Hey guys:
I’m recently applying for transfer to various different 4-Year universities from a CCC.
I kinda started getting paranoid after reading through how difficult some 4-Year Universities get(Cornell and Cal especially).
Is there anything I can do to start adjusting my lifestyle to how it’ll be in a 4-Year? I did some digging around and couldn’t find anything on this topic.
If it helps any, I’m interning at 2 places, coaching, volunteering, and furthering my hobbies on the side(chess, piano, etc.). It leaves me around 30-35 hours of non-activity time for the week(not including classwork time).
What can I do during that free time to get used to a hard*** workload that’s probably expected?
Let me know if any other info is needed too.
Thank you guys hella.
It’s already helpful that you’re aware that university will be much tougher, because it will be. But give yourself more credit, from what you explained, you’re a hardworking and mature individual who already has experience with college work. Keep up the momentum at the next university, while also keeping in mind that it’s perfectly fine if you don’t get the super grades at a university like you did at community college.
I’m also from a community college and many of my friends who have transferred told me that keeping that pretty 4.0 isn’t as realistic as they had hoped, but for most majors, no one really expects you to have straight A+ all the time either.
They also said it can be hard to resist some of the “temptations” of social freedom at universities (especially if you’re living on campus). It’s perfectly fine to go out every now and then, but you’ll have to learn to manage your time much more wisely.
Just bring that mentality of working hard and you’ll be fine.
The reward for your hard work at community college is more even harder work at a top 25 college. Congratulations !
Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses.
Guess I’m just hella paranoid I’m gonna shoot myself in the foot haha
Truly, these places do not admit students who they don’t think can succeed. They believe that you will be fine there.
So, I wrote a long thoughtful post about not being spooked by a ‘4-year’; about how it gets harder in year 3 for most people anyway and the ‘majors’ start to coalesce as a group then, so you won’t be alone; and practical tips (do the reading before the class, not after; find out all the types of academic support and use them early and often, etc)- and then I went and read your other posts…
…and I see that you are applying with 1 semester of CC completed (19 credits / 4.0), a 3.4 HS GPA (3.8 for UCs), a 33 ACT and a handful of ECs (the standout seems to be your current law firm internship). Although originally thinking psych you are now thinking econ for a major- but thoughts of law school seem to still be present- and applying to transfer to UCB, Cornell and musing about MIT/others.
Last term you posted that you were doing 19 credits at a CC and were so “swamped” that you didn’t have time for any ECs. This semester you are presumably still taking classes? (but no idea how many credit hours) and that has left you time for 2 internships, coaching, volunteering, hobbies AND 30-35 hours / week of free time…which you are currently using to??
Your post is about how to handle the heavier work load at UCB or Cornell / other top 25 schools. My question is: why do you want to?
That is actually a serious question. B/c the Cornell and MIT students that I know are typically much more driven than what comes across from your posts. Is your goal to get a better undergrad name than you qualified for right out of HS to help you get into a better law school? if so, I wouldn’t pick either of those schools: law schools like high GPAs and a 3.4 from Cornell is going to do you less good than a 3.9 from UC Irvine (as an example). If you want a T14 law school you want at least a 3.5 (3.66 is the lowest GPA UCB accepted last year, and irl, for somebody with no extenuating circumstances (assumption) a 3.7 is more like it. The average GPA for Cornell graduates is 3.36.
@collegemom3717 You make a lot of really good points. I’ll try to address each the best I can.
First: Why do I actually want to go to a good university?
I guess it’s because I want to stand among the smartest people I possibly can, be it at Cal, Cornell, MIT, wherever. I want to suffer or struggle for a good GPA solely because that just means that I’ll have to work a bit harder to try and stand out amongst some of the most talented and gifted people out there. My 4.0 at CC right now isn’t truly indicative of my talents or my skills, and thus it’s not something I’m wholeheartedly proud of. If that comes at the expense of a lower GPA, I believe that’s a fair tradeoff. Which leads me to…
Second: What plans do I have?
Frankly speaking, I really don’t 100% know. I’m thinking about Law, Business, Politics, or even Comp Sci down the road(and I’m studying up on each in my own time when I can). That’s another reason I want to go to a Top 25 University: because I’ll get access to a lot more things I could possibly do outside of my major(not the only reason I chose Econ over Psych).
Third: What is my academic schedule looking like?
While I was “swamped”, it wasn’t cause of my classes. It was actually because of when I took them. I took them back to back for about 7 hours 2 days of the week and another 4 hours the other 3 days in the afternoon. I also went with traffic both ways, so at the end of the day basically add another 2 hours to each. My scheduling skills leave a lot to be desired haha. I fixed that this semester and I’m actually taking 20 credits relatively peacefully so I don’t deal with that hell again. I’ve also taken winter session classes as well. I can give the courses if it’d help.
That leads me back to why I asked what I did. The reason why I asked the question I did was solely because I have 30-35 hours that I don’t know how to use after the stuff I do. And, like you said, my resume implies a lack of drive because of the amount of free time I have. That’s why I asked this question in the first place, as I won’t be getting this much time in a Top 25 University.
Hope this clears things up!
Thanks for your updates, @mantisaurus. It adds a lot to the overall picture.
Just to clarify I did not ask why you want to go to a good university- i asked why you wanted to go to those particular super-top tier universities. There are a lot of great universities where you will be challenged and with peers who are every bit as talented as you besides MIT and Cornell.
As for how you develop the muscles for sustained heavy mental work when you can’t find enough things (intellectual or otherwise) to engage and challenge you in your current life, I don’t have a good answer. It would be easier if you had something you had a genuine interest in. But as an earlier poster said, they won’t accept you if they think you can’t do the work, and while you might have the equivalent of sore muscles as you get used to a new pace, you can get through it.
@collegemom3717 Oh haha my bad.
Obviously for each of the universities there’s different reasons why I want to transfer, which I talked about in my essay questions.
For Berkeley, aside from their integration of Computer Science with Economics(making economic models, etc), I liked the debate team. I went to an invitational, and the judges I spoke to talked about how competitive their team was, experiences, etc. I got hooked.
For Cornell, their major-related facilities, while strong, weren’t the main reason. It was mostly their increasing emphasis on Comp Sci and Physics(through their respective campuses and labs), which I study and research on my own time. Going there would allow me to flesh out my interests.
I was thinking about MiT, but I decided against it.
You’ll be fine – I didn’t find Stanford to be particularly more difficult than the CC I started at. I went from a CC->state school->Stanford and the hardest courses I took in college were the O-chem classes at the state school I spent my soph year at. The classes/major you choose will dictate difficulty more than the institution. The CS students I knew were generally worked pretty hard, the humanities and social sciences not so much. I graduated with a degree in a social science and interned 30 hrs a week at a startup up in SF while balancing a full load of classes. If you were taking a full load at the CC of Nat Sciences/Math you’ll be fine.