Sophia to California College

[Msteller89]

Hi All, 

I'm new to this forum and first I want to say thank you for all of your advice and knowledge. I've been reading everything! 

I was wondering if anyone used Sophia courses and transferred to any college in California? Like SF State or Cal State Ebay? I'm trying to see if my community college will accept these credit but then I have to find out if a 4 year in California will accept them as well. Once you provide your transcripts to your community college do your credit get transferred to the community college or will you always have two separate transcripts?

I haven't found much info for California folks!

Thanks!

[rachel83az]

ACE credit (which is what Sophia is) does not "convert" to RA college credit if you are able to transfer it to a college/university. You will always have 2 (or more!) transcripts. Unfortunately, a lot of schools are not willing to accept any ACE credit besides specific CLEP exams. Many of them don't even accept DSST exams unless you are military. If you want to use Sophia, I would suggest that you consider going to UMPI, WGU, or to one of the big 3 instead of a California college. Not only are the costs lower, but these schools are also very accepting of ACE credits.

[dfrecore]

UC and CSU system schlols do not accept ACE credit except maybe a little from a JST for military (like 3cr for PE). No DSST's at all.

UC's won't even take CLEP, although CSU's will (and even then, not all of them).

CC's will usually take some DSST exams, but they won't transfer to a CSU/UC, and it will show on your CSU Advising Guide/IGETC form that this is the case.

Your best bet if you want to transfer to a CSU is to take CLEP exams. I'd check first to see what they will take.

[bjcheung77]

California has cheap tuition, COSC/TESU now require 30 RA credits, you may be best served by completing 12 or more credits at the local community college if you haven't completed that many. The reason is you can go for a Pierpont BOG AAS with alternative credits, then ladder to a Big 3 or Brandman/UMPI/WGU Bachelors later. It's up to you to decide which option and school you would like to end up with the Bachelors, for the Associates, get it at a community college or Pierpont/COSC.

[monsoon]

California has cheap tuition, COSC/TESU now require 30 RA credits, you may be best served by completing 12 or more credits at the local community college if you haven't completed that many.  The reason is you can go for a Pierpont BOG AAS with alternative credits, then ladder to a Big 3 or Brandman/UMPI/WGU Bachelors later.  It's up to you to decide which option and school you would like to end up with the Bachelors, for the Associates, get it at a community college or Pierpont/COSC.

Thank you for guidance. However, since I am an International student I had to search some of the abbreviations you mentioned. At the end I didn't get what exactly mean by Big 3? (does this mean Harvard, Yale and Princeton)?

I already finished 64 credits at community college in CA, and my only option for transfer, using all the classes I took, is my college (they offer a bachelor degree). However, I really wanted to change major and transfer to one of the more known universities either in Ca or Florida, like Berkley, Florida university etc. I have a good GPA, but I can't afford taking more classes even in my community college to fill the prerequisite for transfer to other major. I thought maybe using Sophia, study.com, or similar platforms have pass /no pass system. 
 as a side note: scholarships mostly available for national students in bachelor level, so I can't apply and wait one more year to MAYBE get one. 
 
I thought it is good to ask someone who is more familiar with the American education system, and can guide me. 

Appreciate your help.

[rachel83az]

Big3 refers to a specific group of schools that have historically been known for generous credit transfer acceptance: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Common_Terms

If money is a concern, I would recommend against going to a "big name" university. It is not worth going tens of thousands of dollars into debt just to be able to say you went to Berkley. Also, most of these "big name" universities either do not accept credits from places like Sophia & Study.com or else they are VERY limited in what you are allowed to bring in.

What kind of degree are you wanting to get?

[studyingfortests]

If you are trying to transfer credits specifically to a Cal State or CSU school, and the suggestions offered above for one of the Big 3 aren't suitable for you, one workaround you might have is to consider a California community college that has an articulation agreement with a CSU school. Almost all the CA community colleges have this, and basically it guarantees you acceptance into the UC or CSU school you choose.

Most of the CA community colleges accept ACE credits from a number of providers, but here's the tricky part: for any course that you're transferring in as part of a core or major requirement, you'll need to get the department head to sign off on that course. So basically, you'd provide the syllabus for, say, a Sophia psych course to the head of psych at the community college. If s/he signs off, and that school accepts ACEs (most do), then you should be able to get the credit accepted.

I know people who have done this and its a little hit-and-miss because it largely depends on the individual department heads. Some are sticklers and some are not.

It will *definitely* be easier to go with a known quantity like Charter Oak or TESU or Excelsior (depending on which best suits your needs) as far as bringing in your credits. It all depends on your long term goals.

[dfrecore]

California has cheap tuition, COSC/TESU now require 30 RA credits, you may be best served by completing 12 or more credits at the local community college if you haven't completed that many.  The reason is you can go for a Pierpont BOG AAS with alternative credits, then ladder to a Big 3 or Brandman/UMPI/WGU Bachelors later.  It's up to you to decide which option and school you would like to end up with the Bachelors, for the Associates, get it at a community college or Pierpont/COSC.

Thank you for guidance. However, since I am an International student I had to search some of the abbreviations you mentioned. At the end I didn't get what exactly mean by Big 3? (does this mean Harvard, Yale and Princeton)?

I already finished 64 credits at community college in CA, and my only option for transfer, using all the classes I took, is my college (they offer a bachelor degree). However, I really wanted to change major and transfer to one of the more known universities either in Ca or Florida, like Berkley, Florida university etc. I have a good GPA, but I can't afford taking more classes even in my community college to fill the prerequisite for transfer to other major. I thought maybe using Sophia, study.com, or similar platforms have pass /no pass system. 
 as a side note: scholarships mostly available for national students in bachelor level, so I can't apply and wait one more year to MAYBE get one. 
 
I thought it is good to ask someone who is more familiar with the American education system, and can guide me. 

Appreciate your help.

If you want to go to a CSU or UC in CA, but can't afford CC, then you're going to have a very difficult time paying for those schools.  There are automatic transfers to schools in both systems, including Berkeley - but you have to have all of the credits and pre-reqs done to transfer in as a junior.  For the CSU's you use the CSU Advising guide at your school, including the major sheet; for UC's you use the IGETC.

[LevelUP]

Sophia has a partners page:
https://www.sophia.org/transfer-credits/...-partners/

If the school isn't listed, then you need to find your school and see if they accept credits:
https://www.sophia.org/transfer-credits/...titutions/

For example here are some California colleges that have accepted Sophia credits before:
California Baptist University
California Coast University
California Southern University
California State University - Chico
California State University - Long Beach
California State University - Sacramento
University of California - Berkeley

If the school accepts ACE credits other than only CLEP/DSST/AP then there is a good chance they will accept Sophia.

[dfrecore]

Most of the CA community colleges accept ACE credits from a number of providers, but here's the tricky part: for any course that you're transferring in as part of a core or major requirement, you'll need to get the department head to sign off on that course.  So basically, you'd provide the syllabus for, say, a Sophia psych course to the head of psych at the community college. If s/he signs off, and that school accepts ACEs (most do), then you should be able to get the credit accepted.

Just because you get credit at a CA CC (and I'm willing to bet that 90% won't take anything outside of CLEP/DSST), you still won't be able to transfer the credits to a CSU or UC.  They specifically state that you can't transfer DSST exams to CSU/UC's.

The CA CC's, while a good transfer system to the CSU/UC system schools, are not "block transfers" - they will look at every course you bring in.