The Transfer  Times 
 
October, 2004

In this Issue: October Transfer Days at Montgomery College The Number of Transfer Students @ MC is on the Rise Where Do They Go From Here?  The List!       ~ Transfer to MD and Schools Across the Nation Transfer Services at Montgomery College

NEW Admissions Requirements/Limited Enrollment Programs at UMCP Choosing a Major is a Tricky Decision  Advising Business Students Spotlight on ... Visual Arts @ UMBC

Montgomery College Transfer Information Days

Representatives from over 30 colleges and universities will be available to meet with students to answer questions about majors and transfer requirements. 
ALL students are encouraged to attend - 
even first semester freshmen can benefit from Transfer Information Day.

SAMPLE Schools Attending: Baltimore International College, MD, Bridgewater College, VA, Capitol College, MD, Catholic University, DC, Columbia Union College, MD, Coppin State College, MD, Frostburg State Univ. MD, George Mason Univ., VA, Hood College, MD, Howard University, DC, Lincoln University, PA, Marymount University, VA, Mt. St. Mary's College, MD, Potomac College, WV, Salisbury State Univ., MD, Shepherd College, WV, Smith School of Business - UMCP, Towson State University, The Universities at Shady Grove, University of Baltimore, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), UMBC - Shady Grove Campus - Social Work & Information Systems, University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES), University of Maryland, University College (UMUC), University of Maryland - School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Washington College, MD, Wheeling Jesuit College, WV

Montgomery College Transfer Numbers on the Rise 

Transfer numbers for Montgomery College students to Maryland public institutions have increased annually from 1998 to 2002.  Here's how MC compares with other Maryland community colleges:

Maryland Community College Transfers by USM Institutions, Fiscal Year 2002

Source:  Maryland Higher Education Commission
January 2004      

Tracking numbers of out-of-state transfers is more complicated, but through MC's participation in the National Student Loan Clearinghouse, MC's Office of Institutional Research has been able extract recent data to for national transfers.  This chart shows transfer data for the year 2003:

                                                                                                                                
Summary of NSLC Data above: 2,221 Montgomery College students who earned 12 or more credits in the year 2002 were enrolled in 2003 at over 200 different four-year institutions in 40 different states.  A total of 561 students were enrolled at schools out-of-state, and 1,828 students were enrolled in Maryland public and private institutions.  Please note that not all institutions nationwide participate in the NSL Clearinghouse.

Transfer Services at Montgomery College

Advising students whose transfer destinations range from Washington College in Maryland to Walla Walla College in Washington State is no simple matter.  Add 198 other colleges and universities to the annual transfer information request list, each with its own set of general education requirements and courses necessary for specific majors, and the task becomes a true challenge for counselors, faculty advisers, and students.

Montgomery College has long been aware that a significant number of students arrive with the sole intention of transferring on to four-year schools.  Many students simply know that they want to transfer, but are unsure of either a major or a transfer destination.  Each of the three campuses has developed programs to meet the needs of transfer students.

Montgomery College provides the following services to assist students in transfer planning:

The MC Transfer Information Web Page

The advent of the Internet has allowed transfer advising to take on a new dimension.  Consistent advising information is now available to all counselors, advisers and students through the MC Transfer Information Website, www.montgomerycollege.edu/transfer .  This site, the first of its kind in Maryland, has over 200 links to local transfer institutions, "Advising by Major" pages, and college search programs.  Its creators have conducted workshops for community college deans in Maryland and USM Transfer Days titled "Putting Transfer Advising Information on the Web."

Transfer Workshops

Each campus of the College offers transfer workshops every semester.  Topics include: 

• How Do I Transfer?
• How Do I Choose a Major?
• Major-Specific Transfer Advising Workshops (Education, Business, etc.)

Check with the Career/Transfer Center on each campus for a schedule of advising workshops.

Transfer Information Days and Individual College Visits

• Transfer Information Day is a one-day event held on each campus every semester.  Over 30 representatives from four-year institutions, public and private, meet with students to discuss admissions requirements, scholarship opportunities, and major’s requirements.  Click here for Fall 2004 schedule.
• Individual Visits – Representatives from local colleges and universities schedule visits to campuses to meet with prospective students in the Career/Transfer Centers or set up information tables on campus.

Individual Transfer Advising

Students may make half-hour advising appointments with transfer specialty counselors.  These appointments may involve discussing how to search for transfer schools, determining which courses students should take to meet requirements at out-of-state institutions, developing strategies for meeting competitive admissions requirements, and reviewing college applications and essays.

Transfer Advising through Student Development Courses

Transfer planning is discussed as a topic in each of the following Student Development courses:  DS 103, Career Development; DS 104 Seminar for International Students; and DS 107, First Year Seminar.

Career/Transfer Centers

All three campuses have Career/Transfer Centers that have access to college catalogs, applications, and other admissions information for students.  Students may use the Centers on a walk-in basis to use computer search programs and get assistance with transfer planning. 

The Transfer Council

The Collegewide Transfer Council is made up of transfer counselors from all three campuses who meet monthly to discuss transfer issues that affect all students.  Some of their recent activities include the development of a new Transfer Studies Certificate (Spring 2005), discussion of general education policies, a review of competitive admissions policies at local universities, and discipline-specific transfer concerns.   

The Transfer Scholarship Committee 

This committee has representatives from all three campuses to review transfer scholarship opportunities and centralize information for students.  The Committee handles programs that ask for a College nomination and sends weekly e-mailed announcements of new scholarship information to all faculty to help identify potential student candidates.  The Transfer Scholarship Web Page houses information for students, including notices of new programs and downloadable applications.  www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/studev/schol.htm

ARTSYS

The State of Maryland’s computerized articulation database, ARTSYS (http://artweb.usmd.edu/), serves as a primary method of disseminating transfer information for Maryland colleges and universities, both public and private.  The database includes Recommended Transfer Program pages that outline specific courses for students to take at the community college prior to transfer in major subject areas.  Over 120 different RTP’s exist for the University of Maryland, College Park, alone.  Montgomery College has an ARTSYS Coordinator who monitors ARTSYS information.  Activities include reviewing RTP’s for accuracy, submitting new course syllabi as courses are added at Montgomery College, and conducting ARTSYS training sessions for faculty.

Articulation Agreements

The Office of the Executive Vice President develops articulation agreements with interested four-year colleges and universities.  These agreements can be general or tied to specific majors; all are designed to make the transfer process smoother for students.  Over 25 different agreements currently exist.  The list is housed at:  www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/studev/articulations.htm  

Contact the Office of Student Development at any campus with transfer advising questions or concerns:

Limited Enrollment Majors at UMCP - New Changes to Admissions Requirements

The University of Maryland's Office of Admissions has announced changes to five competitive majors within their Limited Enrollment Programs (LEP's).  These are programs have special requirements that are different or above standards for regular admission to the University.  The Limited Enrollment Programs are:

• Architecture (including Landscape Architecture) New Requirements

• Business:    New Business Requirements (effective Fall 2005)

• Communication New Requirements

• Education

• Engineering (including Biological Resources Engineering) New Requirements

• Government and Politics

• Journalism New Requirements

• Psychology

Click here for a link to printable Limited Enrollment Program Admissions Pages; this link is also on the MC Transfer Page under Local MD/DC/VA Institutions.

Please note that there have been changes in five programs. Architecture, Business, Communication, Engineering,  and Journalism. Except for Business, all of the changes are effective immediately.  Business requirements will take effect for students new to any 2-year or 4-year institution in the University of Maryland System starting Fall 2005.  Students who enroll at MC prior to Fall 2005 may follow the old admissions standards up until Fall 2007.

Admission to Majors That are Not a Part of Limited Enrollment Programs

UMCP is looking for three things in a transfer student:

• A 3.0 overall gpa

• 30 credits completed, and

• completion of MC's MA 110 or higher and EN 102 or EN 109.

It is CRITICAL that students seek advisement each semester prior to registering for classes so that they'll include courses required for specific majors and/or complete specific UMCP CORE requirements.  There are over 120 majors at UMCP - students should carefully explore all of their options if they're anxious to attend UMCP.
www.uga.umd.edu/apply/transfer.html

"Choosing a Major is a Tricky Decision"  from the Charlotte Observer

Michael P. Regan, Associated Press, Oct. 2, 2004 12:00 AM

NEW YORK - It's a well-worn pickup line at college parties: What's your major?

And in today's uncertain job market, it's a lot more. Positions once filled by graduates with yesterday's hot majors are disappearing or being shipped overseas, so a student's answer to the question is one of the most important financial decisions he or she will ever make.

Research by professors at Northeastern University in Boston shows that a college student's major is more important than what college they attend in determining their starting salary upon graduation.

Yet with employment patterns shifting much faster than in the past, choosing a major based on what jobs will be in demand a few years down the road is a tricky endeavor.

"In the last three years, because of the economic recession, the labor market hasn't really signaled what I ought to be studying in college," said economist Paul Harrington, the lead author of the Northeastern study. The most obvious recent trend is a retreat from computer science studies, a hot area in the 1990s before the tech bubble burst and companies began offshoring programmers' jobs.

What emerged as one substitute is actually one of the older - and decidedly unexciting - standbys: accounting.

Last year the number of students graduating with accounting degrees rose 11 percent, according to a survey by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Colleges are crediting the bean-counter boom on the recent corporate scandals and the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, both of which put a spotlight on proper bookkeeping.

"Accountants, who had been relegated to a service position, are now front and center to CEO survival," said Andres Fortino, dean of the school of management at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "Faculty and students have picked up on that."

And at a time when Donald Trump is a poster boy for reality TV, entrepreneurship has become a popular major. A 1970 survey found only 16 college courses on the topic, according to Maria Anton, executive editor of Entrepreneur magazine. Last year, 825 colleges offered entrepreneurship classes, she said.

The University of Dayton, for example, this year has 101 students concentrating in entrepreneurship, the most since it introduced the curriculum in 1999.

Dayton junior Rob Vanderheyden, a double major in finance and entrepreneurship, wants to first get a corporate job, so he can "learn some real-life stuff before I go out on my own."

Majors in computer security and health care fields are also popular, educators say, with jobs battling computer viruses and taking care of aging baby boomers expected to remain in demand in coming years.

But most experts say basing a major decision solely on the expected hot jobs of the future is not necessarily wise.

Steven Rothberg, president of Minneapolis-based CollegeRecruiter.com, recommends students first consider their competencies, interests and values.

"If they focus on what they're good at, what they like to do, and what's important to them, there's an excellent chance that they will end up in a job upon graduation that will make them happy," Rothberg said.

So You Want to Be a Business Major...

Even advising business majors is a tricky business these days.  The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has a set of admissions guidelines that scare college advisers - and plunge college students into a state of confusion.  The new Smith requirements, effective Fall 2005, will not affect students who start college this Fall 2004 or Spring 2005.

While not all roads must eventually lead to Smith, community college students can keep all options open if they begin to follow Smith course recommendations while they explore their options.  The four-page "So You Want to Be a Business Major..." lays out the map for business wannabe's - whether they aim for Smith or any other school of business.  This hand-out shows options at 25 + additional business programs at schools within a 50- mile driving radius of MC-Rockville.   

Spotlight on... The Visual Arts Major at UMBC 
Animation | Art History | Film | Graphic Design Imagining | Photography | Print Media | Video
www.umbc.edu/undergrad/majors/m_visart.html

"Students admitted to UMBC's visual arts program declare a concentration within the visual arts department:  animation, art history, film, graphic design, imaging and digital art, print media, new genre, photography or video.

Students who plan to major in visual arts must submit a portfolio review application in addition to the standard UMBC undergraduate admission application. Visual arts candidates are evaluated on originality, flexibility, motivation, good presentation skills and overall creativity.

A number of special opportunities exist for students to gain experience in the visual arts field and exposure to established artists. The department's Imaging Research Center (IRC), a state-of-the-art facility combining research, education and professional training in animation and computer visualization, offers internships to advanced students in 3-D animation projects. Through the Shriver Center's cooperative education and internship program, advanced-level visual arts majors find internships at area firms and companies.

Students have the opportunity to exhibit work in an annual juried exhibition and to participate in Filmmakers Anonymous, a student-run open forum where students share their work in a critical yet supportive environment. The visiting artist program at UMBC exposes students to a mix of prominent and emerging artists and the Center for Art and Visual Culture at UMBC exhibits contemporary art by nationally known artists."

Graduates are hired by art and production communities, and a significant percentage continue their education at the graduate school level."

Montgomery College courses recommended for visual arts students prior to transfer:  AR 101 Drawing I, AR 103 Design I, AR 107 & 108 Art History I & II, AR 203 Photographic Expression, and general education requirements from the MC Gen Ed Program.  http://art.umbc.edu/undergraduate.html

On the Lighter Side... What is College, Really?

Dave Barry has it all figured out.

The Montgomery College Transfer Times is a monthly publication. 
Your suggestions for future articles will be appreciated! 
anne.schleicher@montgomerycollege.edu  

Visit the MC Transfer Information Page at
www.montgomerycollege.edu/transfer