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Show 6 NEWS DIXIE SUN WEDNESDAY, OCOTBER 1 3, 2004 Three Steps to painless transferring BY DANIEL EVANS Dixie Sun Staff Writer One of the most important and confusing challenges facing students at Dixie Stale College is transferring credits and preparing to move on to a baccalaureate degree else- where Looking at the future can be a swimming mess of options. However, there are resources available to help students choose which school and degree is best for them. Specific choices can be made to save time, money and frustration fortunately, DSC offers many services to students to help them make decisions. Students sometimes simply get their general education credits, and put off worrying about their four-yea- r degree. However, thinking ahead about a specific bachelor's degree and school can save time, money and a headache. Susan Garner, an adviser and the tutoring coordinator for Student Support Services, said if students choose their major early in their career, it can save "almost a year of study and thousands of dollars." Chris Dinning, a recent DSC graduate who is now working for his bachelor's degree at SUU, said while he was going for his associate's degree, he took everything he could for his chosen career Garner suggested a simple process: step one is to figure out a major. Several resources are available to help students decide what is best. The Career Center is a major resource for students seeking to figure out their major, and the staff can INTERNSHIPS oontinued from page 4 throughout the state, said Matt Hargreaves, Utah intern program coordina- te r The website allows businesses to post their internships for students who can then search and find the specific internship they are interested in. Hargreaves said there are more than 350 internships statewide right now for students. Tara Abplanalp, a freshman from St. George maioring in diagnostic medicul sonography, is an provide advice about how to advance toward working in a chosen field. According to the Career Center web page, "The Career Center assists students in defining career goals, preparing for employment, developing relationships with employers, obtaining career-relatework experience, and creating and implementing ob search plans." Step two is to decide about transfer campuses, Garner said. This is especially important because most campuses require applications to be in by early spring. The website www.utah-mentor.orhas resources to assist, as does Student Support Services, which publishes a yearly Transitions Guide. It compares major schools in Utah and UNLV. It also contains references to help students find out how credits transfer from DSC to other universities. The Student Support Services Transitions Guide, which can be obtained through Jonathan Morrell or Loya Garrett from SSS in the North Instructional Building for $1.50, provides web addresses and information on each of 10 schools, as well as a helpful to do' checklist and a list of common pitfalls students encounter. If the guide doesn't have the desired school, then a visit to the chosen university's website should provide any information students might need. Another way to select a major is one Garner highly recommended: ww.utah-mentorord g g She said, "If you don't know what you want to be intern for Skywest Airlines at the corporate headquarters in the records department. She said interning her experience as wellgives as increases her possibilities of receiving a job at Skywest at a later point in time. It is a beginning to something that can hopefully help me make money," Abplanalp said. "It puts my foot in the door at Skywest." Left, freshman and SL George native Tara Abplanalp manages to juggle math class, an internship and the hectic life of a college student when you grow up, go to utahmentororg and select a major." She also said students need to know their priorities. "What is more important, your campus or your maior?" Garner asked. Something more students can do to choose a school is talk to professors who teach the chosen subject at DSC. They may know which universities have the better programs, or are more accessible to particular needs. Finally, step three is to choose classes at DSC to help prepare for a transfer to another school. Garner said to choose electives wisely; find classes that will transfer. Go to the chosen university's website and find the prerequisites for the major to see if they can be taken at DSC. Garner described it as killing two birds with one stone. "You'll be earning hours to graduate at Dixie and filling prerequisites at the same time," she said. A major issue for many students is the fear that their credits won't transfer. Morrell, who is the director of SSS, said this is a persistent myth and credits will often transfer if students have completed their associate's degree or if the classes are beyond the 1000 level. While students may be indecisive about their major, it can make their lives easier m the long run to make a decision now. Making an informed decision based on what they want to do and where they want to go can make getting there much less painful. Matt Clark will be speaking at the Dixie Forum on Oct. 13. Clark will be delivering a speech titled Found, Forge and Welded. Clark was hit by a truck halfway through his senior year in high school. The impact broke his neck and hospitalized him for nine months. He regained the use of his arms and hands after years of therapy, and is now a well known sculptor. Clark has a customized studio at his Diamond Valley home where he works. Currently, his work is being carried in five different art galleries and is used by three interior designers. Meg Prevost ELECTION continued from page 4 or retirement age, cut benefits or privatize social security. High income beneficiaries will not get more out than they paid. IMPROVING HEALTHCARE Bush: He wants small businesses to band together to obtain reasonable coverage for employees, help expenses through health savings accounts, and create a reform so patients can't frivolously sue doctors. Kerry: He wants to put medical choices back into the hands of physicians and their patients, not bureaucrats; cut premiums, allowing more Americans to become insured; provide prescription drug relief similar to that in Canada; and give tax breaks to small businesses to compensate for insurance costs. NATIONAL ENERGY PLAN Bush: Proposed and began implementmg a National Energy Policy in the following steps: increase superconductivity budget by 50 percent and expand research, form a Transmission Grid Study Team and implement suggested changes, and find ways to modernize the old grid system. Kerry; Proposed reducing the dependency on foreign oil and using alternative energy sources like sun and wind, providing incentives to Americans for efficient energy use 20 percent of energy will come from renewable sources by the year 2020 and finally, cutting the government's energy bill by 20 percent by the year 2020. This information was taken from the websites: JohnKerry.com and GOP.com. |