22 yr-old, Non-Traditional Student in need of encouragement/answers

Hi everyone. I’m a 22 (nearly 23 within a few months) year old who is resuming college after a 2 year gap. I suppose background information will be useful before my questions.

High School GPA (2.96) No AP scores
College: 3 years (CC) 3.3
Extracurriculars: Perhaps too many

During high school I was a lousy student, most of my time was devoted towards playing video games, many of which actually played a significant role in my life and the ambitions/passions I would later have in college. (Strategy games and Economy simulators) Unfortunately, for a very long time until recently, I used video games (and my network of peers within these games) as a sort of emotional crutch for many self-loathing issues I had. My GPA in high school was 2.99 when I graduated, which was an improvement,because in my junior year I moved in with my father (and his second family) and began to apply myself, I joined Academic Decathlon & Speech/Debate (winning several awards in both) & actually managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout my senior year (I wasn’t in a remedial courses, I just wasn’t in AP).

I went to a community college, commuting a total of 4 hours each day by bus/train, because this CC was in my mind the one place in my city where I could have a genuine college experience: meeting new people, seeing new places, and forcing myself to adapt and succeed in a foreign environment. I spent 3 years at this CC, and was successful in my extracurriculars ambitions (i.e. President of an honor society, Executive member of Campus Student Gov, Student Trustee for a Statewide Foundation), which in combination with my sub-par GPA (3.3) led to me receiving a generous scholarship to intern in D.C. for a summer. Oddly, I was extroverted as far as anyone on campus was concerned, but when I commuted home I became a very withdrawn introverted person. I never really quite dealt with my self-loathing issues and throughout college I was plagued by a constant source of anxiety stemming from my family’s financial insecurity & problems I was having at home with a Bi-Polar Mother & a Drug-Addict (Meth) older sister. I was depressed and did not pursue therapy, and I continued to rely on playing video games more than I should have as any rational person would do.

Anyhow, after 3 years at a CC I realized I was wasting my time and that for my personal goals, I had managed only sub-par academic performance and was a completely uncompetitive candidate for any of the schools I dreamed of attending (I don’t even want to mention the list). I moved out of my mother’s home, and for the last two years have meandered about between SF & LA working odd jobs, learning to play an instrument, reading/writing on all range of subjects, until finally settling down recently to reconsider my college education.

I’m going to resume my schooling at a local CC and have a couple possible subjects of study in mind:
*Economics w/minor Computer Programming
*Engineering (Mechanical or Aerospace) w/minor Computer Programming (I enjoy math and have had a penchant for physics too)

Sorry for ranting, I feel very out of place at my age because so many of my peers/closest friends have achieved a great deal. My best friend/mentor is at Yale for graduate school, another won a full-ride scholarship to his preferred college of choice, ex-gf is at the London School of Economics, and I could go on. I sort of let myself down and really want to get back on that horse, excuse the cliche

QUESTIONS:

Is there anyone else out there who has overcome a great deal as a non-traditional student and can offer some advice/feedback? or any advisors who perhaps can shed some light on perhaps what I can expect as a non traditional student with my current goals for a major?

Lastly, I currently have more than 60 college credits registered with my previous college. I have a couple Ws but no Fs or Ds. All my grades with exception to my last semester in which I was morbidly depressed (I got a C in two classes), are Bs to As. Is it possible for me to retake the classes I had earned Bs or Cs in? My personal habits are much improved and I am certain I can do better than before.

Look, you have been to community college so you know what to expect. There are students there a lot older than you, and you just aren’t that old in general so don’t worry about that. I’d just consider you a transfer student, not a non-trad. Reading around in the transfer forum may be useful.

The first question I was going to ask as I was wading through was about how many credits you have. So, with 60 credits you should be applying to a 4 year now, not taking more CC classes. Why aren’t you doing that? There isn’t any reason to retake B or C classes, and you’d have to ask your CC if it is even allowed, plus look at the target 4 year to see how they handle it. But that seems time and money wasted. Better to get on with it and ace your upper level courses.

Also, after 60 units I don’t think anyone will be asking about your HS record. Check each college to see the requirements.

It is definitely something you should do and I was meaning to say jump right in by encouraging going right to the four year. Also some colleges do not like transfers to have excess credits and won’t take you.