Transferring from a Big 3 to a state school

[cookderosa]

Totally agree - which is why I'm getting the stuff I'd already do in high school (like math, econ, English, science, etc) and getting it over with so I don't have to do it twice so I can go to a brick-and-mortar school once I've figured out what I want to study and really go hard networking and doing all the college stuff. So I definitely agree, I just think that it doesn't make a ton of sense to spend tens and tens of thousands on your gen. eds. and two extra years when you've already done a lot of the same stuff in high school.

I didn't suggest you're not learning things. I didn't suggest you spend more money. And I didn't suggest you spend 2 extra years duplicating what you're already doing in high school. You do know I'm a fan of homeschooling FOR college credit, right?

I said: keep your options open and increase your exposure to many new and interesting classes. (because separate and apart from learning things, you just haven't spent a lot of time on the planet, so the limits are not in your ability, they are in your exposure)

I also said: you're missing out by CLEPping out of an AA/BA at an online school (because you are 12 or 13, or are you 14 now? I forget. But, anyone who HAS CLEPped out of a degree - like I have- can tell you there are things you give up doing so. To think you're not giving anything up suggests you don't see the big picture)

Finally, I said there were 2 reasons to hurry: exceptional focus or running out of time. I don't believe either apply to you, but at the end of the day you get to decide and no one here is going to judge you one way or the other.

[MNomadic]

I think Zapproximator mentioned in (his/her?) Other thread that they're also doing AP and some community college courses this upcoming year.

I think the most valuable tools for HS would be Dual enrollment courses(most transferrability & closely emulates college level learning pedagogy), followed by AP(also pretty transferrable and cheap). Definitely cool to throw in some CLEPs on the side for some subjects and also, keep them in mind as a backup if you failed a corresponding AP exam(obviously try your best to pass, though).

[zapproximator]

I'm 15. And a guy Thanks for the advice cookderosa and MNomadic.

[dfrecore]

Totally agree - which is why I'm getting the stuff I'd already do in high school (like math, econ, English, science, etc) and getting it over with so I don't have to do it twice so I can go to a brick-and-mortar school once I've figured out what I want to study and really go hard networking and doing all the college stuff. So I definitely agree, I just think that it doesn't make a ton of sense to spend tens and tens of thousands on your gen. eds. and two extra years when you've already done a lot of the same stuff in high school.

And I agree with you.  BUT, what you MAY end up doing (not will, just may) is limiting your options rather than opening them up, by using alternative credits.  When you do your AA alternatively, you will close doors to MANY schools who won't take a block transfer of your credits, and won't take your alternative credits.  So, you end up either having to continue on with the alternative route to keep the credits you took, or having to redo a lot of credits that you already took in order to get them accepted into a traditional school.

I have 2 kids; one who is highly motivated to get college credits while in HS.  For him, we will go the AP route, because he wants to go to ROTC for college, and then into the military.  Not conducive to alternative credits.  The other one wants to go to CC for a 2-yr degree in a specific field that does not lend itself to alternative credit.  Once that's done though, she is considering getting her BALS so that she can have that piece of paper.  All of her networking will be done at the CC level, because the degree terminates there (there is no 4-yr degree for what she wants to do).  Instead of college credit, she is looking at things like internships and jobs in the area of interest - which is another way of networking.

I'm not bashing you, just suggesting that alternative credits at your young age, when there are so many other options, MAY not be your best path.  But, it's your path, and you get to choose it, so take everyone's advice with a grain of salt.  We have life experience, which is very helpful - but it's our life experience, and won't always pertain to yours.

[clep3705]

It's not clear to me where you stand on science courses. You cannot in high school or by studying for CLEP or even AP learn science like you can at a large university that has well-supplied science laboratories. You have stated that you want to go into finance. Do you think science courses are sort of like general education courses for you, something you have to do to get the degree you want?

Think about this. Let's say you want to work in finance. Okay, good. Would you like to work in the finance department of a company curing cancer by building mRNA from scratch custom tailored for a person's genome? Think your CLEP chemistry and biology are good enough? Don't shortchange yourself. Go to a university and learn things from experience working with experts, which is consistent with dfrecore's great advice.

[zapproximator]

At this point, I think science courses are more gen. eds. for me. If I figure out that I will need them (e.g. for medical school or something else that requires science courses as a prereq) I'd definitely take them at a traditional university.

I'm definitely still figuring things out

[dfrecore]

It's not clear to me where you stand on science courses. You cannot in high school or by studying for CLEP or even AP learn science like you can at a large university that has well-supplied science laboratories. You have stated that you want to go into finance. Do you think science courses are sort of like general education courses for you, something you have to do to get the degree you want?

Think about this. Let's say you want to work in finance. Okay, good. Would you like to work in the finance department of a company curing cancer by building mRNA from scratch custom tailored for a person's genome? Think your CLEP chemistry and biology are good enough? Don't shortchange yourself. Go to a university and learn things from experience working with experts, which is consistent with dfrecore's great advice.

I'm pretty sure when you're getting hired in a finance company (any finance company), that they don't care if you took lab science courses.  They want a BSBA and an MBA (generally), and won't spend 5 seconds looking at your science courses.

Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

[MNomadic]

At this point, I think science courses are more gen. eds. for me. If I figure out that I will need them (e.g. for medical school or something else that requires science courses as a prereq) I'd definitely take them at a traditional university.

I'm definitely still figuring things out

You're doing fine! You're definitely ahead of the game compared to where most people are at your age. What's the worst case if you change your major? Redoing a few classes at b&m when you're like 19? You just do you.

[zapproximator]

Update: I talked to my state school (a top 5 CS program) and they accept CLEP credit for all transfer applicants, as long as you have 12 graded credits!

[bjcheung77]

That's great news. Just something to look out for is the amount of test-out-able credit that is allowed from each school is different. So you might want to make sure you can get the maximum noted down for your reference, you don't want to take exams and find out the next day that they don't accept anything over X amount test credits. So, document that X number for future use.