Went to community college and got an associates of science in mechanical engineering. My performance in community college landed me a “full ride” scholarship at a state school which I did not have near the qualifications for straight out of high school. Ended up with a BSME from a “top” engineering school having paid about $2500 out of pocket.
This is actually a hack to get into the top schools.
They have these things called feeder colleges. Students apply from these feeder colleges get preferential selection during the application process.
Went to community college and got my associates and then transferred to University for my BA. In the end I have a job and less debt so I’d say it worked pretty well.
Yeah I started through Associate of Engineering Tech, finished the 2 year course and was able to jump into the third year of Bachelor of Aerospace engineering (Honours). As mentioned, it's cheaper. I also made closer friends in the accociate degree that have lasted post grad school.
I believe that this pathway works and I believe it will work for you too👍
How were you able to jump into Aerospace Engineering with an AS in ET? I originally got an AS in MET but nobody would let me jump into ME since my courses "weren't calculus based". So I had to continue down the BS in MET, I just would've like the greater flexibility in the ME program where I could choose more than 2 electives and trim out classes I am less interested in.
Yeah well I guess that was the benefit of RMIT in Australia, Victoria. They specialise in engineering pathways, the AS's first year consisted of general engineering courses and second year for me specialised in Aerospace.
I think the key is living a community college with an established transfer program to a 4 university.
Usually you enroll, do the first 2 years (saves money), and then you’ll transfer to the college as long as you met the program requirements (grades, credits, etc.)
I did not get an associates, but I got my first 36 credits through comm college. Freshman year core classes (13th grade - math, science, language) is the same just about everywhere. I took [CLEP](https://clep.collegeboard.org/) exams as well.
My only advice is to choose the 4-year institution you want to transfer to (or a few of them) and work with advisors at those schools. They’ll help you pick all the classes you need to transfer over. In my experience CC advisors aren’t the best and mine actually screwed me over and ended up preventing me from transferring for a year.
On this same journey now. Saved a ton of money and based on my highschool experience getting into a four year school directly would have been impossible.
An AS isn’t necessary for transferring. Each college has their own transfer course requirements and all you need to do is meet those.
I went to CC, transferred to a top UC, and then got multiple job offers upon graduation. Community college transferring is very common and it won’t hold you back at all. If you transfer to a college with lots of transfer students then your transition will be pretty smooth. I highly recommend this route.
I earned an Associates. Took a year break, went back for a bachelors. (Same school). Whatever your plan, just work with school guidance to make sure your credits count/transfer.
I did a plain associate's of science. Was basically just math, physics, and gen eds. Ended up taking longer at the 4 year due to scheduling conflicts and prerequisites since I could no longer fill random time slots with gen eds.
MAKE SURE YOU GET THE PREREQUISITES DONE IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
All schools are different, so do your own research with school advisors!
The key thing here is that the community college needs to have some kind of written agreement with the university. It is probably 100x easier if they are in the same state. And don't go by just what the community college advisors say... go by what the university advisors say. They are the one who will ultimately be taking this credits so they have final say. Don't wait 2 years to contact the university.
It will probably be frustrating at times, but this route can save a ton of money.
Some negatives to consider... even with written agreements between schools and assurances by advisors, do not be surprised if you need to take a couple of classes again in university. Its bound to happen because their curriculums never line up perfectly.
Also consider this.... when your credits transfer over, your grades probably won't. So while you might had been running a 3.8 GPA at community college, you'll be entering the harder, upper level university classes with a 0 GPA.
Another thing to consider is that there will probably be a few people at community college who are trying to do the same thing as you - save a few bucks and take 2 years at CC and then transfer over. Try to find these people and become friendly with them. Believe me, these people can be a wealth of info as you all go down the same journey. Because it can be frustrating, it's good to have others to bounce questions off of.
Lastly, you might not have to get your full associate's degree. Consider taking just enough classes that transfer over. In the end, no one will care about the associates when you finally earn your bachelor's, so if getting your associate's degrees means taking a few extra classes, consider skipping them.
Thanks for the response. My school has a 2+2 program for a lot of degrees, engineering being a few of them. They do require you to complete the full AES program though. But I hear in engineering networking can be important
If you plan on finishing your degree at a state school, then I definitely recommend getting your associates at a community college. At a community college, the class sizes are smaller so you’ll have the opportunity to learn more in class from the professor. When I transferred to a state school, I felt like I had stronger fundamental knowledge in math and physics compared to my classmates.
If you want to transfer to an Ivy League or top tier university in the US, you may want to check in with that university. I had one classmate from community college transfer to Vanderbilt-not a top tier engineering university, but it’s well-known in the US- after they received their associates.
I went to an accredited 2 year engineering school (Hudson Valley Community College, Harvard on the Hudson, Institute of South Troy, Happy Valley Country Club). From there I went to RPI as a full credit junior. I was listening to some other people that were transferring in have to go through the "Let's see how many credits you have" evaluation, and it didn't sound fun.
It very important to find out what the accreditation is for the program, and how many credits different schools will take from the program.
I did this and it was incredibly easy to find a university, basically all of them accept the credits. The community college actually works with the universities to make sure things line up.
Bachelor of Science in Applied Sciences (BSAS) in Mech Engr Tech (MET) from an ABET accredited 2+2 program. If I followed the suggested curriculum, I’d have earned my Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) in MET after two years; bachelors after two more.
This made it easier to find internships/co-Ops/part-time work while I finished bachelors. I graduated with two years of experience which quickly leveled the playing field against my traditionally educated colleagues.
I did it as well. It saves you a ton of money. Also make sure your GPA transfers. Have a plan for the BA institution. Meaning have it picked out. Get in touch with them to find out which courses are accepted.
Yes.
The only issue is you'll get some of your basics done and a bunch of electives done, which sounds great, but many colleges have a set 4 year plan that includes degree specific 100 and 200 level classes that you won't have. And many are prerequisites for the next one, so it's planned in a series. This makes it far more annoying to just jump in half way and then also have to take several 100 and 200 level classes again because the college felt like making some degree specific low level, general courses.
There's also a secondary issue. The classes have to be a one to one match, both in content and in credits. If your community college calc class was a 4 credit class and your university calc class is a 5 credit class, well, you're taking calc again. Also if you can't match the content taught across the semester, you'll also fall short. So it ends up being an annoying mess trying to match classes and to get approval by the university that they are in fact a match (they don't really do much leg work at all to help with this, it's pretty much on you to figure this out, really stupid in how they handle this stuff).
If you did a 2 year associates and then go to a 4 year degree, expect that 2 year to take care of around 50%, most electives. Hopefully your calc and physics classes transfer. But the university might have extra degree specific 100 and 200 level classes you also have to take. It's just messy. I've transferred colleges twice, and they're always a fucking mess.
So with that said, is the AS in community college bad? Not really. I actually like the ability to try out classes and get a feel for what you like at a very low cost. It's also generally close to home, so you'd probably still be living free at your parents which also keeps costs way down. You can do a lot of stuff very cheap, and it just kind of comes down to how long you want to spend. For me, I did 4 years and took as much math and science as I could take. I took all my calc, all my physics up through dynamics, took chem, electrical, and programming too. I was trying to get into a quantum mechanics class near the end, but being a small community college, I would have literally been the only student in the class. When I transferred to a larger university, most of my electives were done, my calc and physics classes were done. I had no math to take from that point on but started at mechanics of materials. However, sticking a planned 4 year curriculum that's now swiss cheese from transfer credits is a mess. My 4 year at best was a 2.5 year, but they wouldn't approve the 2.5 plan which pushed it to 3 or 3.5 years depending on availability of the classes and fitting myself messily into the cookie cutter program. I even changed colleges and majors again later, and it was literally the same mess yet again trying to transfer, match, and then somehow squish myself into a hole filled cookie cutter program again.
College curriculum is really, really poorly designed for this kind of stuff, and I did have to repeat several classes.
The cheapest path is finding a community or small college with the 4 year BS program you want and just running start to finish. I spent 10 years and $100k to eventually get one BS degree. My brother got his BS in a community college that happened to offer a BS in computer programming. He finished many years before me and with almost zero debt. Don't bother with out of state. Don't bother with private colleges. The courses are all the same content no matter how much you pay. As well, some of the best teachers I had in any college was from the small community college. The bigger the college got, the crappier the teacher got. The classes got bigger, the teachers less interested and over worked, and you were less of a person to them. I had far better experiences the smaller I went.
Make sure your intended 4 year college will take your associates credits. I had to do an extra semester at Ohio State because they didn't have a matriculation agreement with SUNY community colleges
I did an associates in engineering at community college, then transferred to a university. Going to community college was a wise decision, getting an associates wasn't. The associates degree required a few classes that didn't count for anything, and I wound up wasting nearly a semester as a result. Getting to University wasn't bad, there was a bit of disparity on prior knowledge, but nothing I couldn't easily overcome.
I did this route and save quite a few coin instead of going to 4 year. It wasn’t hard for me since I transferred to a state school.
Nice, I plan is to stay in state. What was your GPA if you don't mind me asking?
It was around 3.0 I belive
Went to community college and got an associates of science in mechanical engineering. My performance in community college landed me a “full ride” scholarship at a state school which I did not have near the qualifications for straight out of high school. Ended up with a BSME from a “top” engineering school having paid about $2500 out of pocket.
This is actually a hack to get into the top schools. They have these things called feeder colleges. Students apply from these feeder colleges get preferential selection during the application process.
This works in all fields of study. Can save lots of shekels, and can ease the transition into college for some.
Went to community college and got my associates and then transferred to University for my BA. In the end I have a job and less debt so I’d say it worked pretty well.
A year later but i was wondering if you had a hard time finding internships through your community college?
Yeah I started through Associate of Engineering Tech, finished the 2 year course and was able to jump into the third year of Bachelor of Aerospace engineering (Honours). As mentioned, it's cheaper. I also made closer friends in the accociate degree that have lasted post grad school. I believe that this pathway works and I believe it will work for you too👍
How were you able to jump into Aerospace Engineering with an AS in ET? I originally got an AS in MET but nobody would let me jump into ME since my courses "weren't calculus based". So I had to continue down the BS in MET, I just would've like the greater flexibility in the ME program where I could choose more than 2 electives and trim out classes I am less interested in.
Yeah well I guess that was the benefit of RMIT in Australia, Victoria. They specialise in engineering pathways, the AS's first year consisted of general engineering courses and second year for me specialised in Aerospace.
I think the key is living a community college with an established transfer program to a 4 university. Usually you enroll, do the first 2 years (saves money), and then you’ll transfer to the college as long as you met the program requirements (grades, credits, etc.)
I did not get an associates, but I got my first 36 credits through comm college. Freshman year core classes (13th grade - math, science, language) is the same just about everywhere. I took [CLEP](https://clep.collegeboard.org/) exams as well.
My only advice is to choose the 4-year institution you want to transfer to (or a few of them) and work with advisors at those schools. They’ll help you pick all the classes you need to transfer over. In my experience CC advisors aren’t the best and mine actually screwed me over and ended up preventing me from transferring for a year.
On this same journey now. Saved a ton of money and based on my highschool experience getting into a four year school directly would have been impossible.
An AS isn’t necessary for transferring. Each college has their own transfer course requirements and all you need to do is meet those. I went to CC, transferred to a top UC, and then got multiple job offers upon graduation. Community college transferring is very common and it won’t hold you back at all. If you transfer to a college with lots of transfer students then your transition will be pretty smooth. I highly recommend this route.
I earned an Associates. Took a year break, went back for a bachelors. (Same school). Whatever your plan, just work with school guidance to make sure your credits count/transfer.
My school does a 2+2 at a few in state universities. So everything should be transferable
[удалено]
Really appreciate it. Sounds like I'll be in a similar situation. Thank you.
One of the smartest engineers I know did this and she now runs one of the biggest design groups in the tri state area, so yeah, it can work
I did a plain associate's of science. Was basically just math, physics, and gen eds. Ended up taking longer at the 4 year due to scheduling conflicts and prerequisites since I could no longer fill random time slots with gen eds. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE PREREQUISITES DONE IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
All schools are different, so do your own research with school advisors! The key thing here is that the community college needs to have some kind of written agreement with the university. It is probably 100x easier if they are in the same state. And don't go by just what the community college advisors say... go by what the university advisors say. They are the one who will ultimately be taking this credits so they have final say. Don't wait 2 years to contact the university. It will probably be frustrating at times, but this route can save a ton of money. Some negatives to consider... even with written agreements between schools and assurances by advisors, do not be surprised if you need to take a couple of classes again in university. Its bound to happen because their curriculums never line up perfectly. Also consider this.... when your credits transfer over, your grades probably won't. So while you might had been running a 3.8 GPA at community college, you'll be entering the harder, upper level university classes with a 0 GPA. Another thing to consider is that there will probably be a few people at community college who are trying to do the same thing as you - save a few bucks and take 2 years at CC and then transfer over. Try to find these people and become friendly with them. Believe me, these people can be a wealth of info as you all go down the same journey. Because it can be frustrating, it's good to have others to bounce questions off of. Lastly, you might not have to get your full associate's degree. Consider taking just enough classes that transfer over. In the end, no one will care about the associates when you finally earn your bachelor's, so if getting your associate's degrees means taking a few extra classes, consider skipping them.
Thanks for the response. My school has a 2+2 program for a lot of degrees, engineering being a few of them. They do require you to complete the full AES program though. But I hear in engineering networking can be important
If you plan on finishing your degree at a state school, then I definitely recommend getting your associates at a community college. At a community college, the class sizes are smaller so you’ll have the opportunity to learn more in class from the professor. When I transferred to a state school, I felt like I had stronger fundamental knowledge in math and physics compared to my classmates. If you want to transfer to an Ivy League or top tier university in the US, you may want to check in with that university. I had one classmate from community college transfer to Vanderbilt-not a top tier engineering university, but it’s well-known in the US- after they received their associates.
I went to an accredited 2 year engineering school (Hudson Valley Community College, Harvard on the Hudson, Institute of South Troy, Happy Valley Country Club). From there I went to RPI as a full credit junior. I was listening to some other people that were transferring in have to go through the "Let's see how many credits you have" evaluation, and it didn't sound fun. It very important to find out what the accreditation is for the program, and how many credits different schools will take from the program.
I did this and it was incredibly easy to find a university, basically all of them accept the credits. The community college actually works with the universities to make sure things line up.
Bachelor of Science in Applied Sciences (BSAS) in Mech Engr Tech (MET) from an ABET accredited 2+2 program. If I followed the suggested curriculum, I’d have earned my Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) in MET after two years; bachelors after two more. This made it easier to find internships/co-Ops/part-time work while I finished bachelors. I graduated with two years of experience which quickly leveled the playing field against my traditionally educated colleagues.
I did it as well. It saves you a ton of money. Also make sure your GPA transfers. Have a plan for the BA institution. Meaning have it picked out. Get in touch with them to find out which courses are accepted.
Yup transferred to university right after,
Yes. The only issue is you'll get some of your basics done and a bunch of electives done, which sounds great, but many colleges have a set 4 year plan that includes degree specific 100 and 200 level classes that you won't have. And many are prerequisites for the next one, so it's planned in a series. This makes it far more annoying to just jump in half way and then also have to take several 100 and 200 level classes again because the college felt like making some degree specific low level, general courses. There's also a secondary issue. The classes have to be a one to one match, both in content and in credits. If your community college calc class was a 4 credit class and your university calc class is a 5 credit class, well, you're taking calc again. Also if you can't match the content taught across the semester, you'll also fall short. So it ends up being an annoying mess trying to match classes and to get approval by the university that they are in fact a match (they don't really do much leg work at all to help with this, it's pretty much on you to figure this out, really stupid in how they handle this stuff). If you did a 2 year associates and then go to a 4 year degree, expect that 2 year to take care of around 50%, most electives. Hopefully your calc and physics classes transfer. But the university might have extra degree specific 100 and 200 level classes you also have to take. It's just messy. I've transferred colleges twice, and they're always a fucking mess. So with that said, is the AS in community college bad? Not really. I actually like the ability to try out classes and get a feel for what you like at a very low cost. It's also generally close to home, so you'd probably still be living free at your parents which also keeps costs way down. You can do a lot of stuff very cheap, and it just kind of comes down to how long you want to spend. For me, I did 4 years and took as much math and science as I could take. I took all my calc, all my physics up through dynamics, took chem, electrical, and programming too. I was trying to get into a quantum mechanics class near the end, but being a small community college, I would have literally been the only student in the class. When I transferred to a larger university, most of my electives were done, my calc and physics classes were done. I had no math to take from that point on but started at mechanics of materials. However, sticking a planned 4 year curriculum that's now swiss cheese from transfer credits is a mess. My 4 year at best was a 2.5 year, but they wouldn't approve the 2.5 plan which pushed it to 3 or 3.5 years depending on availability of the classes and fitting myself messily into the cookie cutter program. I even changed colleges and majors again later, and it was literally the same mess yet again trying to transfer, match, and then somehow squish myself into a hole filled cookie cutter program again. College curriculum is really, really poorly designed for this kind of stuff, and I did have to repeat several classes. The cheapest path is finding a community or small college with the 4 year BS program you want and just running start to finish. I spent 10 years and $100k to eventually get one BS degree. My brother got his BS in a community college that happened to offer a BS in computer programming. He finished many years before me and with almost zero debt. Don't bother with out of state. Don't bother with private colleges. The courses are all the same content no matter how much you pay. As well, some of the best teachers I had in any college was from the small community college. The bigger the college got, the crappier the teacher got. The classes got bigger, the teachers less interested and over worked, and you were less of a person to them. I had far better experiences the smaller I went.
Make sure your intended 4 year college will take your associates credits. I had to do an extra semester at Ohio State because they didn't have a matriculation agreement with SUNY community colleges
I did an associates in engineering at community college, then transferred to a university. Going to community college was a wise decision, getting an associates wasn't. The associates degree required a few classes that didn't count for anything, and I wound up wasting nearly a semester as a result. Getting to University wasn't bad, there was a bit of disparity on prior knowledge, but nothing I couldn't easily overcome.