College & Major Research
College Meetings
Representatives from trade schools, community colleges, and universities from across the state come to our school to share information with prospective students. They offer information about admissions, financial aid, campus life, degree programs, and more. Seniors should attend all of these meetings, especially if the representative is from a college they have not considered. They may learn something that changes their mind! Announcements about these meetings will be posted in the Counselor's Google classrooms and parents are encouraged to attend!
College Campus Tours
We will announce these trips to students and parents through the Counselor's Google Classrooms. If all goes according to plan, senior tours will be scheduled in the Fall and junior tours will be scheduled in the Spring. We strongly encourage students to visit colleges on their own during summer break and using College / Career Days, especially if the college or university is more than an hour away from the high school. Not sure what to ask on a tour? See the list below of questions that you should ask when touring a college or university.
What to ask.pdfCollege / Career Days?
Juniors receive a total of 3 College / Career Days to use over both their junior and senior years. Students can use these days to visit college campuses for tours and preview days or shadow professionals at work in order to better understand what the professional does on a day to day basis. To use a College / Career Day, juniors and seniors must bring a note typed on official letterhead back from the college or employer stating that the student was there for a college tour or job shadow experience. The absence from school will be listed as a School Activity so it won't count against the student, even for semester test exemptions.
*Attending trips with the Career Coach such as College Campus Visits or Industry Tours do NOT count as your College / Career Days. These days are for you to visit colleges or employers on your own.
It is highly recommended that Arkansas high school graduates attend a college or university in Arkansas. There are some good reasons to leave the state for college, such as a large athletic scholarship. However, if the degree you want is offered at an Arkansas college or university, you will be able to use state funded scholarships and grants to pay your tuition whereas you cannot take that money out of state if you leave. Also, in-state tuition rates are 2-3 times lower than out-of-state tuition rates.
What Can I Do With This Major?
The button below will take you to A-State's Career Services guide to exploring major areas of study and the careers that can be linked to those majors.
Accreditation Matters
If you are pursuing a certification or license to practice, going to a school that is unaccredited will be a giant waste of time and money. Watch this video to learn more about accreditation. If you plan to take general education courses and transfer those credits to another college or university, make sure the courses you take are at a school that has REGIONAL accreditation. If it does not, your credits will NOT be accepted by another school!
Choosing a Major
A college education is an investment so make sure you are investing wisely! Watch this video to hear advice from Dave Ramsey.
If you know what you want to do for a career, but you are not sure what college major you should pick, talk to your Career Coach! Your Career Coach can put you in touch with a professional in the field you have chosen, and help you learn from his or her successes & failures.
The #1 Mistake of Transfer Students
Taking courses at a community college to save money with the intention to transfer to a 4-year university is a very good plan, but some of these well intentioned students make a huge mistake, which is taking courses at the community college that they shouldn't. Always begin with the end in mind. What degree do you want from the university? Find the degree plan on the university's website, and look at the classes that are needed. Pay very close attention to the course numbers, and make sure your credits will transfer over before you register at the community college! This is the #1 mistake that transfer students make. You will need to get that information from the college or university that will be accepting the transfer credit. Learn the lingo:
General Education: General education classes, often referred to as “Gen Eds,” are mandatory, lower-level courses that students are required to complete for a degree. The curriculum covered in these classes build a well-rounded education.
Major Courses: Major courses are upper-level classes that students must take to complete degree requirements for a specific major.
Prerequisite: Prerequisites are courses students are required to complete before enrolling in another course. For example, students who want or need to take an advanced finance class might be required to take an introductory finance course first.
Electives: Elective courses are credited courses that are not specifically required for a major, although students are required to take a certain number of elective hours to graduate. Students may want to take elective courses to explore topics and interests outside of their area of study. For example, if a student is majoring in Biology in preparation for medical school, and plans to open his or her own clinic, he or she may want to take elective courses in Business Management.
What's the difference between lower-level courses and upper-level courses, and why does it matter? Lower-level courses have course numbers that begin with a 1 or 2 (example: MATH 1023 College Algebra is a lower-level course). Upper-level courses have numbers that begin with a 3 or 4 (example: MKTG 3013 Marketing is an upper-level course). The reason it is important to know the difference is because 4-year universities have an upper-level hour requirement for graduation. For example, Arkansas State University requires all students to take at least 45 upper-level hours to graduate with a Bachelor's degree. That's 15 upper-level (3 hour) courses. If your major only requires 12 upper-level courses, then you will have to take at least 3 upper-level electives to meet graduation requirements. Keep this in mind when planning your schedule!
All courses offered at 2-year community colleges will be lower-level courses. If you plan to transfer from a 2-year college to a 4-year university, keep in mind that lower-level courses are not equivalent to upper-level courses. For example, MKTG 2013 Marketing at BRTC will NOT transfer to ASU as an equivalent to MKTG 3013 Marketing because it is an upper-level course at A-State. Therefore, if Marketing is a required course for your degree, you will have to take it at A-State.
The Arkansas Division of Higher Education keeps an automatically updated list of courses that universities will accept from other schools on their website. It is highly recommended students get a statement in writing (an email will do the trick) from the accepting university's Registrar confirming that the transfer credit will be accepted before taking a course that they plan to transfer. The list of accepted transfer courses is constantly changing, so it is important to have that written guarantee from the Registrar. All a student needs to do is send an email to the Registrar's office asking if a specific course will be accepted. Give the name of the school where the course will be taken, the course title, and the course number. Depending on the institution, the Registrar may ask for a course syllabus to determine if the course is equivalent to their course. The Registrar will respond with a yes or no, and the student can keep the email until it is time to transfer the credit.