What Should I Expect When Transferring from Community College to University?

[rockman200]

Community college ---> university

Hello, I'm a high school student taking 3 courses at a community college ( computer science II, calc physics and calc III).I'm going to university of colorado at boulder next year and I'm slightly worried that I will be under prepared for the courses. What should I expect from transfering from a community college to a university?

 

[jtbell]

That might depend on which courses you're planning to take there.

 

[physics girl phd]

I'm assuming here that by calc physics you mean calculus physics I (mechanics). Note that most students struggle with calculus-based physics II (electricity and magnetism) regardless of where they took their prior calculus physics I course. The fact that you've had calculus III (w/ multi-variable calculus) prior to the course should help. Again, as jtbell mentions, having an idea of the courses you are planning to take will help us suggest some texts to look at and strategies to success... and having info about your course of study (major) would help even more. In lieu of that... If I were you I'd try to compare what texts are being used in the courses at CU, and how they compare to the text you are using at the community college you are currently attending.

Boulder is wonderful... I did my phd work there. Even though I wasn't a teaching assistant, I know a bit about how many of the intro undergraduate physics courses are organized. The lecture sections involve a lot of Erik Mazur's Peer Instruction methods ("clicker questions")... often including concepts that can be gleaned from the Physics Education Technology (PhET) simulations. Many of the recitation sections involve doing activities from "Tutorials in Introductory Physics" out of the University of Washington Physics Education research group.