Transfer students - beware possible wildly varying due dates

[Pegasus]

DD is planning to transfer from her CC to a 4-year university in Spring 2017.  I know that every school sets their own due dates for applications and scholarships but I'm still surprised by the wildly different dates of the two schools she is considering. Keep in mind that both are major in-state universities:

 

One opens the application on December 1, 2015 (tomorrow!) and requires the admissions application AND the scholarship application to be submitted by December 15, 2015 (two week window!) if the student wants to be considered for department scholarships.  Fortunately, the transcripts and references have until January 15, 2016 to be submitted. Still, this is a year before the transfer student would start attending.

 

The second opens the application "sometime in August 2016" and recommends the admission application and scholarship application be submitted by November 1, 2016. So, at least a 2 month window almost a year later than the first school. . .and just over two months before a transfer student would start attending.

 

Please warn your students who are planning to transfer to start looking for dates at potential schools well ahead of time, especially if they will be pursuing possible scholarships.

[klmama]

That year in advance deadline sounds very odd.  Has she verified with the school by phone or email?  

[Gwen in VA]

You have my sympathy.

 

I transferred back in the day and dd2 transferred this year. The whole transfer process is so different from the regular freshman admissions process that it's bewildering.

 

(And the strangest thing of all -- to transfer as a music major you need to get the first school's "permission" to apply to transfer! It has something to do with financial incentives, but some music organization requires that all students transferring to conservatories have the head of the music program in the first school fill out the form, regardless of financial plans or need. In other words dd2 basically had to announce her intent to transfer to folks in charge of her program months before she did. That was seriously NOT COOL!)

 

Take care, ask lots of questions, and do check with the admissions office if something seems strange. Few enough people transfer that there may be a "bug" in the transfer process that the uni is unaware of!

[Pegasus]

That year in advance deadline sounds very odd.  Has she verified with the school by phone or email?  

 

I agree completely that it sounds odd!  Actually confirmed in person during a prospective student day, with the official printed transfer checklist online, AND still emailed admissions and got it back in writing.  The year in advance is only required if the student is pursuing departmental scholarships.  A student can apply for admission much later without consideration of the dept scholarships.

[G5052]

Yes, as both a community college professor and the parent of a student at a community college, I know how VERY complicated it can be. Sometimes I wish that we had been able to afford to just go straight to the 4-year, but we couldn't and frankly mine is loving the smaller, more intimate environment of the community college. He truly has some wonderful professors, and they know him as an individual. But matching their graduation requirements with the expectations of the 4-year is maddening. We get the "why are you taking art, we don't require that for this major" when he has to have a fine arts class for the 4-year.

 

Anyway, I always tell parents to start the transfer planning before you even register the first semester and to check in frequently with the 4-year because their expectations may change too. The 4-year mine is planning to go to (large, nationally-ranked 4-year state university with competitive transfer admissions) actually recommends that you attend a transfer workshop specific to the program you're planning every semester after your first just so you keep everything lined up. Depending on the program, they do this 1-3 times every semester. So that's on our platter for next semester.

Edited December 1, 2015 by G5052

[AngieW in Texas]

This applies to grad school too. My dd can't make the deadline for one of the grad schools she was planning to apply to because it is much earlier than she expected. She just found out two weeks ago that she will graduate in May. We thought that she would not be able to graduate until December next year due to one class that she is taking the prerequisite to next semester, but that class is actually being dropped and she has already taken a class that qualifies as a replacement.

 

All the other grad schools that she is planning to apply to have application deadlines of February 1st or February 15th except one. The exception had a deadline of December 15th. She can't get three recommendation letters in that time, so she is not applying to that school at this time even though it is her 2nd choice school (top choice is the school she is already attending).

[Pegasus]

 

The exception had a deadline of December 15th. She can't get three recommendation letters in that time, so she is not applying to that school at this time even though it is her 2nd choice school (top choice is the school she is already attending).

 

 

Oh no!  That's too bad. Be sure to have her double-check the deadline for recommendations.  They are sometimes given a later deadline than the application itself (e.g., one of DD's possible transfer schools has a Dec 15 application deadline but gives until Jan 15 for letters).

[Lori D.]

Also, if your student is an honors student at the CC and joined Phi Theta Kappa, if applying for Phi Theta Kappa transfer scholarships, the deadline is usually somewhere in Nov. or early Dec. to be awarded for scholarships the following FALL semester -- about 10 months in ADVANCE of actual transfer. We missed that one. :(

[G5052]

Also, if your student is an honors student at the CC and joined Phi Theta Kappa, if applying for Phi Theta Kappa transfer scholarships, the deadline is usually somewhere in Nov. or early Dec. to be awarded for scholarships the following FALL semester -- about 10 months in ADVANCE of actual transfer. We missed that one. :(

 

Yes, that one is already on my 2016 calendar because of a previous mention. There are a few transfer scholarships for the school he's planning on, but even their transfer counsellor said that the PTK might be a more likely try, especially because our PTK chapter is very active.

[J-rap]

Wow, I know deadlines vary, but that one-year-in-advance deadline seems really strange.  I would guess that many transfer students don't even decide to transfer until they are within that range!  Do you suppose they want to give transfer students first dibs at the departmental scholarships?