General College transfer questions

[john]

I wanted to ask the general population about transfering to another college.  I am very unfamiliar with the process so maybe some people can clear up a few things for me...

If you talk to a college recruiter/councellor can they give you and idea of what credits they will accept before spending the $ on official transcript and app fee?

Is is normal to apply to more than one college at a time?

If I have a high GPA will that help me with some sort of tuition break?

Are letters of recommendation necessary for a 35 year old with 2 yrs of college at a good private institution?

As you can see I really know nothing about this process.

***Any other things I should know about talking to, or applying to a college?  I do want to say all the right things when I finally make contact

Any advice would be VERY helpful!

[Turkina]

Apply to several schools.  Never know who is going to give you the best deal, transfer credit and tuition wise.  A high GPA might give you a tuition break, but that break comes in the form of scholarships that you need to chase around yourself  Make sure you visit schools and talk to professors in the department you plan to study in... will help you pick and also get familiar.  Letters of recommendation?  You probably would be better to put in at least one work related letter of recommendation.  People with good work skills get respect!  Oh, and look into their continuing education programs, since they are meant for old folks like you

[vtlion]

Hey John,

I transfered after three semesters of undergrad from one state school to another.  Here's how it went down.

My new institution got to pick-and-chose which credits they accepted.  The ones that were accepted the CREDIT transfered, but NOT the grade-points.  It was like I took my whole first 3 semesters pass-fail.  The GPA got me into the school, but then they wiped it clean and started it over when I got there.  I guess they wanted my GPA to be calculated by their grading standards and not some other schools :dunno:

How many more credits do you need?  Most schools require you to receive a certain amount like half your credits from their courses.

If its a large institution, go to the department[/i] you want to be in and speak to someone as well.  My new institution was 28,000 students, and the college of arts and sciences would admit me, but the Chemistry dept also had to allow me into their program or I would have been a student without a major.  I would definitely get in touch with your prospective department.

good luck dude!!!!

[CasiUSA]

Oh, I'm quite familiar with the transfer process, regretfully saying I've done it twice already and still a year from graduating  **Sigh**
Anyways.
You can speak to a couselor prior to any application proccess, and they will be happy to help you with any questions you have about credit transfers, etc.
Also, transcript requests are usually free if you call the office of the registrar. They'll send an official sealed transcript to as many schools as you want.
It is perfectly normal to apply to multiple colleges. Everyone does it. In fact, I applied to over a dozen schools my senior year of high school.
Letters of reccomendation are not necessary in most cases, but always helpful.
As fas as financial aid goes, go online or into the office of student affairs. With the amount of scholarships available out there, you can practically go to school for free if you're willing to look hard enough. You can get random scholarships from the most obscure places offering them.

[cozy]

I know they already told you to but make sure you renew this every year-
Your Free Application For Student Aid. I fill it out after taxes, get no federal money but get grants from the state of PA @3300.00 per academic year.


http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

[yamahonkawazuki]

kinda related here, after graduation can grants be obtained to cover the student loans? :dunno:

[vtlion]

I have never heard of grants being awared after finishing school.  The whole point of grants is to pay for school while you're going.  The cool thing about student aid is that once its yours, you can spend it on pretty much whatever you need.  So if you can get more subsidized loans, you can use those to pay off unsubsidized loans already accrued.

what is cool about student loans is that there isn't a penatly for prepayment, so if you hit it big, you can pay them off all at once without getting screwed like you would on most car/home loans.