My cousin is 17 years old and a junior in a Northern Virginia public school; he's a solid student (something like 3.9 weighted GPA in the IB program and a M/V SAT score of something like 1350)--not a genius but definitely a solid and smart student. Unfortunately, his family isn't quite as well off as some (family of 9 kids, home schooled through 8th grade, 1 income). The University of Virginia has a guaranteed admissions program for those who complete 45-60 hours at a Virginia community college with a GPA of 3.4+. The savings for a 4-year degree is about $20,000 to attend UVa this way than to do the full 4 years at UVa (substantial for a family trying to send 9 kids to college).
He knows he wants to double major in economics and mathematics and is interested in doing a PhD program in finance or economics afterward. Obviously, undergraduate performance is critical to admissions to graduate programs right out of college. Any idea if his community college transcript (even with straight-"As") would be "held against him" when compared to his peers? I'll probably ask this question on urch.com but curious what thoughts were here as well.
It will probably matter more to employers right out of undergrad than to grad schools is my guess (assuming his GRE and undergrad grades are solid), and once he finishes a PhD program then it probably won't matter. Though if his financial situation is really that bad he should be able to swing UVA for free or close to it through financial aid and scholarships or work part-time through school or take out a "small" loan. I'm not specifically familiar with public school financial aid but UVA has a relatively large endowment.
To be honest, he's better off just going into debt (taking out loans) to go to UVA for 4 years. It will save him a ton of trouble in the long run. I'm a part time volunteer college/career consultant for inner city kids and I see this issue all the time. Depending on the career field of interest, going into debt isn't as bad as some make of it.
UVA probably has a great financial aid system, not to mention your cousin is a Virginia resident. I also suspect that after a year of college your cousin will completely change his mind about the PhD. and look for more lucrative ways to use his Math/Econ degree. (Probably Ibanking/Wall Street as sad as that is)
He is a smart kid... I think he could get into UVA straight out of high school. If not, I would recommend going to a different school that has good financial aid or gives out merit based scholarships and then transfer to a school of his choosing. Going to a community college is good for mediocre kids who want to save money and then transfer to average schools. If you have any chance of being a top flight student (13xx SAT score + 3.9 GPA definitely fits this mold), a CC will just be a pain in the ass to have on your record in the future.
CC by itself won't hurt for grad school applications. Two biggest things issues: 1) No access to top professors. This will kill you if you want to get some research experience. 2) No advanced classes. To be competitive at a top econ phd program, you're really going to want to dive into advanced math and graduate level econ courses early on. If he transfers from a CC, he is going to have to take intermediate macro/micro and real analysis his junior year, which is a bit late. Maybe he can transfer after one year if he has enough AP/college credit?
Also, as Will Hunting alluded to, his preferences may change when he gets to college. He may decide to work in industry for a few years. Going to a CC instead of a top 50 university would defintely his chances of getting internships both during the summer and during the school year. Those internships could easily make up the $20k difference.
A lot of really does depend on how motivated the kid is. If he's the type of kid who is thinking about this kind of stuff now (god knows I wasn't), then I would definitely advise against going to CC just to transfer to UVA. Best thing to do right now is to buckle up and try to get that SAT up, or take the ACT, and see what his options are next year. Would not be surprised if he got a full ride at a decent university.
From what I've heard, most graduate programs focus on your last 60 credit hours of college...in addition to courses related to the specific program you're trying to get into (math courses for econ PhD). Little emphasis is placed on your freshman / sophomore level classes, regardless of how you got the credit for them (AP / IB, community college, etc...)
If top-25 universities accept CC transfer students as undergrads, why would they "hold this against them" as grad students? That's how I look at it.
Funny thing is, my uncle (my cousin's dad) makes something like $250,000/year, but that's not a bunch of money with 9 kids living in the DC area. I have no experience whatsoever seeking financial aid, so I have no idea how the process would work for them--my assumption was always that his parents make too much money to receive any substantial need based grants or aid.
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