New Fall Semester Soon

Welcome to new NOVA transfer students! We are a great place to start completing your general education courses including English, Math, History, Science with Lab, and others. If you need refresher courses first, do not be discouraged. This is a common situation across the nation. Just dig in and begin your fall semester work as soon as classes start!

End of Semester Wrap Up

If this is your last semester at NOVA hopefully you know where you are transferring to by now. Remember to request one more copy of your NOVA transcript with your fall grades posted in late December to forward to your new university. Without your fall grades and/or official posting of graduation from NOVA, this can often influence getting a General Education waiver at the new university. You do not want to repeat or add general education courses to your junior year coursework!

Congratulations on finishing another semester with NOVA. If you are staying at NOVA, please see your Student Service Center if you have any questions still about registration for next semester at NOVA. We want to be sure you have correct information about the transfer courses and degree that you are seeking.

Fall Transfer Students, 2010

Hello everyone, this is a very exciting time for you! Is this is your second full-time year at NOVA? If you have been attending part time, have you now accumulated close to 45 credits? This could be the year that you decide where to transfer after you complete your A.A. or A.S. Associate Degree with us.

Hopefully you researched and identified four-year institutions that met your academic goals last year. If this is not clear by now, please look at our NOVA website for Transfer Information as a starting point. Each campus also has transfer information available in the Student Service Center. Every university and four-year college has transfer information on its web site, usually within the Admissions link.

Now more than ever, you need to narrow your choice of your future institution. Your fall, 2010 classes at NOVA should be selected with your future institution's general education requirements in mind.

Welcome to Fall, 2010!

Still Checking?

Are you still checking your plans for this fall? There are always last minute things to do. One student who is transferring to the College of William and Mary (W & M) this fall is taking ITE 115 at NOVA this summer. It will make his fall semester better at W & M to have that out of the way of course.

If you are sure of your classes for the fall at your new school, you can look into buying your books. You may be able to buy them on line. If you are going to Mason, their book store probably has the fall books already.

Remember if you are taking a class this summer to forward your NOVA transcript one more time to your future institution when your new grade is posted.

Meanwhile enjoy a little time to relax, I hope!

Summer Possibilities

Most of the acceptance letters from universities have been mailed now. If you are on a Wait List related to your current semester grades, be sure to mail or fax your new transcript copy later this week. Your spring semester grades will be posted this week! Congratulations, everyone.

Next Follow Up Steps

If you have been accepted and know where you are transferring to, it is not time to rest quite yet. Now you have some follow up steps. Be sure to send an official copy of your transcript again after your spring grades are posted. Don't forget to submit an application for a dorm room or begin making other living arrangements if a dorm option is not available. It is not too early to consider these areas and even make another trip to your future school to become more familiar.

Congratulations to reaching this stage of the transfer process. If you are a first year transfer student, keep up the good work, and look forward to this goal next spring!

Plan B

Has your Plan B not worked out? Maybe Plan A is not even sure yet either. It is not to late for Back-Up Plan C, but the time is getting close. If you have used this Spring Break week to visit colleges again, you may be re-evaluating your choices. If some choices have dropped out, think again about more options for next fall. There may be more courses to take at NOVA that would strengthen your application for spring, 2011 if you want to re-apply to your top choices of 4-year schools. It might be fruitful to take a semester at George Mason University as an Extended Studies student (visiting student) while you decide other options for spring, 2011 if needed.

There are always more Plan Bs and Cs. Do not get discouraged. Meet with your Transfer Counselor and/or Faculty Advisor to discuss your options. Remember that sometimes a detour is a super opportunity and can result in something better than the original plan.