Has anyone on here done it? While I go to a nice school and live in a okay town, I need a change of scenery and I want to study at a different school. I already know what school I'd like to transfer to and it's the University of Michigan. What I need advice on is what measures need to be done and anything else that needs to be taken care of. Thanks in advance all.
What year are you in currently? I'd say it's probably too late to be applying this year, so I'm hoping you're a freshman. I spent a year at a local school for financial reasons before transferring to the school I graduated from. The application process was largely the same as it was in high school from what I can remember. If you've got any specific questions, I could try to answer them.
You can read http://www.admissions.umich.edu/transfers/. One of my cousins goes to the University of Michigan.
i transferred, but that was with an AA. probably not the same thing. if you have enough credits that you'll have your AA, i would go ahead and get it. the process is much easier (at least it was in Florida) and i didn't have to take a lot of the mandatory classes that my BA required at that specific school. check it out.
I transferred from the University of Toledo to the University of Cincinnati. I had one semester done at UT before I decided I hated Toledo and wanted to move back to Cincy. The whole transfer process took a good 3 months. First you have to apply to your new school...then have your transcript sent over..then the new school decides which of your classes you took will transfer over, and to what courses...usually you get screwed. For example, my English class at Toledo was considered the full freshman english requirement...but at UC it only transferred as the first course of 3 freshman english. Same thing with my psych and math. Anyway, then you meet with an advisor for your major and get the ball rolling on what you need to take. I think it's easier if you are switching between schools that both use semesters or quarters. Unfortunately, in my situation, I switched from a semester system to quarters, so I ran into a lot of difficulty there. The main thing is to just be patient, but make sure the new school is being fair at the same time. If you've already taken a course and they're saying it didn't transfer into their curriculum, dispute it with your advisor. Also, because I transferred into UC during spring quarter, I never really got an orientation. That really left me behind the ball when it came to things like my student ID, email and blackboard logins, etc. Make sure someone from admissions gets you setup with all the things you would have gotten during freshman orientation. PM me if you have questions
If all you want is a change of scenery (meaning you aren't fundamentally iddsatisfied with your program), and you're attending a National Student Exchange member school, then consider going to another university (or two) for up to three semesters, and graduating from where you're at now. Check out NSE here.
Make sure you do your homework. Oftentimes there's a reason why a course doesn't transfer. For transferring from semester to quarter or vice versa, like you kind of point out, the key is to complete an entire year's sequence so as to avoid having to take extra classes that overlap. For instance, if you have to take a full year of American history, complete the sequence. In a quarter system, they may go 1492-1750, then 1751-1864, then 1865-present, whereas semester system will go 1492-1812, and then 1812-present.
Exactly. And there are other reasons than those Carlos lists for some things not transferring, too. However, this is something that should be addressed in any good transfer orientation process, and UM has one of those. Also, advisors will have control over some issues, but not over others. It's usually departments that govern what's allowed to come in as the equivalent of one their courses or not, and well it should be. So while muskiesrock35 is giving you great advice by suggesting you take responsibility for knowing what you need to know and being an active participant in the transfer process, thereby, informed self-advocacy is going to help prevent you from wasting valuable time arguing for something that's never going to happen. Some general advice: Make sure the school you want to transfer to is right for you in the key ways: is it the right learning envirnment for you? Large campuses are great places for some but not for everyone. Some very gifted students struggle with the lack of contact with instructors in, say, 500 person Chemistry lectures. Are you really going to be able to study what you want there? Ann Arbor might seem a better place than where you are now, but if you come to UM wanting to major in, say, Journalism, then you're going to be disappointed despite the restaurants on State Street. Similarly, if you're trying to transfer into the Ross School of Business, or trying to transfer into LSA as a prelude to applying to Ross, your chances of doing so are virtually nil.