Words of Wisdom for Transfer Students

Academic advisors at The University of Texas at Austin welcome transfer students, and encourage them to come to UT to be advised even before enrolling at UT. By doing so transfer students can be assured the courses they are transferring to UT will apply to the degree program they wish to pursue. Call 471-1201 for assistance in getting contact information for the Student Division of the Dean’s Office for the college or school in which you wish to enroll. When you see an advisor, get their business card so you can stay in touch and email questions to them. UT advisors are generally not available to see prospective students during these periods:

• the first twelve class days of a fall or a spring semester (the first two days of a summer session)

• the last three weeks of April

• days during the summer when College meetings are held for Orientation, and students attending

are being advised

• the last two weeks of October, and

• the first week of November.

The BEVO BULLETIN, a great web site to go to for tips, can be found at <http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/nss/bb/>. The “Crossroads,” “Great Teachers..,” and “Staff notes” sections in the Bulletin all have some advice specifically for transfer students.

Transfer Interest Group Program – Transferring to UT-Austin? Want to know what to expect during your first semester at UT? Want to get to know other transfer students with similar academic interests? Interested in learning more about resources available to UT students? If you answered YES to any of these questions, the TrIG Program may be right for you! TrIGs (Transfer Interest Groups) are designed for first-semester transfer students at The University of Texas at Austin. A TrIG is a group of 20 new transfer students who attend a weekly one-hour TrIG seminar facilitated by an academic advisor and transfer student peer mentor (who’s been through what you’re about to experience) and take one academic class together. The TrIG Program is a great way to personalize your UT experience and build on what you already know about how to succeed in college. <http://www.utexas.edu/student/vpsa/FIG/trigs.htm>

GENERAL ADVICE: Non-UT students can get a guest Electronic ID or EID. They can use this to open IDA (the Interactive Degree Audit system), a web-based program where one can enter their courses from Texas junior colleges into a “planner”, then run audits in various programs to see how their courses will count. Even better, courses can be added to the planner before they are taken to see how they will count. The web link is <http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/ida/>.

MYTH: You must graduate under the catalog in effect when you enter UT. Actually, transfer students from “accredited public Texas junior colleges” can graduate using requirements from the catalog in effect when they started attending the junior college (as long as they graduate while it’s still valid). Students can also switch to later catalogs. (See the latest Undergraduate Catalog for specifics.)

GENERAL ADVICE: Another great resource is the Automated Transfer Equivalency system. This tool allows you to see how courses transfer in to UT Austin from Texas schools. The web link is <http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/ate/>.

GENERAL ADVICE: Start applying to transfer when you are eligible, in case you don’t get in the first time. This would be when you have 24 semester hours, if you don’t want to use high school standing and SAT scores.

MYTH: You must take both government courses at the same school. Certain combinations of transfer and UT government courses work - the key is to make sure you take course work that covers both the US and the Texas constitutions. Acceptable combinations include GOV 310L (GOVT 2301) and GOV 312L (GOVT 2302), GOV 310L and GOV 3 US (GOVT 2305), GOV 310L and GOV 3 TX (GOVT 2306), or GOV 3 US (GOVT 2305) and GOV 3 TX (GOVT 2306). The only transfer course that will satisfy the legislative requirement, if you only have GOV 312L credit, is GOVT 2301.

GENERAL ADVICE: Transfer students sometimes report they feel “different," or lost, when they enter UT. They have less time to “adjust” than a freshman. Besides going to Orientation before starting classes, transfer students are strongly encouraged to be proactive and ask, ask, ask! UT Austin is large, and one way to not get lost in the shuffle is to seek out people who can help you, like the advisors. They like to help! Take advantage of their assistance frequently, if you need to. Use study groups - this is better than going it alone. Use the support services, like the Learning Center in Jester and the Undergraduate Writing Center in the Flawn Academic Center. If you go to “Current Students” from the main UT Austin home page <http://www.utexas.edu/student/>, you can find links to many helpful offices and services. Seeking out the help of advisors and these types of support services shows strength and maturity, and by reaching out, you can in turn help transfer students who come in after you. It is important to remember that your education is not defined by the university or college you attend, but rather by the hard work, dedication and opportunities you create for yourself along the way.

GENERAL ADVICE: UT Austin has many, many different majors. Transfer students do not always have the luxury of exploring courses and fields of study once here, so do some online investigating of the various departments at UT prior to your arrival here. The Undergraduate Catalog <http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/> is a good starting place for researching these offerings. Subjects and majors that may be novel to you are often great places to find fascinating courses and healthy academic communities. Many school or departmental web sites have PDF versions of their degree plans online, and often course descriptions and syllabi.

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TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, OR A CAREER IN THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS: It is recommended transfer students complete only one year at another institution before transferring. Specifically, it is a bad idea to take all general requirements before transferring if you plan to enter a science discipline. You need some non-science courses to balance your course load each semester. If you don’t, you may find you end up with five science classes with weekly work to turn in. It would be hard to maintain good grades for this kind of semester, much less for two to three straight years! You should take precalculus and Calculus I at a community college. If you are taking course work to get two science courses in the same area, it is recommended you take both at the same school.

UT Austin is usually more difficult than the school from which you are transferring. If you have learned study skills and time management skills, you have a better chance of succeeding in the sciences at UT Austin.

TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN COMPUTER SCIENCE: Start taking your mathematics right away. Taking no math will seriously delay your progress in computer science and make the math courses especially painful. Don’t let this happen to you.

TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN PSYCHOLOGY: Indicate a Psychology major as your first choice when applying to transfer, whether BA or BS. Do not take more than six semester hours of psychology course work outside UT. Most of the major requirements must be done at UT, including the statistics and the methods requirement. Take Math before you transfer, but not College Algebra (Math 1314 or 1633), or Business Calculus (M 1425 or 1426) - neither will not count for the Math requirement for either degree. For the BS in Psychology, Statistics (Math 1342) is required, as well as the first semester of Calculus (M 2413).

TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN BUSINESS: Don’t take Speech 1311 at ACC! Only Speech 1315 or 1321 will work for the School of Business requirement. Try to complete two calculus courses and micro- and macroeconomics course work before starting at UT. Plan to take BCIS 1305 before transferring to UT to complete the computer proficiency requirement. Take the business statistics class (e.g., BUSG 2371), not a math or general statistics course. All business courses at ACC are considered lower-division at UT, so most do not transfer as the UT requirement. Only Accounting, Statistics, and MIS (BCIS 1305) are also lower-division at UT. So plan to take Business Law, Management, Marketing, etc. at UT.

TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN FINE ARTS: In order to major in the College of Fine Arts, a student must meet the general admission requirements of the University. For all areas, there are additional requirements. In most cases a student must select the Fine Arts major as the primary admission choice. Please note that admission to the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Department of Art and Art History will be permitted for fall semesters only. Admission to all degree programs is competitive. For Art and Art History, quality of slide portfolio, and (if applying to the Design program) evaluation of analytical essays and portfolio assignment will be necessary. Dance majors must successfully pass a dance audition held on the UT-Austin campus. To be admitted as a Music major, a student must successfully pass an audition. Please check with the specific academic area for their application process at <http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/> The application deadline for Fall 2005 is March 1, 2005.

TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN COMMUNICATION: Transferring into the College of Communication can prove to be a challenge, but it is not impossible. Due to enrollment controls, the College has limited the number of students who may transfer into the majors within the College, which are Advertising, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Communication Studies, Journalism, Public Relations and Radio-TV-Film.

Ways for a student to help (but not guarantee) his/her chances of getting into the College include maintaining a good GPA (2.25 is a MINIMUM), making a grade of A or B on one or two introductory courses from the College, and/or joining student organizations, particularly Communication student organizations. Factors other than GPA that the College considers when making admission decisions are:

* Number of hours taken at UT and the courses taken * Extracurricular activities

* Earned grades are evaluated separately from placement exam work * Leadership ability

* Internships, job experience, volunteer work * Letters of recommendation

* Resume

TIPS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN EDUCATION: It is strongly recommended you speak with an advisor in the College of Education LONG before you transfer to UT. In particular, you may want to discuss the applicability of courses like college algebra or speech to the degree programs in the College, and the new Associate of Arts in Teaching program at the community college level.