Expert: Bruce - 7/22/2007

Question
Hi Bruce

i have 2 questions which i am not very sure.

1.if my major is sure, whatever i attend in a college or a university, i will attend the exact same class, is that right ?

2.if i want to transfer 2 years later to another school. does the old school need to have a agreement with the new school i want to transfer to?


Answer
K,

Let me take the second question first. It is generally not necessary for there to be an articulation agreement in place for you to transfer from school A to school B. In some cases, it can be helpful in assuring credit transfer, but as long as your first college is accreditted, your courses should transfer as long as they fall within the parameters of the degree program. You should make sure that at your first school you do not take upper level (usually numbered at 300 or higher) classes in your major area. You can always call the school you intend to transfer to if you have questions. There is probably a transfer counselor on the admission staff.

It will help if your schools operate on the same academic calendar system (semesters, quarters, etc).

As far as courses being the same, there will be some overlap in courses in most cases. For example, if you are pursuing pilitical science, you will almost certainly take classes like -US Government-US Foreign Policy-Electoral Politics in any program. But there can be variations. This may depend on the specialties of the profs and the orientaion of the dept. Another example for you; biology at some schools will have a strong human bio emphasis, at other schools they may incorporate more environmental stuff. So, programs are not all the same. Also, any major will allow you to take a few courses of your choosing in the program. You may see great variation in these, depending on the profs' expertise, number of profs, etc.

Does that help?

Let me know if you have more questions.

Bruce