Welcome

You do not have to join this degree, but you should carefully consider the options that are available to you. What you choose to do is important for your efficient academic progression both now and in the future - wherever that may lead you.

Experience tells us that each year. many students enter the College hoping to eventually join one of its competitive clinical degrees. It also shows us that generally, eight out of ten students are not able to enter their clinical degree of choice. Competitive degree programs such as Nursing, Dental Hygiene and Radiologic Technology accept their students based on academic standing, The limited number of seats available each year are given to their best applicants. Although the College Catalog tells you what the minimum requirements are for entering these competitive degrees, students with only the minimum requirements do not get accepted into these programs

That means in order for you to qualify for these programs, you will need to take a number of courses to allow you to eventually apply. Most students find that there are two ways of dealing with this:

• They can choose to acquire their preclinical credits either as a student enrolled in a degree program or
• Instead, by not enrolling in a degree, choose to ‘do it on their own’ as an ‘unclassified’ student.

Being an unclassified student means that you independently choose the courses you want to take each term. You decide what courses to take and when to take them. However, that comes with some disadvantages:

• You will not receive academic or career advisement from a department unless you are a student enrolled in their degree
• If eligible for financial aid, students not enrolled in a degree program will eventually cease to qualify for aid. At some time, aid will only cover you if you are enrolled in a degree.
• If not accepted into a clinical program, as an outcome many students end up with just a bunch of credits without a degree. That places you at a disadvantage as generally employers seek applicants with earned credentials.
• The longer you wait to make an alternative "plan B", the more difficult it will be to find an option that accommodates the courses you have already taken. You should earn your associate degree by completing 60 credits, not significantly more!

Being a student enrolled in a major requires that to take your courses in the way prescribed by the degree. That does come with advantages:

• You have a planned academic curriculum which if you join as a freshman, will enable you to take the pre-clinical courses as part of your degree. If accepted into your clinical degree program, transfer of credits will be efficient.
• You receive academic and career advisement - planning your program so that you don’t end up taking unnecessary courses that do not contribute to your academic path
• If eligible for financial aid, it remains available to students to take the courses required by their degree until it is completed.
• You have an automatic "plan B" if you are not accepted by your clinical degree program. All you need to do is continue to complete your degree and you graduate with an academic credential. However, the longer you wait to join a degree the greater the likelihood that some courses you have already taken will not apply to the degree to which you transfer.