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[zharkov]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

I think it is a state law here, that is, that college students must submit a health form that include immunization data.  DPT and MMR are typical, but students in health fields may be required to get additional vaccines.

On preview, one's family physician should have one's immunization record.

[scampster]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

At my grad school it was measles and you had to have had a TB screening in recent history.

Well, where would someone get such a record? I recall getting a measles shot as a kid, but wouldn't have a record for it in my possession.

Your childhood doctor would have records (remember, these are most likely teenagers, so their childhood doctor's aren't so distant in the past). Also, if you have done international travel, your World Health Organization card would have a record of your immunizations.

[beccalynn2010]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

It is state law here.  They are supposed to have their MMR 1 to start and then can have the MMR 2 once they get here, or they must file a religious objection waiver. 
I think it is a state law here, that is, that college students must submit a health form that include immunization data.  DPT and MMR are typical, but students in health fields may be required to get additional vaccines.

On preview, one's family physician should have one's immunization record.

[mystictechgal]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

It is state law here.  They are supposed to have their MMR 1 to start and then can have the MMR 2 once they get here, or they must file a religious objection waiver. 
I think it is a state law here, that is, that college students must submit a health form that include immunization data.  DPT and MMR are typical, but students in health fields may be required to get additional vaccines.

On preview, one's family physician should have one's immunization record.

Wondering if that applies primarily to students in residential housing. I can't recall if I had to submit something like that back when I first started college in the early '70's--don't think so--but I've never been asked for it since. I'd have no clue where to find it if I was asked for it. I'm of an age where I got my immunity by contracting the regular childhood diseases, although I never had mumps, and I recall getting a shot at one point for measles, although I'd had them a couple of times by them (different strain, I believe). My mom was a RN, and any number of Uncles were Doctors, so I recall getting most of my immunizations at home from my mom. (Tit for tat. I recall that the deal was if I would accept the shot, e.g. Tetanus, or whatever, I could then give my mom her shot. I was an expert at giving inoculations by the time I was eight. I realize that my mom was very brave, in retrospect.) I very well recall getting the Sabin polio vaccine. One of my sisters had Polio, and spent some time in an iron lung, et al, so I'm pretty sure I had Salk's, as well, but I recall Sabin's because mom was a public health nurse at the time and I was taken along when she gave the vaccine at a local school. As it was offered on a sugar cube, quite a number of us took extra doses before we were noticed and shooed outside to play (or sat on the bleachers--*sigh*) with a guard posted to prevent our return. But, I have no clue whatever about any records kept of any of my vaccinations.

I'd never be able to provide something like that. I'd either have to retake all of them or, more likely, provide a completely bogus religious reason against.

[punchnpie]

I think it is a state law here, that is, that college students must submit a health form that include immunization data.  DPT and MMR are typical, but students in health fields may be required to get additional vaccines. 
On preview, one's family physician should have one's immunization record.

When punch jr went back to school the other year, he had to show he'd been vaccinated, was over a certain age, or get the shots again. If I recall, he was OK for a few things, but still had to get some shots. We moved around a lot, and now punch jr is grown - if he didn't keep his shot records, I'm not going to.

I recall seeing vaccination-related signs at the health service at my doctoral program. I'm not trying to sound like an old lady talking about whooping cough or something, but you don't want to see a measles epidemic run through a dorm system. It's not pretty. I don't have a problem with kids who can't prove their vaccination history having to get shot up before they infect everyone around them, including their dear professors.

[glowdart]

re shots:  Where I've been, it is all students, not just residential, who need proof of shots, and every campus I've attended or worked at had such requirements for undergrad and grad students.  FWIW. 

re transfers & magical thinking:  These are the biggest issues we face:

1.  You took four courses that count as electives in the major, but the major has room for only two electives.  That means you only get major credit for those two.  Not four.  The other two count towards graduation, yes, but that means you just get two fewer general electives of your choosing, not two fewer required courses in the major.

1a.  You took four courses at the 100-200 level which were Gen Ed courses and now are declaring a major where you have to take X number of courses at the 300-500 level.  Baskets of the World at the 500 level will not be replaced by your transferred Baskets of the World at the 200 level.

2.  Transfer students sometimes have different curricular requirements.  Read the catalogue and learn those.

3.  Do not register yourself for classes without talking to someone, or else you're likely to take courses that don't count towards anything because of the above points.

4.  Just because you completed two years somewhere else does not mean that you can complete your four-year degree in two years here -- particularly in majors where required classes are only offered every other year.  If you miss the first offering because you registered without advising or didn't listen to your advisor, then you're here for another semester, at least.

4a.  Go abroad at your peril.  Most of your transferred courses will count as gen eds and electives, especially if you're coming from a different major.  A semester abroad, with rare exception, is a semester of additional expensive electives which will prolong your stay at our campus.  And, should you go abroad and miss a once-every-two-year offering of a required class...

5.  There may be limits to the following:
a.  the number of credits/courses you can transfer in
b.  the lowest grade you can transfer in for gen ed
c.  the lowest grade you can transfer in for the major
d.  the lowest grade you can transfer in for an upper-level course in the major
e.  the number of credits you can transfer in to a certain area (Humanities, Sciences, etc.) because there are limits to the number of those credits you can use towards your graduation.  This limit is reduced further by major requirements.  So, if you can have a max of 90 credits in the Arts & Humanities upon graduation, for example, and you transfer from a music conservatory where you took 72 credits of music to a history major on a campus where music & history are in the Arts & Humanities, then your minimum of 54 A&H requirements here (45 credit history major + 3 cr writing requirement + 6 cr gen ed requirements not met by music) is going to mean that you only get to transfer 36 of those 72 earned music credits, at the most. 

[punchnpie]

Re the vaccinations, punch jr was living with me, not in dorms, and he still had to get his shots.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but students need to give the process a fair amount of time, especially if they want to have previous courses count for a required course at the new school. Punch jr had to go back and get syllabi from the 1990's to show the transfer advisors at Cornfield U. The course description often isn't enough for the advisors or whoever provides the credit. As far as processes go, this is fairly routine for schools, but it can take time and may mess up a student's timeline for degree completion if s/he doesn't take care of this early on.

We won't even go into the snob quotient of some students, cough cough, who maintain that Big Blue U is a much better school than Cornfield U and that Cornfield should 1) accept everything for transfer credit and 2) throw in some extra credits for the Big Blue U courses. I got to hear that rant for months.

[csaosomeday]

Beccalynn,

NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) is currently working on the re-issue of their monograph on Advising Transfer Students.  This new edition will include a chapter on Transfer Student risk factors.  Some of these are included in comments above, but just to give you a brief summary of what that chapter will say about 3 categories of risk factors:
a) Academic Risk Factors -- disconnects between courses, course material, requirements, faculty expectations, articulation, plus the academic challenge of jumping in to upper level courses all at once after completing nothing but lower level courses.
b) Support Program Risk Factors -- much of this deals with equity issues between transfer and traditional freshmen, but includes issues such as orientation to the new environment, availability of admissions, financial aid, etc., as well as "truth in advertising" with regard to whether the information provided up front matches the lived experience of students.
c) Environmental/personal risk factors -- many community colleges especially pride themselves on the great deal of care/flexibility given to students.  This can come back to haunt students who find that either their large institution does not provide the care they desire or their small institution does not provide the flexibility they require -- for example, only one section of a class being available and only at 10am, when the community college provided for evening, weekend, and online sections.  The balance between family and school is much easier at many community colleges than it is at a traditional liberal arts institution.  In addition, many students face the continuing challenge of balancing work, family, etc. at an institution that is not designed for this "new" student. 

If you would like additional information, please let me know. 

[amlithist]

RE vaccinations:  in some states (IL is one), incoming freshmen have to show proof of having the shot for meningitis. 

And a local college (Christian Scientist) is pretty well known for periodic outbreaks of the measles every 5-10 years, because none of them believe in vaccinations.

[anthroid]

I'd add a peril:  some transfer students do NOT understand why their coursework from for-profit colleges will not be accepted.  While Phoenix is regionally accredited, most of the others are not (I'm thinking of National Business College, Kaplan, Walden, Devry, ITT Tech, etc.).  A few years back, a student presented with credits from a non-accredited school--her community college accepted the credits and certified her with a completed gen ed program and an AA.  My program could not accept the credits under our accreditation requirements.  I was overruled by the provost who said that the student was too close to graduation to nitpick.  I was pretty steamed, at the provost and at the for-profits, who routinely neglect to tell students that they won't be able to transfer credits into a regionally accredited college or university.

[madhatter]

I'd add a peril:  some transfer students do NOT understand why their coursework from for-profit colleges will not be accepted.  While Phoenix is regionally accredited, most of the others are not (I'm thinking of National Business College, Kaplan, Walden, Devry, ITT Tech, etc.).  A few years back, a student presented with credits from a non-accredited school--her community college accepted the credits and certified her with a completed gen ed program and an AA.  My program could not accept the credits under our accreditation requirements.  I was overruled by the provost who said that the student was too close to graduation to nitpick.  I was pretty steamed, at the provost and at the for-profits, who routinely neglect to tell students that they won't be able to transfer credits into a regionally accredited college or university.

I think most of the for-profits on your list are regionally accredited. I know DeVry, Walden, and Kaplan are.