Big 3 AA Tranferablility to other univiversities

[JohnnyHeck]

Would like comments and/or feedback on success/failures in transferring with AA from Big 3 to a "traditional" 4 year university.

Given that the "traditional" universities including most of their states' CCs do not accept so many credit by exam options, for those persons whose ultimate goal is a major in a "hands-on" field such as Performing Arts, Engineering, Marine Science, etc., I would like to discover the practicality of getting the AA at one of the Big 3 and then transferring into my "traditional" university of choice with junior standing and 64 credits or less left to finish my bachelors.

Now I am aware that since there are no articulation agreements between the Big 3 and most other accreditied institutions, the school to which I am transferring will probably go through the process of a course by course credit analysis to their degree requirements and that this may by necessity force me to take some LL instituition specific courses to complete their Gen-Ed requirments.

But will the AA from the Big 3 get me out of repeating most of the Gen-Ed reqs at "traditional" senior institutions? I.e. If their school policies do not normally let their students test out of Gen-Ed reqs can I side-step their archaic methods by getting the AA at one of the Big 3?

How about taking a Bachelors and then transferring to a senior institution for a degree in my field? Will they make me repeat Gen-Eds simply because I tested out them at one of the Big 3?

[sanantone]

Some schools will accept whole AA degrees to satisfy the general education requirements. For those that don't, they'll evaluate each individual course. If they don't accept a CLEP, DSST, ECE, ACE credits, etc. for a certain course in this instance, then you're out of luck.

[cookderosa]

You are correct, without an articulation agreement, you're in for individual credit evaluations which means CLEP by CLEP approval. Bad plan. There is no cost savings for earning your AA at TESC since you'd be paying an enrollment fee. TESC is the best deal when you use it for your BA degree.

First off, if you're certain that you have narrowed down your university prospects to 3 or fewer, you really need to get your AA through the state in which you will later attend. Community colleges generally are very CLEP friendly, a little digging will likely find you a CC with 30-45 CLEPs allowed, and a written articulation. In the case of a written articulation, the CLEP policy of the CC will trump that of the university. It's a little-known work around that no one ever tells you. CCs vary in their policy and cost like anyone else, so doing your homework should pay off handsomely. Good luck!

EDIT: I do believe TESC has some articulation agreements with New Jersey colleges if you're local, you can take advantage of those, but again, it's not a cost savings so there isn't really a point.