Help with email to admissions counselor about DE credits

[Kassia]

Dd is a high school junior and wants to attend a college that will allow her to apply many of her DE credits towards her degree.  Some of the colleges on her list don't have equivalencies on their sites or on transferology.  She wants to email the admissions counselors of those schools and ask if she can get an idea of what DE classes will transfer but isn't sure what to say.  She'll graduate with almost 90 DE credits.  I told her I'd help her come up with a rough draft and she could go from there (she's a better writer than I am).  Here's what I've come up with.  Any opinions/suggestions?  

Dear so and so:

I am a high school junior who is interested in attending (name of school).  I have been taking classes at (name of community college) as a dual enrolled student and was wondering how I can find out which credits I've earned can be applied to a (name of major) degree at (name of school).  

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Kassia's dd

[katilac]

I would probably add something about having checked the website: 

I am a high school junior who is interested in attending (name of school).  I have been taking classes at (name of community college) as a dual enrolled student and was wondering how I can find out which credits I've earned can be applied to a (name of major) degree at (name of school).  I looked on the website and was not able to find a transfer table. 

And possibly: 

I have attached an unofficial list of my DE courses. Please let me know what my next step should be. 

We found that some schools did have transfer tables that were very well hidden. The ones that don't have them at all were s-l-o-w in evaluating transfer credits but did get there eventually.

[Arch at Home]

Has your DD talked to her CC about transferring DE credits to the schools in question? They may be able to give some insight and/or direction. 

[Kassia]

7 hours ago, katilac said:

I would probably add something about having checked the website: 

I am a high school junior who is interested in attending (name of school).  I have been taking classes at (name of community college) as a dual enrolled student and was wondering how I can find out which credits I've earned can be applied to a (name of major) degree at (name of school).  I looked on the website and was not able to find a transfer table. 

And possibly: 

I have attached an unofficial list of my DE courses. Please let me know what my next step should be. 

 

 

Thank you!  This is exactly what I was thinking but wasn't sure how to word it.  I knew it was important for her to point out that she wasn't asking without putting in the work to find it herself first.  

 

1 hour ago, Arch at Home said:

Has your DD talked to her CC about transferring DE credits to the schools in question? They may be able to give some insight and/or direction. 

 

Not yet.  When one of my sons attended they just told him to use a site like transferology.  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Try searching for the name of the target school and "transfer database "

However any database can only tell you about past transfers. The more unusual the course or the more distant the two colleges, the more likely that they will still have to do a new evaluation. 

[Bootsie]

Does she have an idea of what she might want to major in?  If so, it could help to include that information.  Sometimes a class will transfer to another school but will not count toward meeting specific degree requirements.

[amyx4]

I've posted about my ds experience with DE credits during high school but I don't know who to find/search/repost that info.

My ds had 72 DE credits during high school. Most of the DE credits were at the local CC and then a few credits at the StateU.  He applied to 3 privates schools and 3 state schools. The private schools would not "degree audit" him until he was accepted and put down a deposit. So, during the application process, he had no idea what classes transfer in.  Ultimately, he chose to attend the StateU and they took all of his DE credits.

During January of his senior year of high school, he went over to the StateU with his unofficial transcript and asked someone for help picking classes for the spring semester at the CC.  (I didn't go with him.)  He did find someone to help him but they were honest and said, "It was their best guess" which classes would transfer.

During high school, he kept all of his DE class syllabi, notebooks, tests, etc.  He never needed any of it but I've heard that sometimes that helps in getting classes accepted.

BTW, as you probably know, it's not in the best financial interest of any college to take all of those credits.....

Edited January 3, 2019 by amyx4

[JanetC]

The phrase you may be looking for on college websites is "freshman early college credit" -- many private colleges we looked at were pretty generous at accepting transfer credits from transfer applicants, but much more stingy about what they accepted from freshmen.

 

 

[Milknhoney]

I work in college admissions and receive this request a lot. Your letter is good; important to include the name of the college she is attending and what she wants to major in which you did. In addition you may as well include a list of the courses she has taken/plans to take including the course prefix and number, or attach a transcript. They can't answer your request without that information so including it upfront will save the step of them having to ask you for it. 

It's true that as someone else mentioned, they may not want to answer this for her before she is an applicant. Combing through a list of courses to determine equivalency, especially courses that they haven't previously evaluated, is a very time consuming process. So they may not be willing to invest the time for someone who hasn't invested in an application. My university is usually willing to answer this question for a high school student taking a handful of DE courses. Students with a full transcript are usually asked to submit an application for admission to receive an evaluation. Without an application, the admissions counselor might be willing to forge through the red tape on your behalf if you've shown solid interest in the the institution and they view you as a "hot lead". 

I also advise that rather than trying to figure out which college will accept the most number of classes on a predetermined list, choose the college and program that she wants to pursue, and then develop her future coursework based on which classes at her current CC will transfer and apply towards degree requirements at the specified school. There are many other factors that make a college the best fit for a student, so laying the constraint of "they need to accept all the classes that I already decided I will take" will put unnecessary limitations on college selection. Also, the college will be more willing to work with her if they feel she is committed to attending their institution, due to the amount of time involved in providing such guidance.