<p>Okay, here's the deal. I am going back to school after years of living, working, and thriving without a college education. I had a unique educational experience in high school that succeeded in implanting a desire for further education so far in the depths of my soul that no matter how well I did outside of school, I always felt a constant nagging to go to college. So for the first time in about 10 years, I am going to school full time at the local community college. I have a 4.0 after one semester, was admitted into the Honors Program and am working in various other ways to gain academic and community experience. I go to school in Bridgeport, CT and my college has lots of transfer agreements established with school like NYU, Sacred Heart, Smith, Mt. Holyoke (there are currently more transfer options for women, with Smith and Holyoke being very strong but they're working on more options for men) So here is the gist of my post. IF I find it possible by the slimmest of margins to defy reason and gain entry into an Ivy League via community college ... should I? I absolutely intend to get at least a Masters degree and many of my friends, of varying degrees of education, are telling me to go cheap and easy for undergrad and then go all out for grad school. I tend to want to go all out for both. Any input from anyone on here will be greatly appreciated. Oh, I'm posting in the Columbia forum because I love NYC and the General Studies College seems well suited to my situation. Yale is another school I am drooling over, though I am getting very tired of Connecticut and it's much harder to get into, it seems. Are the undergrad programs at these schools much different than a $4000/year education at, say, Hunter College? Thanks again, Josh.</p>
<p>I don't get why the ethnicity was added to the title.</p>
<p>And yes its possible to go from Community to ivy. Rare but possible. Check the transfer board.</p>
<p>no reason at all, just a tacky accident.</p>
<p>Well ethnicity is considered a factor (ever so slightly is this anti-affirmative action stage) so it is worth mentioning along with Socio-Economic Status, and whether or not the student is a first generation college students. I think the case of you being a "non traditional" (age-wise) student coupled with success outside and really not "needing" school per se is an intriguing story and if you can get that across in your essays as to why you are passionate about school and learning and maintain that 4.0 GPA you would be a very welcome addition to many campuses. That being said, transfer admits are very very small in number at some of these major institutions, so I would actually expand upon your options. Are you willing to leave the east coast? I think any school in the country would find your story intriguing as you are obviously driven. I would apply to as many high level places as you can. And yes where you go does matter. NYU is a great choice (albeit an expensive one) as is Smith for moving on to a grad program. But obviously there are many options in this regard. In your situation I would expand the pool of schools but I would need to know more about your mobility.</p>
<p>thanks you very much for your reply, exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for. Unfortunately, I am in a relationship with someone who is not able to relocate dramatically. So, I am limited to nyc metro, fairfield county and POSSIBLY Amherst area of MA. You are correct though, I do need to expand my options. I don't think I would be terribly disappointed to go to UCONN if I didn't get into any top tier schools but my main motivation right now IS to get into an Ivy. My school right now does have an articulation agreement with NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development but none of the programs really struck me as amazing considering the price tag. I am obviously an independent an at this would be considered low income. I work part time as a cook but my background is in tile-setting, for which I apprenticed for a year in San Francisco, Marin County, San Rafael County. I have lots of life experience; lived in many cities already, hitchhiked with punk rock hobos, laid tile in million dollar mansions, survived being a gay man growing up in Alaska and went to a great "alternative" public school with a Socratic Seminar that set kids up for easy admission to Reed and St. Johns. I opted to get some life experience but now I want to pursue more rigorous academic style learning with a goal of being a college professor. Soooooooo, yeah, I think (I'm hoping) I can weave this into a convincing essay but my real question is, is the Ivy League a good choice if grad school is my goal? (is it better to excel at a state school rather than be a B student at Columbia?) if you can make anything of all this, great, if not that's fine, too. Anyone with experience transferring from a lesser school to an Ivy who can compare would be especially helpful. WOW, i wrote way too much. thanks, Josh</p>
<p>The program you're looking for at Columbia is the School of General Studies, which focuses on nontraditional applicants (i.e. generally speaking those over the age of 19). If you've been out of high school for 10 years, that's what you're looking for.</p>
<p>Can you give us a sense of how your application profile would look like? Summarize your stats, interests, and how you plan to demonstrate to a top college your competitiveness as an applicant?</p>
<p>Please also understand that we're talking about a program that will cost a whole heck of a lot more than state-subsidized programs. It may be worth the ROI but that's something to consider once you've gotten in. The application process is a good gut-check, and even if you don't attend, getting in can be taken as a great life accomplishment.</p>
<p>My stats aren't so well defined yet, I have quite a bit of "catching up" to do.
GPA-after first semester of college is 4.0
Haven't taken any standardized tests.
Accepted into Honors Program which consists of semester of seminar, followed by semester of independent research project. Additionally it is required to take two regular courses and pursue more in depth study on your own.
Planning on joining the Honors Society, Phi Theta Kappa, at the end of this semester.
Trying to volunteer at local low income public schools (they haven't contacted me after a week) with literacy programs.
I plan on finishing the full two years at the school and my goal is to get a 4.0 but of course that is yet to be determined.
Not sure what stats you are looking for but basically I'm just getting started building my academic resume; so it is in the works, you could say. Any advice in regards to this would be welcome also.
Yes, the School of General Studies is the program at Columbia and Yale has the Eli Whitney Program.</p>
<p>1) Knock the SAT out of the park. Same with the SAT2s. Pick a few subjects you're good in and plan to take the exams for it. Maybe do some intense practice the next 6 weeks and take it on the June 7th date, and target your SAT2s for October.
2) Get that volunteering going, if you really care about it. Press the issue. Find groups that serve the public in some fashion and march right in and talk to somebody important about how you could help. Figure out a way to leverage your skills and do something more than just serving soup to hobos (although that itself is not a total waste of your time, either).
3) Joining honor societies is not going to impress anyone. If it's absolutely no effort at all, just a recognition that you didn't slack off in your CC classes, then fine.
4) Consider signing up for online / distance-learning classes, perhaps with Harvard or Stanford, which are some sort of measurably objective amount of course content, which Columbia can use to compare you to the thousands of others in your situation. Knock those out of the park too.
5) Do some competitive stuff academically. Who knows what your interests are, but...
- robotics competitions
- speech & debate
- music competitions, if you're a serious musician
- athletic competitions, if you're a serious athlete. maybe it's just a rec league, but you volunteered and organized a team and led it somehow.
- poetry competitions or other writing competitions
- computer programming competitions</p>
<p>you know, something that shows you have a killer instinct and "hunter mentality" in your areas of interest.</p>
<p>oh, and keep up that 4.0. Your level of competition is not too strong where you are, so don't give them a reason to think that's your ceiling.</p>
<p>whitney? the guy that invented the cottin gin? killer.</p>
<p>also, you'll definitely get into columbia gs.</p>
<p>What makes you so sure I'll get in? I'm just curious. what is your opinion of the school of g.s.? is it just really easy to get in?</p>
<p>what makes you think you wouldn't get in?</p>
<p>trust me, you're in with those stats.</p>
<p>I asked admissions for G.S. and they actually do require some form of testing, either SAT, ACT or if you prefer they apparently they have their own test if you don't want to go take the SAT's. I am totally willing to take some kind of test if it will help me get into more schools. Someone else said it would be good practice for the GRE's, can't argue with that advice.</p>