Girl sues her college because ... she can't find a job

[Josquius]

What's interesting is that top-notch schools will often take transfer students from community colleges or lesser-known schools because so many of their first- and second-year students dropped out. The transfer students can get the "ivy league" diploma at half the cost by going to a community college first.

I've a friend did that here too.
Costs aren't a issue in the UK of course, they're pretty uniform across the board. But grading...Well good schools have it harder to get high marks.
So my friend went to a crappy ex-poly for 2 years, got a average safely over 70% then transferred over into a top 20 in the country uni and graduated with a 1st. He still had to do alright in his last year of course but getting such good grades before that are what gave him top marks.

In Sweden its apparently really common for students to do most of their degree in a shitty local university then transfer into one of the big name schools for their final year.

[saskganesh]

I think that would be very unusual.  I know of no universities in Canada that have a reciprocal program with anyone in the way you have described it.  Further, I dont know of many Universities that would formally admit that the first two years of their undergraduate program was equivalent to that of a junior community college.

I've not heard of it either, but I think it's weird that you would expect Canadian higher ed to be identical to what we have here. 

UBC and SFU both accept credits from the Douglases, Kwantlens, Cariboos, Capilanos et al. That's why all those colleges have university transfer programs.

Most Uni's are about grads, faculty and endowments anyway. Undergrads are there largely to pay tuition, see everyone gets paid and have the top x% get skimmed and streamed for grad school or advanced studies.

Anyhow, very little of academic importance happens in the first two years of school anyway.

[crazy canuck]

Anyhow, very little of academic importance happens in the first two years of school anyway.

Except ensuring that you can get a place in the higher level courses which brings me back to my original point that if one goes to a junior college with the intent of later transfering to the University there is some risk that the space might not be available.  The university will always accept their own students with good grades into the upper level courses first.  Then if they have seats remaining they will look at transfer students.

The students who go to the University for the first two years are risking that their grades will be high enough to go on (since it is probably easier to get a good grade at one of the junior colleges) and the college students are risking whether enough University first and second year students wont do well enough to take all the available seats.

[DGuller]

Anyhow, very little of academic importance happens in the first two years of school anyway.

I don't know about that.  In my college, if you blew off the first two years, you'd be lost during the next two.  Then again, I went an engineering college, so we didn't have fluff degrees.

[The Brain]

Anyhow, very little of academic importance happens in the first two years of school anyway.

I don't know about that.  In my college, if you blew off the first two years, you'd be lost during the next two.  Then again, I went an engineering college, so we didn't have fluff degrees.

He was talking about hippie college. Very little happens in the later years as well.

[Maximus]

Except ensuring that you can get a place in the higher level courses which brings me back to my original point that if one goes to a junior college with the intent of later transfering to the University there is some risk that the space might not be available.  The university will always accept their own students with good grades into the upper level courses first.  Then if they have seats remaining they will look at transfer students.

The students who go to the University for the first two years are risking that their grades will be high enough to go on (since it is probably easier to get a good grade at one of the junior colleges) and the college students are risking whether enough University first and second year students wont do well enough to take all the available seats.

I don't know about elsewhere but here that was never an issue. A certain number of places are reserved for transfers.

[jimmy olsen]

Taking a pretty big risk assuming you can transfer in....

And that all your credits will transfer.  The University of Michigan and Notre Dame didn't accept all classes from Community Colleges back when I was looking at colleges.

Depends on the program and the community college. Most universities that I've looked at (granted, most were in Iowa and Illinois) have a reciprocal program with their local community colleges. You have to meet their guidelines (get a certain GPA, take certain classes, etc.) but if you do so, it's unusual NOT to get into their tougher programs. Again, they have to meet the same rigorous guidelines as incoming Freshmen, but it's much easier to get in that way if you do, and it costs considerably less.

I think that would be very unusual.  I know of no universities in Canada that have a reciprocal program with anyone in the way you have described it.  Further, I dont know of many Universities that would formally admit that the first two years of their undergraduate program was equivalent to that of a junior community college.

Pretty sure the University of Rhode Island has some kind of reciprocal program with CCRI.

[crazy canuck]

I don't know about elsewhere but here that was never an issue. A certain number of places are reserved for transfers.

That is what I understood from Mari's post, which is why I said I found it unusual.  Apparently they do it in California as well, according to Garbon.

[merithyn]

I think that would be very unusual.  I know of no universities in Canada that have a reciprocal program with anyone in the way you have described it.  Further, I dont know of many Universities that would formally admit that the first two years of their undergraduate program was equivalent to that of a junior community college.

I think you'd be surprised at how many universities in the U.S. do this now. They're not saying that the first two years of their education is the same as the community college, but that the gen ed stuff isn't as important to them as the major requirements, which have to be done at the university itself, typically. Get the gen eds done, then come talk to us. If you do them at the community college they're affiliated with, all of the gen eds usually transfer.

Better to have tuition for two years than none, and since a lot of people can't afford four years at a university, this is a valid route that benefits everyone involved.

[ulmont]

These are not agreements.  Universities have ad hoc committees which review what credits they will accept from other institutions.  Every University reserves the right to change these without notice.

Surprised this wouldn't be set at the provincial level, though; you don't have a province-wide organization running all of the (public) colleges and universities?

[crazy canuck]

These are not agreements.  Universities have ad hoc committees which review what credits they will accept from other institutions.  Every University reserves the right to change these without notice.

Surprised this wouldn't be set at the provincial level, though; you don't have a province-wide organization running all of the (public) colleges and universities?

No we dont.  Universities in BC (and in most other provinces) are private actors although they are created by legislation.  UBC is governed by its own board of governors.

Kind of like the Chartered banks in that respect.

[ulmont]

No we dont.  Universities in BC (and in most other provinces) are private actors although they are created by legislation.  UBC is governed by its own board of governors.

Kind of like the Chartered banks in that respect.

I believe the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia is in a similar position.  But, because it has authority over the entire University System, it is in the Board's interest to allow students to transfer from the community colleges into the full four year universities, and they can set the standards that way, etc.

[Vince]

New York's University system (SUNY) does the same thing. If you go to a New York Community College and either get an Associates Degree or join a 2+2 program (two years at the CC but no degree than two years at a University) plus have at least a 3.0 GPA than you are guaranteed admission and acceptance as a transfer student to a four year program. Some of the CC schools even had 2+2 programs with schools like Colgate.

It's better for parents and students because a lot of the better SUNY schools won't accept Freshmen and Sophomores into their programs. So, why pay the higher cost to take General ED classes if you don't have to do so.   

Exactly.  I did this and it saved me alot of money.  Ironically the Associate Program was harder than the one at the 4 year school.  The Associate program for Computer Science required Physics I & II which I tanked but when I transferred my two science credits the courses that transferred were "Science of Multimedia" (i.e. a course on flash) and "Science of Light" (a glorified Photoshop program). 

[DontSayBanana]

A BBA who was probably too illiterate to read the placement percentages before attending deserves all the shafting she can get.

[jimmy olsen]

A BBA who was probably too illiterate to read the placement percentages before attending deserves all the shafting she can get.

BBA?