My freshman year of high school I was an “average” student. When sophomore year hit, I began taking all Advance Placement (AP) classes and Differentiated courses (my high school’s term for “honors” courses). I was receiving all A’s and was purely excelling academically. When senior year hit, I had taken 8 AP exams, had a 4.3 weighted and 3.9 unweighted GPA. I received a 34 on the ACT. However, I made a fatal error. I did little to no research on the schools that were right for me, and stupidly decided to apply to all of the schools that I had heard around school, including UPenn, Vanderbilt, WashU and Harvard. Out of the 8 schools I applied to, I was accepted into UCLA, WashU in St. Louis, and I was waitlisted at Vanderbilt. I decided to enroll at the University of Nebraska Lincoln (my “safe” school) due to the fact that my family’s EFC on the FAFSA was north of $100,000 and I was simply not willing to incur over $250,000 in student loan debt before my 22nd birthday.
During the summer before my freshman year at UNL, I started to feel uneasy about this school. Long story short, I decided to enroll at Wayne State College (a very small state school that my girlfriend was going to as well).
I am now nearly done with my freshman year at Wayne. I will have a 3.72 GPA at the end of the year, but I can’t get over the fact that I had the opportunity to go to schools like WashU and UCLA but I didn’t do it. I am double majoring in Criminal Justice and Sociology, and I am minoring in Pre-Law. I feel that it is now impossible to transfer to a top notch school for the remainder of my undergrad, but I am still easily able to transfer to a school like UNL or Creighton University, which are larger schools with more opportunities and research options. What are your opinions? I feel very stuck and feel that I made all the wrong decisions senior year of high school during college applications.
Your only mistake, if you even want to cal it that, was to follow your girlfriend instead of going to UNL. All of your other admits were unaffordble. That happens sometimes. So, pick up the phone. Call the transfer office at UNL. Find out what you need to do to apply there. If they kept your previous application on file, you might not need to do much at all.
Talk with your parents about Creighton. Is it in their budget? If so, apply there too.
You should have gone to UNebraska. You can still transfer there but the scholarship is likely gone. Still, call, as suggested above.
You can also try to transfer to a few other colleges, even high ranking ones, if you say what your major of interest is and if you’re willing to consider LACs. But you must discuss costs with your parents and what they’re willing to pay. Why were you supposed to take on loans if your EFC was so high (indicating income of half a million or so?)
(Also: Are you a boy or a girl?)
You couldn’t have afforded those colleges anyway. No one is going to lend that kind of money to you. But you can look into transferring to your state flagship if that is affordable.
I’m an 18 year old male. My parents income is >$500,000 but they were not willing to pay such a hefty price for an undergraduate degree. One parent never went to college and the other went to UNL, so neither parent personally understands the value of a prestigious undergraduate education.
your parents make $500K+, and neither of them attended a “prestigious” undergraduate institution. one of them didn’t even attend college. that’s a perfect example of how “prestige” tends to be taken too seriously. i, however, do empathize with your frustration. contact UNL and see if you’re able to transfer next year. if you can wait longer, have a serious talk with your parents about transferring to a better school, and use your spare time to do extensive research about each school in which you’re interested.
Have your parents told you how much they’re willing to invest in your education?
Applying to UNL after contacting them directly sounds like a no-brainer (if possible, first reach out to your rep from last year, not the transfer adcom).
For other universities, you need to know how much your parents are willing to pay and if they’re ok with your leaving Nebraska.
What would your major be?
I would keep my double major in criminal justice and sociology and probably change my minor to political science. A very prestigious law school is the ultimate goal, assuming I can pull a 170+ on the LSAT.
Agree that following your gf was your biggest mistake. For most students finances are part of the equation. Put the unaffordable schools you didn’t go to in your rear view mirror and focus on ones you can afford to transfer into.
If you want a prestigious law school, drop Criminal Justice and switch that to philosophy. If that’s too hard, look into history, economics, English. A minor or major in policzlbscienxe is common.
Criminal Justice is a vocational major meant to train future correctional officers or future police officers, it is not meant for grad school and is frowned upon by law schools.
If you major in sociology make SURE you take as many statistics classes as possible.
At UNL you can have a certificate in public policy analysis along with your major.
Admissions to law schools will depend on having a ‘traditional’ rigorous’ major with very high grades (mostly As), a top 2% LSAT (which will require a lot of preparation), and experience. Check out tumbler posts by Frenchyalie for an idea of classes, clubs, initiatives, and experinces that make a student very competitive for top law schools.
Another thing: don’t make the mistake you did with undergraduate and assume that “prestige” law schools are the same thing as “well known” (although there will be overlap). Once you get your transfer situation straightened out and you’re settled in at UNL or wherever you end up, start to take a systematic approach into researching the field of law and law school options so that you can apply smartly when the time comes.
Law schools are interested in grades and LSAT scores. A 3.72 is excellent. If you can keep up those grades and do well on the LSAT, you have just as much shot at a top tier school.
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/ has a lot of information on applying to law school, including undergraduate recommendations and admit/reject grids by college GPA and LSAT score for various law schools.
The LSAT has a logic puzzle section (samples available from the official site). Perhaps it is no surprise that math and philosophy majors do well on it.
Choosing a college based on a girlfriend is typically a very bad idea and it usually doesn’t end well. Not to worry. You have a stellar GPA, so it should be easy to transfer back to UNL.