<p>I am a freshman at The College of New Jersey, and this semester has been quite the learning experience for me. I was always a bit of a slacker in high school, even though I knew I had what it took to become very successful academically, I just did not have the motivation. I took a fair amount of AP and Honors-level classes, but I just did not try at all. I don't think i studied for a single test though, and I did homework pretty infrequently. Thus, having never worked for anything, I was not very excited for college. When I got to TCNJ and saw some of my friends being ecstatic about leaving for college, I had some sort of an epiphany. I came in as a psychology major, and am now trying to switch majors to engineering. I hope to transfer to a better school either the Fall of 2014 (hopefully), or 2015, even though I know that it will not be easy. Overall though, I did not end up doing terribly in high school, but not well enough to get into a school that I would have wanted to go to, here are my credentials.</p>
<p>High School GPA: I wanna say about a 3.2-3.4, I actually don't even remember.
HS EC's: Varsity football and lacrosse captain, part of an all-male acapella singing group called "Cliffnotes", heavily involved in "Songs for a Cause," which essentially is a club that organizes bianual benefit concerts whose proceeds are donated to a local children's hospital, camp counselor over the summer. (I think there may even be more, I just don't remember off the top of my head).
ACT: 31, Math: 34, Reading: 32</p>
<p>College GPA: Looking like it's going to come out to be about a 3.6-3.8
College ECs: Club rugby, club lacrosse, MMA club, EMS (emergency medical sercvices) squad
ACT: Should I take them again?
Classes for this semester:
- Physics 201 (General Physics I)
- Psychology 101
- Nonviolence and Peace Action
- Writing Seminar
Classes for next semester:
- Multivariable Calculus (I'm taking an exam in January to get credit for Calc B)
- Physics 202 (General Physics II)
- Compsci 220 (Computational Problem Solving)
- Microeconomics (as of now; I couldn't get into Chem 201 (General Chemistry I) but I am on a waiting list and will swap these courses if chem becomes available)</p>
<p>So far, I am applying to the engineering departments of these schools:
Cornell (top choice), Duke, Lehigh, Northwestern (second choice), Tufts, UMich, UPenn, Rochester, UVA, Wisconsin Madison, and Villanova.</p>
<p>I am trying to catch up with the engineering as best I can, but will it be enough?</p>
<p>So, basically I am wondering, is there anything I can do to help my cause? There are two major reasons why I do not like where I am at right now. I do not feel as if I fit in with the people at TCNJ; I can't really describe it, but it just doesn't feel right. Also, the fact that I really could have done that much better if I had tried even a little bit, but did not, really does not sit well with me. So, I'm willing to do anything and everything that it would take to realize my goals, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am also seeing if there is any way I can research at Columbia over the summer (I live near there), rather than working at the day camp again.</p>
<p>Also on a side note, I am a little worried that I will miss out on some parts of the college life at my new school, or that they will feed the transfer students to the wolves. Can anybody relate to this? Or does anybody who has done something similar know anything about how I can successfully integrate myself into the campus community?</p>
<p>I realize that this is a little long, but I have been in an urgent rush to fix things for the past three months, and it has caused me many concerns and worries. Any advice would be immensely appreciated. Thanks.</p>