Community College Transfer Student Mistakes
Are you thinking about starting at a community college (CC) and then transferring to a new university to complete your engineering degree? If so, here are some common mistakes I’ve seen students make…mistakes that can potentially set you back a year or more.
Only taking core courses like history, English, creative arts, etc.
Some students decide to wait to take their math courses when they get to the university. This is a huge mistake! Engineering classes typically have a minimum requirement of calculus. So, if you put off taking math, but take all your other core classes, you will be left with nothing to take other than a math class and maybe a Graphics or Intro to Engineering course. I’ve seen this happen time after time.
If you’re going to do the CC route, you want to knock out as many math classes as you can. This is especially true if you never had pre-calculus in high school. Once you pass Calculus 1, you’ll be able to enroll in Physics.
Below is an example schedule of what I’d tell a community college student in Texas to take, assuming they’re ready for Calculus. It covers all the math (except Linear Algebra), plus it knocks out Physics, Chemistry, basic Engineering courses like Statics and some of the core courses. The core courses you don’t take in the first two years can be taken later when engineering classes are much harder and you need an easy filler.
Many states have transfer agreements between the community colleges and state universities. For example, in Texas, there is the Texas Common Core. This is basically an agreement between all the schools that allows freshmen and sophomore level classes to be transferred from community colleges to the state universities.
So, if you’re planning to attend a state university you definitely want to check to see what your state has available with regards to transfer credits.
No contact with your future university
Even though you may just be starting out at the local community college you should always stay in touch with an advisor from your future university. Why? Well, there are a few reasons…
Degree programs change over time
Courses get dropped or changed and you want to stay up to date with this. Departments know well in advance what the changes will be in the future so it’s always a good idea to just call and make sure you’re registering for the right courses.
For example, at my university the ME department originally required C++ to be taken for programming. It was determined that C++ wasn’t really that useful for ME students so the programming requirement was switched to MATLAB.
Students taking courses at community colleges didn’t stay up with the changes and kept on taking C++. Then, when they came for orientation, I had to break the news to them that the C++ course wouldn’t count.
Had they called an advisor earlier, we could have kept them from taking an unnecessary course. The CC advisors don’t always know what’s going on at the universities so it’s always best to check yourself.
Community college advisors aren’t always right
Unfortunately, I’ve seen CC students get advised to take courses that aren’t even on the university degree plans. I’m not sure why it happens but I’ve seen it happen many times. Students end up taking things they totally do not need at the suggestion of their CC advisor.
Students are told the course ‘will transfer’ but they’re not told that the course won’t count towards the degree.
There’s a huge difference between getting transfer credit and getting credit towards your degree. Staying in touch with your university’s advising office will keep you on track and prevent you from taking useless classes that just transfer.
You want courses that will replace those that are required by the department you’re looking to enroll in.
Taking online courses at Community College
Many CCs are now offering online courses like Calculus, Statics, and Dynamics.
Although they are accepted at some schools, not all university engineering programs will transfer in online courses.
The individual engineering departments decide what courses they will transfer so you need to check and verify that online courses are allowed.
No point in taking a class and just assuming it’ll get counted – always verify before in enrolling in an online course.
Community College is a great way to start
Taking courses at a community college is a great way to save money and get ahead on your degree. Just make sure you do it the right way. Doing it the wrong way will end up costing you time and money. Following the advice in this post should help keep you on the right track. Happy studying!
