Anywhere else worth applying? 3.2 GPA

College Search & Selection
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<p>I'm a white male and I have a 3.22 GPA at a community college in California. This is my 3rd year at a community college so I will be transferring as a junior, meaning most schools do not consider my HS grades or my sat scores (I got a 2.6 GPA in HS and a 1920 on the SAT when I took it in HS FWIW). It's easy for me to say my EC's and essays are good (that's what I've heard at least) but pretty much everyone says that and I'm not sure how important they are anyways, so lets just assume they are average/slightly above average.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm majoring in business and I've already applied to a range of public schools in CA (UCI, UCSB, UCLA, UCR, Cal Poly SLO, LBSU, SJSU, SFSU, CSFU, Chico, and SDSU). What I'm looking for is to see if there are any OOS/private schools that I should apply to.</p>

<p>Basically money is a huge factor for me, my parents are divorced, my mom was way below the poverty line last year, and my dad won't help much with school, and both of my parents are unemployed right now. So I've been looking around for any other school that I would have to pay very little tuition, mostly because I really want to go out of state if possible (I've lived in the Bay Area my whole life). So I've seen the list of schools that meet 100% of need, and since my EFC is 0 I'm guessing I can go to one of them and get my tuition completely covered by grants, loans, etc. But the problem obviously is I don't have a great GPA. So I see 5 schools on the list that allow students to transfer in for business and my first question is whether it is even worth it for me to apply to any of them or are they all way out of my reach? The 5 I see are:</p>

<p>UNC
Virginia
Boston College
Georgetown
Emory</p>

<p>It seems like UNC would be possible because on their site it says the average transfer GPA is 3.15. I realize that is driven down by in-state students and students in non-impacted majors but it still seems like if I'm above the mean GPA I must have some sort of shot. Am I way off? There others have average transfer GPA's in the 3.5-3.7 range which I'm clearly below but I figured if 50% of the students they let in are below that number, maybe I have a shot? Again, I'm not sure. </p>

<p>So if those are out of the question (or even if they are possibilities) I wanted to know if there are any other OOS/private schools where it's possible that most of my tuition would be paid for? I realize most public schools are out of the question because they don't pay for much OOS need but maybe there's another possibility somewhere? Or more likely if there's a private out there that doesn't meet 100% of need but maybe meets 90% of need or something? I'm not sure if there are schools like that, but I've been unable to find much of an answer in my research, so I'm hoping someone here can help. Since the schools that meet 100% all are incredibly selective (and out of my reach?), I thought maybe there are some schools that aren't quite as good but will still pay most/all tuition for someone with a 0 EFC.</p>

<p>The OOS schools I've applied to so far are Marquette, Xavier, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Stony Brook, and SUNY Buffalo. Since I'm sure you're wondering, I've applied to so many schools because for the most part the apps were free so I figured I might as well try and see what happens, at least it gives me more options. I got a fee waiver for the CA and SUNY schools and both Xavier and Marquette have free applications. But I'm okay with paying application fees if one of these better schols is a possibility, I don't want to miss a great opportunity because of $50.</p>

<p>I'm also thinking I should apply to Santa Clara because my dad and my grandpa went there, and some people have told me that would make it a lot easier to get in, but they don't meet 100% of need apparantly so I don't know if I'd be able to afford it.</p>

<p>Sorry for the very long post, this is just very important to me! Is there any other school that I would have even a slight chance to get into that can meet my tuition requirements? A huge thanks in advance for anyone willing to help!!</p>

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<p>Bump…</p>

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<p>Hey, I don’t really know much about college admissions and such but no one else helped so I’ll just throw a few things into the soup :slight_smile:
Have you considered financial aid that colleges and others offer like scholarships?
Do you work a job right now? That might show colleges that you are trying to support yourself and stuff and need that extra help among other things.
hope this helps… :S</p>

<p>Davis</p>

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<p>Hi, thanks for the response!</p>

<p>As i said in the post, I have considered quite a few different types of financial aid and I’m willing to consider anything in that regard. But I’m guessing with my GPA I won’t really be able to get much if anything in the way of scholarships, which is why I’m looking for schools that could cover most of my tuition through need-based aid.</p>

<p>As for work, I have been doing some limited part-time work and i’m looking for more but so far I have come up empty on the job front. I was unaware that my job history would have any effect on my financial aid though, hopefully someone with more knowledge than either of us can weigh in and help me a little bit with my options.</p>

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<p>*
Have you considered financial aid that colleges and others offer like scholarships? *</p>

<p>He’s a transfer student, scholarships for transfer students are rare and relatively small. His stats are also not scholarship level.</p>

<p>*Basically money is a huge factor for me, my parents are divorced, my mom was way below the poverty line. *</p>

<p>Since you are a transfer student, your best bets are in-state because of Pell, Cal-Grants, and the other Calif programs for low-income students. If you were to go OOS, you wouldn’t get that Calif help.</p>

<p>Also, other schools don’t typically give great FA packages to transfer students. UNC might give some aid, but other schools generally won’t.</p>

<p>Seriously, though, with travel costs and everything, you’re better off staying in-state.</p>

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<p>Hmm, ok. But with my GPA is it even worth applying to UNC and/or any of the other schools I mentioned or do I basically have no shot at getting in?</p>

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<p>Oh, and another question, what other progams for low-income students are you referring to? Are there other forms of financial aid I should be applying for besides FAFSA and the Calgrant or do I have to wait until I get accepted by schools for those?</p>

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<p>Anyone got any information about either of those questions?</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>The best people to ask about California aid are the people who work in the FA offices of the schools that you’ve applied to. They will know about all the different programs depending on whether you’ll be going to a UC or a Cal State…like Blue and Gold, and SUG grants, etc</p>

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<p>Ah okay. And do you think I ought to apply to any of these schools:</p>

<p>Santa Clara
UNC
Virginia
Boston College
Emory
Georgetown</p>

<p>Could I possibly get into one of them (as it seems like they could pay for my tuition through financial aid) or do I not really even have a shot of getting in?</p>

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<p>Shameless bump…</p>

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<p>Do those schools meet 100% of need of transfers without big loans?</p>

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<p>I honestly don’t know, that’s why I figured I’d apply, because if I got in then I would find out I suppose, and it would be great if I could go to a top school like that. But do you think I should apply? Do I even have a chance of getting in?</p>

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<p>BMS –</p>

<p>In times of econonic hardship (not just your family, but reallly, the entire country is in a Great Recession), count your blessings and stay close to home.</p>

<p>This is not the time to dream about the grass being greener on the other side… it might be, but the odds are very low… so low that it is probably not worth the distraction.</p>

<p>I don’t know too much about financial aid, but I do know the difference between a loan (bad), and a grant or scholarship (good). with a 3.2 gpa out of CC, the odds of your getting grant or scholarship money out of state are extremely low.</p>

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<p>Ah ok. I still just want to know though, regardless of financial aid, is there much of a chance I could get into any of those schools?</p>

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<p>Just based on your GPA, probably not. </p>

<p>Hopefully, you’ll get accepted to some/many of your Calif schools. Since you’ve lived in the Bay area your whole life, just going to a school in Southern Cal will seem like you’re going out of state since it’s so much different from the north.</p>

<p>Do you have a car? If so, it will be better for you in the long run to be within driving distance…cheaper to come home for holidays, etc. :)</p>

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<p>Yeah you’re right, it is somewhat different. And I do have a car, so hopefully I’ll get in to a bunch of those schools. :-)</p>

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<h2>BMS wrote: "regardless of financial aid, is there much of a chance I could get into any of those schools? "</h2>

<p>Generally, admission into a top school via transfer is more difficult (excepting of course the CC -> UCXX route) than admission out of high school. The GPA out of CC into a top 50 University would probably need to be top 5% at minimum… I assume out of CC that a top 5% GPA would be 3.8, 3.9, something like that.</p>

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<h2>DunninLA wrote: “Generally, admission into a top school via transfer is more difficult (excepting of course the CC -> UCXX route) than admission out of high school. The GPA out of CC into a top 50 University would probably need to be top 5% at minimum… I assume out of CC that a top 5% GPA would be 3.8, 3.9, something like that.”</h2>

<p>That seems logical, but it just can’t be true. The average transfer GPA at these schools is 3.5-3.7, which means 50% of the transfer students are getting in with GPA’s below that. And at UNC the average transfer GPA is 3.15 (according to their website), which means some students are getting in with GPA’s below 3! From everything I’ve seen it is easier to get into schools from a CC except for maybe Stanford and some of the Ivies and a couple other schools.</p>

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<p>Important math point: that’s the average, not the median. It’s the median value that has half the values above, and half below. It might be that half of the transfer students have a GPA below the average 3.5-3.7…or it might be that only 10% meet that. Or maybe 62%.</p>