Start degree in University by transferring in credit

hi .

I'm interested in studying a standard 3 or 4 year degree computer science bachelor ( not distant study).
I understand a lot of universities allowed to trans in credit with the goal of saving some money with more affordable credit and not starting from the freshman year but maybe even from the sophomore year.

Does anyone know about The process oftransferring credits to for example a university like MIT in the USA or https://www.tuhh.de/alt/tuhh/education/degree-courses/bachelors-programs/computer-science.html in Germany?
Which credits and from which sources do these universities accept?
thanks.

 

As I understand it, the process for transferring courses between universities is VERY different in Europe than it is in the US.

In Europe, as far as I know, almost no credits will transfer from one university to another. Even if both schools are using ECTS, the transfers often don't transfer. For instance, if you were to study computer algorithms taught in C++ and then you were to move to a school that taught computer algorithms in Python then the new school might not accept your past coursework. Even if everything but the language being used was the same. It might be accepted as an elective, but European degrees have few of those.

In the US, it's more complicated. For the above example, the algorithms course would PROBABLY be accepted. But there are exceptions. There are also core classes (like English Composition and Public Speaking) that are near-universal. Although there is no guarantee that one of these general education courses will transfer to another institution, in most instances it will. So long as both universities are Regionally Accredited. But there are some exceptions where a particular institution just is not transfer-friendly.

If you're thinking about transferring foreign credits to the US then it gets even more complicated.

tl;dr: more information is needed. You mentioned MIT and TUHH to transfer to, but where are the credits being transferred from? That makes a huge difference.

 

MIT is extremely exclusive. I don't think they'd accept SDC credits. They should accept CLEP and AP but that's probably it. And you can only really get AP credit if you are an American high school student.

Arizona State University is way less exclusive and I know that they're very picky about transfer credits from non-university sources. For a given degree, they might only accept 4-6 CLEP exams. They accept AP but I'm not sure if there's a limit there. I don't think that they accept any other forms of alternate credit, either.

 

ok thanks

 

Your best bet would be to do an online 2-year Associates degree with a community college that has guaranteed transfer agreements with the universities you are interested in. In most cases, that would mean a state university. I don't think a private school such as MIT would have an affiliated community college.

 

Interestingly enough, for MIT specifically, they grant credit towards doctoral programs for their MicroMasters. But there is no comp sci MicroMasters.

 

ohhh that reminds me, some time ago I found Cornell has transfer agreements with CCs in NY.

https://cals.cornell.edu/education/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/transfer-applicants/transfer-agreements

but CALS has no computer science that TS wants. The closet is Information Science.

 

As others have mentioned, MIT is very exclusive and with a very low acceptance rate. It’s also a school where the annual cost of living and tuition are extraordinarily high. While I wouldn’t want to deter anyone’s dream nor do I know your situation, it may be worth considering other options. Or you may want to focus more on polishing an application than attempting to save some money/time with transfer credits.

 

Here's a crazy idea: ask MIT.