According to the LSCS office of research and institutional effectiveness 4,594 LSCS students from the fall 2008 semester transferred to a college or university for the spring 2009 semester. The majority of students transfer to universities across the state, with the University of Houston, Sam Houston State University and Texas A&M the most popular.
However, other notable institutions are the destination of choice for LSC students, including Rice, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia and others.
“Community colleges are an important and valuable beginning for thousands of our students that transfer each semester to four-year institutions,” said Dr. Richard Carpenter, LSCS Chancellor.
“Students are able to receive their basic coursework in an affordable and challenging setting before taking the next step to a college or university to continue their education. While we have many students that transfer to colleges throughout Texas, we also have countless others that transfer nationally, many to extremely prestigious institutions,” said Carpenter.
Bilal Dar, former LSC-Kingwood student recently transferred to Rice University after completing his core credits.
“I came primarily for education and hope to accomplish my goals here. I applied to Rice in Oct. 2008 for spring 2009 admission. My goal is to be accepted into a medical school and become a cardiologist,” he said.
The academics, affordability, students services and flexibility offered at Lone Star College System drew Dar to completing his general coursework at the community college level.
“LSC-Kingwood prepared me in every way possible to attend Rice and I would not have been accepted without my foundation there. The faculty were so supportive and the student groups and services provided were both fun and educational,” said Dar.
Stephanie Thompson, Lone Star College-Montgomery student, has her sights set on a nursing graduate program. Thompson received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Iowa State in 2005, but decided she wanted to enter the nursing field.
“I was interested in nursing at the time but ISU did not have a program so I didn’t pursue the idea until I moved back to Texas. I have been taking my nursing prerequisites since the fall 2007 semester. I’ve applied to some nursing graduate programs and hope to specialize as an adult or family nurse practitioner and to sub-specialize in HIV/AIDS,” she said.
Thompson has already been accepted into Columbia and Johns Hopkins programs and is waiting to hear from University of California San Francisco.
“LSC-Montgomery has helped with my future goals mostly by providing me with a quality education and an environment where it seems every opportunity is provided to encourage student success. The professors whose classes I've taken here have been not only great professors but more than willing to go beyond lecturing in the classroom to help in any way possible, I really can't say enough about what a great experience I've had here,” said Thompson.
According to the Texas Association of Community Colleges, 610,495 Texans were enrolled in state community colleges for the fall 2008 semester. More than two-thirds of all college freshmen attend a community college, making two-year colleges the “starting point of choice” for many of the state’s best and brightest students.
