Transfer Time is Near
In an ideal world, I’d never have to leave Tunxis CC to complete a four-year degree.
But since I have to transfer, and because the applications are due in the next couple of months, I’m eyeballing two colleges right now: CCSU and Wesleyan. The plan all along has been to get a degree in Political Science, and think about law school along the way.
There are some big differences between CCSU and Wesleyan, but I’ve decided that I’m not going to let the price tag scare me away from applying to the non-state school.
The practical side of me says that I should just apply to CCSU. I’ll surely be accepted, and I can ride my bike over for classes (theoretically, but with a book bag that will never happen in practice). I’ll save myself a veritable shitload of money.
The go-for-it side of me says that I should apply to Wesleyan. I’ll be taking a chance, but I’ve got a lot of life experience that many other transfer applicants probably won’t have.
I firmly believe that I can get a quality education at either institution.
So, for the moment, two questions remain:
- Will Wesleyan give me a significant advantage when applying to a law school?
- Should I really apply to a program with such a shitty website?*
*In fact, the site has barely been modified since the Wayback Machine first cached it in December 1998.**
**Yes. This stuff is important to someone who does a lot of reading and research on the internet. If the political science department hasn’t bothered to modify its department website in EIGHT YEARS, I think it reflects poorly on the department. Click around to see websites of the other majors at CCSU. I see some lousy website design, but nothing as blatantly outdated as the Poli-Sci page.
Yale?
Do you know any of the professors at these joints?
Pull in the favors, Spazeboy! You deserve it.
The answer to question one, sadly, is yes. Of course, nothing helps more than a high GPA and knocking the LSATS out of the ball park!
Hey Spaze,
Well, maybe you could get a tuition break or some kind of student job redoing the CCSU website!
If they’ve neglected their website in favor of spending limited funds on better teaching, lower teacher to student ratios, great library book collections, etc. – then keep an eye on what matters most. But I think it’s also to keep and eye out to see if this hint at staleness shows up in any of your other contacts with the department and the school (I know of it, but know nothing about it).
Have you done a campus visit to Wesleyan and sat in on some classes? Highly recommend you do that – it’s entirely possible that you’d find a quantum difference in the quality of education, the variety of people with whom you’ll be surrounded, the kinds of other activities made available as a result of the school’s being better funded. Yes, I think Wesleyan would be looked at very differently not only for grad school, but for employment after graduation.
OTOH, you may have a greater variety of ages and life experience in CCSU classes. That can be quite valuable, if professors know how to turn it into an asset.
In terms of having an understanding of how Wesleyan may look at your application, maybe take a look at the precentage of in-state students Wesleyan will take and see if being in-state will hurt you or make it necessary to demonstrate other ways to distinguish yourself — on the other hand, it might be that if you’re going to a private school, you’d have a better chance at an out of state private school where being from CT distinguishes you intead of making you one of many.
I learned the hard way when applying for colleges years ago that I didn’t understand who I was and how to market myself to the colleges – I looked strictly at grades and test scores, and was turned down by my two “safety” schools because I didn’t understand how important having parents who went to school there or being from the school’s home state would be in gaining admissions. Oddly, I got into the toughest of the three, whether by luck or an inadvertent good match, I’ll never know.
If you have a good counseloar at the Comm. College who can help you sort out how to market yourself well — or even a high school counselor who was good and you’re on good terms with – it might help you position yourself in your Wesleyan bid or also help you identify other schools that match well with what you have to offer. How many transfers does Weslayan accept vs. number who apply? Some 4 year schools are rather cool to the idea of transfers and limit them.
Here’s an article about shifting priorities in admissions that you might find interesting. Schools considering changes are listed in the article.
good luck!!
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/14/admit
Going to Wesleyan will give you a decided advantage in getting into a good law school. I graduated in the bottom quarter of my class at a liberal arts college not as good as Wesleyan and got into a very competetive law school by knocking the LSAT out of the park. It was assumed I was a smart slacker who might do well in law school if properly motivated. I am absolutely convinced that I would not have been afforded the same latitude had I gone to CCSU.
I happened upon this site because I was also thinking of these two schools and googled it. I’m from CT and would be tranferring as a sophomore from an $$ LAC in another state. Would you try to get in the honors program at CCSU or would you be too far along?