Transferring from a community college to a university has many moving components. The sooner a student starts thinking about the process, the better off they will be, said Javier Puebla, graduation and transfer (GET) services coordinator.

Students will have three opportunities to attend a GET workshop at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27 in room CU3. While chowing down on pizza, students can learn more about the steps they should take before transferring, which credits transfer, and available scholarships.

“I’ll be going over the transfer process, what students should look for, nuances about various programs, and just basically be able to answer [questions]… and know where and which offices and which resources they need to utilize while they’re here,” Puebla said.

Business majors can attend a special luncheon with the Oklahoma City University Dean Minders School of Business at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Wednesday Jan. 28 and on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Puebla said students will be given information about OCU’s business degree, their cost compared to other universities and their admissions requirements.

OCU offers a special scholarship for OCCC and Rose State, so students can learn about that, as well, he said.

“It’s a $10,000 scholarship on top of department scholarships and on top of the transfer scholarships. Students when they consider OCU as an option, they often think, ‘oh, it’s so expensive,’ and it is when you compare it to other schools.

“But, when you factor in all these scholarships if you have a good GPA and meet all those, it actually then becomes a little more attainable. They have a really good program and it definitely sets itself apart from OU School of Business and UCO’s College of Business,” Puebla said.

Students can pre-register and enter to win a $50 Starbucks basket at www.okcu.edu/business/events.

He said some students don’t ask for help because they assume they know what’s best and end up wasting time and money.

“You don’t want to start taking classes because you think they’re the right ones and then the last semester, or even the last year, two semesters before you graduate…and find instead of this one biology class you took, you should have taken this other one.

“The sooner you are well informed as to what options you have out there, the better you can tailor your associate degree to perfectly fit,” Puebla said.

Students should meet with a faculty adviser to discuss where they would like to transfer and which bachelor’s program they plan on attending, he said. The relationship is important to establish in order for a student to successfully transfer.

A student can be assigned a faculty adviser at the front desk of the Advising office. Then, students can meet with them in the Advising office or during each faculty advisers’ personal office hours.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of meeting with a faculty adviser. Faculty advisers are different than the academic advisers. They are supposed to specialize in subjects that they teach. They know all these little nuances about their programs at the various schools. If they don’t know it, they know who they can contact to get that information.

“The whole point is to better align the students course work that they’re already having to do with their associate degree, align better with the bachelor’s degree they’re ultimately going to be going for,” he said.

For more information, visit www.occc.edu/transfercenter/index.html or call Graduation and Transfer services at 405-682-7567.

To contact Lauren Daniel, email onlineeditor@occc.edu