Hi, I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice on this.
I graduated high school over to eight years ago. My first few years after high school were spent in religious schools, which were not accredited institutions. Four years ago I enrolled in another religious institution which is accredited and does grant degrees. While enrolled there, I decided that I wanted to go into engineering, and I enrolled in a local community college. I am nearing graduation from that college, and I would like to figure out what to do next.
In terms of my record from the CC, I’m in pretty good shape. While I did not partake in too many activities at the college itself, I have partaken in activities related to my other schools. I have thus far a perfect GPA, and I am a member of the local chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.
My issue is how to deal with my previous schools. The grading criteria in those schools is rather arbitrary. The degree that they offer is mostly a formality as well. The majority of students do not enroll in education beyond those schools, and achievement is measured in other ways, so not much weight is given to the grades. For the most part, they are a formality, and do not reflect academic achievement. The entire program is self-study- there are no mandated courses for receiving their degrees, and there are never any tests. Most people don’t even know what their grades are; they are not released unless you request them. For my part, I only de-enrolled from the school recently; I was still enrolled there even though I was enrolled full-time at the CC. Nevertheless, I still received credit for those semesters, despite the fact that I hardly did any work. This just goes to underscore the point about how little the school’s status as an accredited university is taken seriously.Though this may seem strange, it is par for the course for members of my community. Religious study is greatly encouraged, and the vast majority of my friends spend a good few years doing it before they embark on a career; some remain their entire lives.
What I wonder is how this will affect my admission chances to a top-tier engineering program. Of course, my non-traditional background may be seen as a plus for some schools, but my being out of high school for so long can be a negative. In addition, while I have plenty to show academically, at least from what is relevant to future schooling, I wonder how a college would look at a) my, say, “unconventional” record, b) my record from my previous schools, and c) this can be a real killer- my attending two schools at the same time.
There may be the option of not reporting my first few schools, and I may be able to get away with it because they don’t report to the National Student Clearinghouse. That may be risky though, as they might have other ways to find out, and, regardless, I will have to explain what I was doing the first six years out of high school.