Generate a list of colleges and universities meeting your requirements. Then shop for a new destination online.
Find the Best Schools, Colleges and Universities on CollegeTransfer.Net. Search a thousand institutional profiles compiled for transfer students. Create a list of colleges and universities meeting your requirements. Are you looking for a new college and plan on transferring prior coursework and credits? Access and compare academic transfer policies, college degrees, majors, courses offered with descriptions, transfer guides, course credit information and more. If you are shopping for a school, college or university, then you have come to the right place.
Define Your Goals
It is likely that many factors contributed to your decision to become a transfer student. Likewise there will be many factors that you will take into account when transferring to a new school. Take a step back and look at your past academic experiences, and think about where you would like to go with those experiences. For some students, it is simply a matter of earning the credits necessary to get the degree of their choice. For others the selection of an institution may encompass many other factors including types of degrees offered, convenient locations and flexibility in scheduling including evening and online course offerings.
Check Online Resources
There are a large variety and number of resources online that will help you search for schools that offer a particular degree and major. Most are marketing sites trying to gather your information to sell to online college providers.
CollegeTransfer.Net offers a complete set of
Searches for Schools, Degrees, Programs/Majors, Courses, Course Equivalency, Transfer Agreements and Transfer Profiles - information published about each college or university. Once you have found schools in which you are interested, be sure to visit the school's web site which is displayed on the School's unique
Transfer Profile. You will be able to find information on academic programs offered, specific courses and descriptions, faculty members, campus activities, etc.
Check for an Admissions, Transfer and Prospective Students section on the school's web site and look for details on applying as a Transfer student. You may also find listings of transfer course equivalencies or transfer agreements with other schools that will be helpful in assessing the likelihood of course transfer. Every college and university website is different, and one of the main reasons to use the
Transfer Profile Search is to compare transfer policies and enrollment information compiled in a uniform fashion. Then, you can narrow down you search and review the details including Transfer Agreements and Course Equivalencies.
Comparing Apples to Apples
Not all colleges and universities are the same obviously. What are the characteristics of a college or university you find important? You may select one for convenience, one that has the best reputation in a given field, or one that has a laid back atmosphere. One of the key differences between colleges and universities is the perception of quality and how the general market values the degrees from a given school. Your long term return on investment, so to speak will be derived primarily from your own pursuits and effort after you graduate. The longer time you are away from the college experience, the less influence it will have on you and your circumstances. But, those pursuits will be impacted by the education you receive and the environmental influences along the way. The education process - going to college and earning a degree - gives you a firm foundation of confidence, skills, knowledge and a jumping off point.
As you study colleges and universities to continue your education and hopefully finish your degree, many of the characteristics and attributes we evaluate fall outside things that are easily measured. So, we look for surrogates to help us compare apples to apples. Surrogates are things like other people's opinions and comments about what they think. Gain an understanding and basis of the differences between colleges and universities outside the marketing hype and often misconceptions we have.
You may find the article Find My College helpful. It breaks down the general types of institutions. Another factor worth mentioning is the region of the school. college or university. The density of schools (which is how many are within 50 or so miles) plays a part in how the institutions collaborate and are perceived. It is one thing to have three or four schools, it is a whole other matter to have fifty. Sports and major urban areas with industry or the lack of, also all play a factor. Considering online schools obviously derails some of these factors. Still, the implications are generally the same. What is the value of the college degree from the school? What is the experience factor worth?
Take Time to Visit in Person
No amount of online research can substitute for a visit to campus. Call the Admissions office and set up an appointment to meet with a counselor. Be sure to let them know that you are a transfer student, since most schools have counselors who specialize in working with transfer students. Check to see if there are other on-site opportunities such as a campus tour, meeting with a current student or sitting in on a class.
Evaluation of Transfer Credits
Once you have chosen the school(s) in which you are interested and have applied, for a transfer student the task is a bit more complicated. You may find yourself trying to choose between two different schools that may be offering you different amounts of transfer credit.
In many cases, you will not receive an evaluation of your transfer credits until you have applied and been accepted. Keep in mind your primary goal, whether it is graduating with a degree, any degree, as quickly as possible or graduating with the degree that you have decided is the one which will be the most satisfying to you as you move forward with your career.
What should you look at next?
Knowing what is most important to you will help you to choose the best pathway towards achieving your degree.