. I'm wondering about transferring from a community college to a university and how it works. I'm starting to research a community college I want to go to and they have an agreement with one of the universities in the state, and even have a satellite campus for that university in their campus. I have a question about how and what gets transferred, though.

If you're going for an associates degree and transfer to the university, does your major have to be the same as your associates degree? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking about going to college to be a law enforcement officer for the forest service, or bureau of land management (basically, a tree cop). The BLM recommends a college degree and emphasis on criminal justice, natural resources, etc... the university satellite does not have criminal justice for any major or minor - so my plan was to get an associates in criminal justice and then transfer for the 4-year degree in Natural Resources. Since those two subjects are so different, is that a possibility?

If nobody knows, that's fine - I'm sure I'll be able to find out later, but I couldn't find information on the subject on either school site, and I'm curious now.

edit: lol the censor blocked out the abbreviation for bachelors degree.

I see you're not from California, but I'll fill you in on what I did so you can get an idea of what to take or what resources to look for.

The California public college / university system has a couple ways for students to transfer between institutions. The first way, which you have mentioned, involves a transfer agreement between institutions; in California, they refer to it as Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) agreement. Through a TAG agreement, a student receives early reviews, acceptance notifications, and guidance as to the coursework they must complete in order to satisfy general education and major preparation course requirements. TAG agreements only pertain when transferring to a University of California (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Riverside) institute.

Another way (I believe it is the most common since it's not restricted solely towards transfers to UC's but to CSU's as well), is through the successful completion of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC). IGETC requires students to complete a particular amount of classes in different areas to satisfy non-Major, general education courses.

When looking at transferable courses, courses that give you college credit at a community college as well as a 4-year institute, California has a website called Assist.org where students can select the community they are attending, a college they'd like to transfer to, and the Major they are looking into and discover which classes satisfy the articulation agreement between the two colleges. This allows students to complete preparatory coursework for their Upper and Lower Division Major requirements.

I would advise that you consult with an academic counselor at the community college to find out what resources are available to you that provide most, if not all, of the same information that was provided to me. That way you don't end up paying for and spending time in a class you didn't need to take to begin with.

Hope this helps!

Oz

[yilduz]

Thank you both for the information. The "speak with a counselor" answer is what I was expecting, but I was just curious to see if anyone had gone through it. I guess I figured it was possible there was a standardized way of transferring - but I'll check with both schools and figure out what I should do from there.

Again, thank you both very much.

[phatman68]

Im not sure how it is everywhere else but I know here at the U of Illinois its easier to transfer into the school from a CC or other University than it is to switch majors inside the University, as most of the time you will be transferring into a different colelge (ex. I am in Applied Health Sciences so if I wanted to go into Business it would be difficult to switch colleges even though I go here). So basically, make sure you have the right major when you transfer or else you could be out of luck.

[Zimbow]

Usually if you are transferring from a Junior college to a 4 year school within the same state, the 4 year school should accept all credits because of it's in state status. I was at Potomac State College of WVU. They are the same way. Now, if its a Junior college or Community College and you are transferring out of state, your credit hours would depend on the school you are going to go to. If they accept all of your credits or partial acceptance. This all depends on the degree you are going after. Usually anything affiliated with Law Enforcement will transfer over to a 4 year school. My credits from Virginia Commonwealth University for Criminal Justice or Law Enforcement transferred to Potomac State College. Unfortunately, after 2 years of college I left.

[yilduz]

Im not sure how it is everywhere else but I know here at the U of Illinois its easier to transfer into the school from a CC or other University than it is to switch majors inside the University, as most of the time you will be transferring into a different colelge (ex. I am in Applied Health Sciences so if I wanted to go into Business it would be difficult to switch colleges even though I go here).  So basically, make sure you have the right major when you transfer or else you could be out of luck.

Thank you for that as well. That is not something I've thought about. I've put a lot of thought into what I want my major to be, but I did not think about how difficult it could be to switch.

[northicehero99]

Thank you for that as well. That is not something I've thought about. I've put a lot of thought into what I want my major to be, but I did not think about how difficult it could be to switch.

That is an important issue, as lots of students take classes and realize what they thought they were doing is not really what they want to do and either drop out or change majors. Having a backup plan is always a good idea.

[yilduz]

That is an important issue, as lots of students take classes and realize what they thought they were doing is not really what they want to do and either drop out or change majors.  Having a backup plan is always a good idea.

Yeah, when I first started college (I went for one year), I did Mechanical Engineering, but switched to Programming, then thought about switching to Network Security. Now I'm going a completely different direction - but if I decided I don't want to do this, I've already planned on getting at least an associates degree in something computer-related.

[19th Century Indiana Jones]

B.S.

[yilduz]

B.S.

Sure. Use periods.

[phatman68]

You could always minor in something too once you transfer.

[yilduz]

You could always minor in something too once you transfer.

The particular campus I want to attend is extremely limited on minors, and none of them interest me.

[Zimbow]

Take a Minor in General Studies or Communication. All the big time athletes have degrees in Comm.

[metsfan2427]

It really depends on the college. As Brain said talk to someone from admission from those colleges. Every college has there own policy on things like that.