Is it possible to choose which college credits to transfer?

I'm planning to transfer to a different college and was wondering if I have control over which credits from my current school can be transferred. How does that work, and what should I watch out for?

Certainly, you can decide which college credits you want to send for transfer, but whether or not they will be accepted, depends largely on the receiving institution's policies. College credits are transferred when you submit your official transcripts from your current school to the prospective one. The transcripts typically contain all the courses you've ever taken at your current institution, so in that respect, you can't really pick and choose which ones show up.

However, once the transcripts are at the prospective school, their process commonly involves a review of your individual courses to determine equivalency. They look at the course content, level, and grading to see if they match closely with a course they offer, or if it can be used as an elective credit. Not all credits are guaranteed to transfer over.

There are a few potential caveats to consider:

1. Articulation Agreements: If the two institutions have an 'articulation agreement', this is essentially a pre-agreed upon roadmap of how credits will transfer from School A to School B. If such an agreement exists, it can be easier to predict how your credits will transfer.

2. Core vs Elective Credits: The receiving school may only accept certain credits as elective credits, rather than as core credits within your intended major.

3. Age of Credits: Some colleges have a limit on how old credits can be in order to be transferable–for instance, science or tech classes might not be accepted if they are more than five years old, due to rapid advances in the field.

4. Grade Requirements: Institutions often have a minimum grade requirement for transferable credits–generally, classes in which you've earned less than a C are not eligible.

5. Accreditation: Credits from regionally accredited colleges/universities are more widely accepted than those from nationally accredited schools.

The best course of action is to contact the registrar or admissions office at your prospective college or university. They should be able to provide you information on transfer policies and incoming credit evaluations. They may also provide you a preliminary evaluation of your credits before you make your transfer decision, so you can have a clearer picture of where your current credits stand. This way, you won't get surprised after the transfer process is complete. In the meantime, keep doing your best in all your courses, because the better the grade, the higher the odds they will transfer.