So, here’s the story: During high school I didn’t really apply myself, and just barely scraped by to graduate. I had excellent SAT scores and had the ability to go pretty far with my education, but clearly didn’t apply myself. In college, I had similar issues and kind of ended up just leaving school without returning after an abusive relationship. I had a lot of personal struggles that I dealt with. After almost 10 years, I am ready to kickstart my education. I have matured in a lot of ways and developed strong work habits. I’m confident that if I returned to school I will excel.
The problem is I don’t know where to start. My grades weren’t the greatest in high school or the one year of college that I did. I’m not interested in transferring credits. I would honestly just like to start fresh. I don’t believe my SAT scores are still valid, but I would rather not have to take it again if possible. Does anyone have advice on where I should start as far as looking at Universities/Colleges? I feel a bit overwhelmed by a lot of this; feedback would be welcome.
First, do some homework on what you would like to study and where you would like to get you undergraduate degree, including both the transfer policies (how many credits/what type you can transfer over) and graduation requirements (general education, major, classes that must be taken at that college).
Then look at the community college(s) in your area (some areas have access to more than one). Go in and meet with an advisor and develop a course plan. Your state flagship almost certainly has an agreement with them to take students who get reasonable grades, and they will know how that works.
Then take 2-4 semesters worth of general education and pre-requisites that will work for the college(s) and major that you are interested in pursuing, then apply to transfer into whatever colleges you are interested in.
Your high school and college record will be irrelevant: you will transfer in on your (presumably stellar) CommColl record.
Yep, community college is a great option to get back on track. The cost will be reasonable and if you do well, you can transfer to a four-year college to complete your degree. Best of luck!
Thanks! I was somewhat leaning in that direction as well, but was interested in some online options too. I have a well paying job that would probably not work well around that type of schedule. Also, I live in the middle of nowhere at the moment. My job is already 30 minutes away from my home. The closest community college is another 45 minutes away in the opposite direction. Pursuing my education again is important to me, so I would try to swing it if I have to, but it will probably end up getting stressful.
If you have eventual 4 year colleges in mind, perhaps you should inquire of their transfer admissions offices at the onset to see if there are some online beginning options are better than others – they’re not all built the same way and you don’t want to take classes that end up non-transferrable. Frankly, be careful b/c there are many unscrupulous orgs out there to take your money (and for you to end up in debt) for classes and time of extremely questionable use – especially to apply towards an eventual bachelor’s degree.
As for starting fresh, there is now a central database of college attendance so anyone searching it will see that you already attended if your prior college is a member (you can check if it is, not every college is but about 80% are members).