Miriam Vega has been going to Skyline for over two years already, having exceeded the usual two-year time frame that it takes to transfer from a community college.
She’s been trying to balance 12 to 17 units of school with 20 to 40 hours a week of work and so she has not been able to transfer any earlier. She had to start fulfilling her English requirements with English 826, a class that she can’t get transfer credits for. Miriam is a business major and won’t be able to fulfill the numerous requirements of UC Davis until the end of her third year.
Miriam’s case is not unique, in fact, it represents the norm of the time spent at Skyline in preparation to transfer.
Data from 2003-2004 shows that 465 students transferred to a California State University or a University of California from Skyline and 428 in the year of 2004-2005, constituting an approximate average of 16 percent of the sophomore population.
Many students who come to community college instead of a four year school, do so because they are not sure what they want to study. They take different type of classes and try different majors while trying to find what suits them best, which ends up delaying them a little bit.
“Students need time to explore, to find what they like, to see what classes they like, what classes they don’t. Community college is an amazing stepping stone,” said Linda Corazon, coordinator of Skyline’s Transfer Opportunity Center.
Venice Laquian, a former premed student, finds herself needing to spend at least another two years, because she changed her major.
“I had my heart set on premed when I got out of high school” Laquian said “but the prerequisites for premed were extensive and so I switched to business, and so I’m starting all over again.”
Prerequisite classes that don’t transfer to four year schools are another form of delay to the student who didn’t score high enough on the placement tests.
“Many of our students come to college unprepared to take classes in English and math at the transfer level,” said Don Biederman, an academic counselor. “Classes like math 110 and 120, English 826 and 836, and read 826 and 836 are not transferable but may be needed by students.”
Some students, however, blame the counselors for unsuccessful or useless semesters.
“Counselors, I think, make you take more classes than necessary so that the money comes in,” Laquian said , “my counselor never told me about placement tests, so I had to take all those preliminary classes like English 836 and Math 110. And then I messed up in those classes thinking that they didn’t really matter since they didn’t transfer; I didn’t know that I needed those classes to get into the next classes.”
Laquian’s friend Liza Untalan agrees with her: Counselors will never advise you to kill two birds with one stone,” she said. Untalan, like her friend didn’t know about placement tests and took the preliminary classes. “I got a late start on my microbiology and chemistry classes, my counselor never told me I had to take those classes” she added.
As much as counselors can be blamed, some students, however, are responsible for taking the wrong classes because they did some self counseling. The list of transferable courses and IGETC worksheets sure make students more independent from their counselors, but they do not guarantee an error-proof, best suitable class selection.
It’s not only due to academics that students get tangled and run tardy for transferring: employment also greatly infringes on a smooth, timely transferring process.
“Students who go to four year schools right away usually have parents who provide for them, and in many cases, these students don’t work” said Dr. Frida Lee, San Francisco State University representative who was at Skyline for Transfer Day along with many other university representatives. “Students can’t really get done within two years. On paper they can, but in reality they can’t because life happens” she said.
“I feel rushed sometimes”, Miriam Vega said, “but as long as I know what I want to do, better late than never; I know I’m going to get there”.
