Transferring Colleges is a Pain in the Butt: Three Things You Need to Watch out For

Whoever told you that transferring colleges was easy lied to you. In fact, outside of finding meaningful employment or your one true love, changing colleges is the most frustrating thing that you may ever have to do. I wouldn’t recommend the process to someone that I didn’t like, let alone a friend of mine or, heaven forbid, myself.

Perhaps I’m coming off a bit negative, but here’s a list of things I’d rather do than have to do go through the entire college changing process again:

1. Get punched in the stomach ¬– While being nailed in the gut hurts I can find relief in knowing that the pain is temporary and short lived. The numerous annoyances caused by transferring colleges are likely going to leave me depressed for the rest of my adult life.

2. Have my girlfriend leave me – I love my girlfriend (I really do), but I’d rather have her dump me than have to change colleges again. I’m sorry- I can always find a new girl, but I can’t get those lost credits back.

3. Get ingrown hairs all down my legs – Well, maybe not.

Why am I rambling about transferring college’s and how it’s such a pain in the butt? Because I’ve honestly never come across something so asinine in my entire academic career. You’d think that the majority of the general classes would be transferable, but trust me, you’re wrong and they’re not transferable at all.

If you’re going to be changing colleges you’re best to be looking out for these three things:

1. Academic standing – Make sure that the college that you are transferring to is well aware of your current (and previous) academic standing so that you don’t encounter any surprises later. I’ve heard a thousand horror stories from people that were forced to take entrance exams and challenge courses.

Sit down with a counselor from both colleges and make sure that you have all of the facts straight and that you’re completely aware of the requirements and what you’re going to need to attain.

2. Course transferability – Perhaps I should say “the lack of course transferability”, as it is a near guarantee that at least a quarter of your classes won’t transfer over at all. This means that you can count on losing a quarter (or more) of your current credits. If you’ve already taken two years of school you can expect to have to retake second year classes at your new college.

Why? Most colleges operate on a “similarity level” that is dictated entirely by the course outline of the classes in question. Essentially, if your new college has English 101 and your old college had “Language Arts 1” your new college will have to ensure that the old class is at least 75% (generally) similar and will do this based on the course outline.

I can’t even count how many classes I’ve taken at my new college that were identical to classes that I’ve already taken. Talk about frustrating.

3. Retaking courses – Building on what I just said in point two, don’t be surprised if you have to retake many (if not all) of your classes at your new college.

Truth be told, if you cover your bases in advance you’ll likely be able to do everything without issue. Make sure that you talk to everyone that could possibly provide some kind of answer or make some kind of crucial decision so that you know exactly what you need to do in order to make the transition as smooth as possible.