Make your transfer application a winner with this expert advice.
This article is sponsored by DeVry University.
Good things come to those who wait—especially for students at community colleges who are transferring to four-year schools. As a transfer student, you’ll find your college application is different from those applying as freshmen. Admissions officers are more concerned with transfer students’ academic performance, not so much your involvement in extracurricular activities.
“Often times, community college students are nontraditional students,” says Greg Roberts, dean of transfer admission at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Those life experiences can play a role in the review.
Pontificate on the future
Students often start at a community college for financial reasons. Other students need time after high school to improve their academic performance. Some students are working parents or military veterans.
Roberts says admissions officers are focused on transfer students’ community college grades and their plans for the future.
The essay questions on the application for U.Va., for example, asks transfer students to explain why they are transferring and to describe their future goals. Freshmen, meanwhile, are asked to answer which word is their favorite.
Focus on your community college grades
Besides better essay questions, transfer students also have another advantage over freshmen applicants. Admissions officers often only consider a transfer student’s community college grades, not extracurricular activities. So not participating in student council or intramural volleyball at your community college won’t count against you.
“Parents and students typically overestimate the value of extracurricular activities,” says Dan Rosenfield, dean of enrollment management at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. “At the most highly selective schools, it can be a tip factor. But every college and university in the country will look at the course taken, performance and standardized test scores long before they look at extracurricular.”
Show an upward trend
Admissions officers are looking for signs of improvement. Adam Sapp is the assistant dean of admission at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., and says he wants to see a student take a course like microeconomics and then advance to macroeconomics in the next semester.
“I really prefer to see that upward trend,” Sapp says.
Take the “right” classes
The right kind of courses also count with admissions officers. An engineering student, for example, needs to take classes in math or science while at a community college in order to be taken seriously as a transfer. Without those required classes, Rosenfield says admissions officers consider it a “red flag.”
Don’t discount your high school work
Though your past course load is important, high school grades and test scores might not be essential to your transfer application. It all depends on when you transfer. “If a student has come in on 60 credits and they are coming in for their junior year, I am far less interested in the high school transcripts and the test scores,” Roberts says. “We’re looking exclusively at the college record.”
High school transcripts and test scores, however, may be more important for a student transferring after one or two semesters. Sapp says it’s all about seeing an academic trend for a student. High school grades, even poor grades, can show an admissions officer how you have developed academically.
Ask about a program’s associate degree requirements
Like high school grades, whether or not you have completed an associate’s degree also might not matter to your application. Sapp says some departments, like art and architecture, may want to see that you took certain courses. Other departments want you to use your two years at a community college to fill general education requirements.
Ask your rep at your prospective four-year college what they expect on your application. Call the admissions office, and ask to speak with the rep who handles transfers from your area.
What the heck is an articulation agreement?
“Articulation agreement” sounds like a fancy phrase from the awful analogy section on the SATs. The phrase might be complicated, but it can make your life a lot easier. Articulation agreements are like a partnership between a four-year school and a community college.
With these agreements, students at community colleges are given detailed instructions on what they need to do in order to earn admission to the university. Students are told what classes to take, what grades they must earn and how many credits they need to complete in order to gain admission. If a student follows the agreement, they will be guaranteed a spot at the state university when it comes time to transfer.
Not all states or schools have articulation agreements. Greg Roberts with U.Va. says his school just accepted an agreement for the first time. “It’s controversial because it’s not as subjective as a process,” Roberts says. “[But] the students who satisfy the criteria of this agreement are the same students we’ve been admitting for years.
This article is provided by The Next Step Magazine (nextSTEPmag.com), a publication that helps students prepare for life after high school.