<p>I'm a 26 year old resident of NC. I dropped out of High School halfway through my junior year due to some family struggles. I'll try to save some space by not getting too far into the details with that situation. Prior to that, I had maintained excellent grades, took AP classes, was an Honor Society member, etc. </p>
<p>I moved to NC from MN in 2006 where I continued to postpone my education until this past year. I enrolled in my local CC's Adult High School program, buckled down, and graduated this past May with honors.</p>
<p>Anyway, my current stats are as follows:</p>
<p>Freshman-Junior year HS:
3.68 Cumulative G.P.A
Top 22% of my class
5 AP classes</p>
<p>Adult High School:
Straight A's (unfortunately, they don't calculate GPA or class rank)
Member of the National Adult Education Honor Society</p>
<p>I am extremely drive and dedicated to do what it takes to further my education at a school I believe I could have gotten into had I not dropped out of HS when I did. A school like UNC-Chapel Hill would be a dream goal. Realistically, how much of a long-shot is that? Or any top tier schools for that matter? I know my state has an articulation agreement with several schools. So it looks like acquiring an Associates degree at CC, then transferring seems like a possibility. Would I be aiming my sights too high by applying directly given my current standings? Just trying to figure out what my best course of action would be.</p>
<p>Thanks for any and all advice. It is greatly appreciated. This is all so new to me, and I don't want to be too hasty with a decision that will have such a lasting impact on the rest of my life!</p>
<p>Have you looked into Brown? They have a special program for people who have been out of high school 6+ years and have little to no college experience. It might be worth seeing if you qualify (I know you went back to school to finish high school but I think you would still qualify. If it’s a school you are interested in work researching and asking questions.)</p>
<p>I’m sorry I don’t know anything about Chapel Hill but wishing you luck. I think it’s fantastic that you went back and finished high school and are looking to college!</p>
<p>This is a case where it’s best to contact UNC’s admissions directly.
[University</a> of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.unc.edu%5DUniversity”>http://admissions.unc.edu)</p>
<p>I know at my much less selective state flagship, non traditional students who didn’t start at a CC or directional go through a different sort of admissions review than “traditional” aged applicants. I suspect UNC might do the same.</p>
<p>You could try applying as a frosh to various universities (Minnesota, UNC-CH, etc.). If you want to do that, be sure not to take any college courses before checking whether they could disqualify you from frosh admission.</p>
<p>Of course, many non-traditional students do start at community college and then transfer to a university (usually a state university in the same state). If you go this route, check transfer credit course articulation at the target university so that you can choose the correct courses for your major at the community college.</p>
<p>Be sure to check cost and financial aid at each school. They should have net price calculators on their web sites. Be aware that most out-of-state public schools will fall far short on financial aid, but UNC-CH and Virginia are exceptions. At age 26, you will not have to worry about your parents’ finances for college financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone. That program at Brown looks very promising! Seems to be incredibly selective though. The application is not yet available, but I’ll keep an eye open.</p>
<p>I guess I’m just trying to figure out exactly how high to set my sights. I don’t want to start applying to schools that are far out of my reach, but at the same time I don’t want to settle for something less when I know I could have done better.</p>
<p>If I went the community college route first, I know most schools will focus on college work rather than high school. Would I want that to happen? I mean, I did work hard when I was in school and I wouldn’t want that to be completely disregarded when it comes to the application evaluation, would I?</p>
<p>You could try to apply as frosh now to various schools on your high school record; if you do not like the results, you could take the option of starting at CC, doing well there, and then applying as transfer based on your college record. But be aware that the most transfer-friendly schools tend to be state universities, particularly in the same state as the CC; many private schools are less friendly to transfer students.</p>
<p>Well, the AHS is actually run by my community college. I spoke with advising department of the school and was told the only way I could speak directly to an academic advisor would be to attend an orientation session (whether I plan to attend their Community College or not). Seems kind of backwards, but I’ll do it if I must.</p>
<p>I guess it would be best to contact some of the state universities to see what their admission criteria is for those in my situation. If Community College will serve as a stepping stone to one of my top pick schools, then so be it. I guess I just don’t want to have to go that route if it’s possible for me to get admitted without doing so.</p>
<p>Thanks ucb. If I decided to apply out of state, to a public uni, would my chances still be slim as a transfer? Or were you just referring to private schools?</p>
<p>If you are a female, you could apply to Smith College under their Ada Comstock Scholars program. I believe they meet need even for those students (they do for traditional undergrads). Women’s college are often very accommodating to non-traditional students who’ve had interruptions in their education for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>Community college is a great option and yes, when you transfer, they will be looking at your community college record. You have to be smart and take the right classes. Too many go in and take random selections of classes that don’t move them ahead. You really should enter community college with specific colleges in mind (like the state system your CC matriculates into or specific privates.) This way you know exactly what you should be taking.</p>
<p>That said, there is far less scholarship money for transfer students. When you do your research really look into your options. If you qualify as a freshman and can get great financial aid right off the bat… might be worth going that round than transferring in and getting little aid the last 2 years.</p>
<p>I’m a male. My apologies, I should have specified :)</p>
<p>Yea, I definitely would not be taking random classes. I’d make sure they qualify to transfer at specific uni’s I have in mind. Below are links from my CC showing the state colleges that are in agreement with my school (bottom of page). The second link is the program options available to guarantee transfer.</p>
<p>Good point about financial aid as a freshman, too. So, hypothetically, if I applied as transfer after community college, all of the hard work I did in high school would basically become “void”? Would they even take into consideration the grades I achieved when I WAS in school?</p>
<p>You may also be interested in Columbia’s GS program - the only Ivy League program specifically for adult students.
[Columbia</a> GS | School of General Studies | Columbia University in the City of New York](<a href=“http://gs.columbia.edu/]Columbia”>http://gs.columbia.edu/)</p>
<p>An advantage is that Columbia has deep pockets and they do offer grants, work study, etc, to help you finance your education.</p>
<p>Depends. Some public universities may give preference to in-state CC transfers. Course equivalency listings tend to favor in-state CCs. So do scholarships and financial aid (out-of-state publics other than Virginia and UNC-CH will fall short of meeting need with need-based financial aid).</p>
<p>Of course, each school (public or private) is different, so you need to check each school individually.</p>
<p>Also, go to the financial aid and scholarships forum section, and look at the sticky threads at the top about full tuition to full ride scholarships (there is one for automatic and one for competitive). If your HS grades and SAT or ACT scores are high enough, you could enter such a school on a large scholarship with little remaining cost per year (note that direct loans go up to $5,500 for frosh, and a realistic amount of work earnings for a student is probably about $3,000 to $5,000 at most per year).</p>
<p>Thank you guys for the helpful insight. I really have no one else to talk to that is even remotely knowledgeable in these topics.</p>
<p>Do these school’s programs such as Brown and Columbia typically require some sort of professional experience? They look amazing at first glance, but I never even thought I had a chance aiming that high. I was really just hoping for an excellent in state school such as Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>Also, as far as scholarships go, I do not even have ACT or SAT scores. It’s something I thought of looking into taking, but it seems like most schools will exempt students past a certain age.</p>
<p>You need to check each of the places that you would apply to for their specific testing requirements. Sometimes the tests aren’t strictly necessary for admissions, but do matter for merit-based aid.</p>