Starting your college experience at a two year school is a wonderful idea. It saves you money while allowing you to still work towards your degree. Not to mention, if you apply to a four year university from a two year college the application process can be simpler. After all, they tend to concentrate more on your college courses rather than things like the SATs. For some of you, this is a great thing since you might not have done well on the test, for others you might get upset after putting so much time into them. Just remember that before you start taking classes at a two year college that you understand exactly what needs to be done in order to transfer to the college of your choice.

Start off by going to the university that you wish to transfer to and find out what their requirements are for getting admitted as a transfer student. These requirements are often different than people who are applying as Freshman. Next go to the two year school of your choice and find out if they offer an Associates degree in the same area as the four year degree that you want. An Associates degree is the highest form of degree you can attain from a two year school and also usually covers all of the lower division requirements for a four year degree. If done properly then when you transfer to a four year university you will only have two years of upper division coursework left.

Do not assume, however, that just because your two year college offers a degree in Mathematics that it will meet all the lower division requirements of the four year university that you want to attend. This is very important. Usually the four year colleges will know exactly what courses offered at local two year colleges coincide with their own. A good website for American universities you can check out is http://www.assist.org. This site allows you to check directly what courses taken at one college will count towards at another. Unfortunately this site is not always reliable for transfers between certain schools, so you will still need to go to each college yourself and speak to a counselor.

Another option to students is to simply complete all of your lower division general education at a two year college and begin work towards a degree once you transfer to a four year university. This can be easier for students who are worried that they might not be able to transfer certain courses over to a different college. However, by transferring to a four year college without any credits towards a degree students will have more work ahead of them than if they had completed an Associates at a two year school.

By transferring to a four year university from a two year college students can save a lot of money and stress. Typically there are less people applying to universities as transfer students, but universities are more willing to accept them over new students. Just be sure that you figure out what classes you need in order to transfer and visit school counselors frequently.

Learn more about this author, Christopher Davis.
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