I am currently at a university that I really do not like (it is an extraordinarily poor fit but my parents forced it) and is not a good place for my major, and I wish to leave as soon as possible. The only problem is that my family’s EFC is ~19k and the actual family contribution is $5k. I currently have a full tuition scholarship here.
I have wondered if maybe I should leave my current university and instead go to a community college and work for a few years (none of my in-states are particularly good for what I wish to do) so a private university or oos is what will be required.
So far, the current plan is to take one year of classes in IT and then work until I am financially independent.
Does anyone have any information on what this path will entail and what to do to prepare for it?
You are describing a very long road compared to graduating on full tuition. There was no such thing as fit 30 years ago. What year are you? What major are you?
How is going to community college better than your current school?
You have to legitimately pay all of your expenses for several years and hit a minimum age (think it varies by state) to be considered independent. You could get a Masters in that time.
@Sportsman88 I’m a first year student, but sophomore based on AP/transfer credit from dual enrollment. I am majoring in History at the moment, currently thinking of pre-law or quantitative History.
Community College would be much cheaper ($1800 for an entire year of tuition+living at home) vs $10k room+board and would give me a associate’s degree.
I could get a master’s, but my university (Purdue University) really doesn’t have much for me after year one in terms of academics and experience. I’m on the Honors History track and could fulfill all the requirements in two more semesters. I don’t think I’d get into a good graduate school from here for History and I don’t think I’m developing the skills required for the LSAT.
In high school, I always felt smarter as I increased each grade. Here, I don’t feel my academic brain muscles growing.
You are a freshman. Don’t judge how hard a college is by lower level courses. Junior year kicks it in gear at most schools.
Purdue is a fine school and law school is all about GPA and LSAT. Yes, community college could be cheaper but if you are not paying your bills, then you are not establishing independence for financial aid purposes. You must be paying 100% of your bills including living on your own.
You can fulfill all requirements for a bachelor’s in two more semesters? If so, that is great and a huge savings.
Where would your transfer from a community college that is better than Purdue?
I’m just trying to get you to think through the issues and be realistic. It is very hard to transfer to top schools and doubly so from community college unless you are talking a state school. Any private or OOS school is going to be unaffordable.
You are saying Purdue is not good in history? I disagree, but if you don’t like history, pick something else. Poli Sci, English, religion --whatever you want. You can major in anything and take the LSAT.
If you are asking if leaving a full tuition scholarship to go to a community college is a good idea, I don’t think you’ll get many posters to agree that it is. You’ve already completed almost two years of a four year school, and now you want to go back and redo two years at a community college? That doesn’t make any sense.
Go discuss grad school and law school admissions with your professors and the pre-law advisor. Find out where the graduate of your program go after finishing a degree in history. Also, let them know that you haven’t felt challenged academically this year, and ask for recommendations for classes that will challenge you.
The best scholarship offers go to freshmen applicants. If you take time off to work, you almost certainly won’t get the kind of scholarship you have now. Tuition and fees go up every year, so your costs will be higher. It is likely that all you will be offered in aid at that point is the larger loan that is offered to independent students.
@Sportsman88 I am in higher level History classes at the moment. The classes are not hard for hardly anyone.
The plan would be to go to Community College for 1 year, get an associate’s degree and then get a job for a few years on my own.
If I really wanted to and put in lots of work, I could graduate next year. However, I’d have very little research and experience, as not much is offered here in terms of getting internships (engineering steals the limelight for all of those resources) and the Purdue History name doesn’t seem to open doors for any internship I have applied to. Most flat out say no very early in the application process.
So make it harder. Pick up a minor. Take other more difficult classes that interest you.
It would be unwise to give up the scholarship as well as the name recognition of a Purdue degree. What you are proposing is a much harder way to achieve what is in your grasp during the next two years.
The only thing being financially independent will gain you is a ~$5800 Pell grant. How are you planning to pay for a private college or OOS university? It sounds like you have the opportunity to get a 4-year degree with no/minimal debt. I’d take advantage of that.
@austinmshauri I’d also like to study some statistics or economics, in fact that was my original major, but at Purdue they don’t really offer much in Economics in terms of preparation for graduate school, plus the two majors are heavily grade deflated per Purdue policy (a typical GPA is ~2.2 in those subject areas) and classes can easily approach 300-500, even higher level ones in those subject areas. I have worked in the experimental labs at Purdue and the research done there felt very underfunded, unprofessional, and of little importance, when compared to what I have seen Purdue do for engineering and what other universities can do for economics.
Overall, I feel like I’d have more academic freedom, a better fit and relationship with professors, and a better shot at going to graduate school if I transferred to a LAC.
I’d pay for it by means of income earned by working after I get an associate’s degree. I understand that paying for it may take a very, very, long time of working after community college, but current job prospects for a BA in History where the Liberal Arts department is small and underfunded or a JD from anything besides a tippy top law school seem bleak at best.
@twoinanddone In addition to the above, being a lawyer is not “my dream job”. It’s mostly something that seems to be the only alternative compared to a community college. I’m not all dedicated to the concept or idea of being a lawyer.
Phis and enough of this tomfoolery.
- you will not be considered independent for financial aid purposes until you are 24 years old. Once you become independent, instead of being able to borrow $6500 as a sophomore, you will be able to borrow $10,500. Because you will be working to support yourself, it is unlikely that you will receive any pell or state aid because the income threshold is lower for independent student with no dependents. Also keep in mind that schools with deep pockets (the Ivies, top LACs) will not let you be independent for their own institutional aid until you are about 26/27. This is a long wait because you are not agreeing with your parents.
- Unless you have the money on your own to pay for community college, you will not receive any financial aid if your parents refuse to file the financial aid forms.
- as @Sportsman88 stated, you can major in anything you want and attend law school (parent of a successful attorney who majored in religion), it is all about LSAT and GPA. If you feel the current history courses are too easy, ace them to build up your GPA and then kill the LSAT so that you can get into a T-14 school. IF you want to develop the skills you need for the LSAT, get a copy of Testmasters logic games bible and logic reasoning bible. GO to the LSAC website and order copies of old LSAT exams. Read, read, read!!
- If law school is on the horizon, you want to leave undergrad with as little debt as possible. You cannot beat the full tuition scholarship and your parents paying 5k out of pocket. If you feel turning down a full tuition scholarship to attend community college is a good idea, I challenge your reasoning skills to make a good attorney.
As others have stated, Purdue is a fine school. at the end of the day, you are going where your grades and money will take you. Since you have no money, your parents felt you needed to attend what was affordable to them.
@sybbie719 Law school isn’t my #1 goal though, it is currently my only future I see if I stay at Purdue. My real dream was Economics with some Statistics, but I am a poor fit for Purdue’s weed out and grade defation system in those areas.
I’d be able to afford community college on my own and I could work out sleeping and food arrangements near the campus if need be.
I’m more than willing to work 10+ years if need be. I don’t really see law school as a good fit for me, just something to do because I have to.
As for my parents, that is another can of worms. Long story short, other schools were more than affordable, especially compared to Purdue, but my parents said “PURDUE!” and as such I ended up here.
Seven people have given you advice that you don’t want to take. Not sure what else anyone can say to you.
@MaineLonghorn I asked for information, not advice. If someone has advice to give, my PM is always open. Such a life changing decision will surely take more than two hours and seven posts from random people on the internet. I am only trying to elaborate more on my information and situation so that people may refine their advice. You err by saying I am not taking it.
Something that may be common sense at first glance may be much more complicated once all the information has set in and all questions and ambiguities dealt with.
“Does anyone have any information on what this path will entail and what to do to prepare for it?”
Information can be found on any number of websites that don’t involve talking to people; on forums you’re likely to get opinions.
Giving up a full tuition scholarship because you don’t feel challenged as a freshman seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There are ways to be more challenged! Investigate. Talk to professors and advisors. (Get involved in research?)
What makes you think that this major will be easier somewhere else?
I admit to being confused. Are the following statements accurate? 1) You are considering majoring in history even though you’re not very interested in it. 2) The history classes seem too easy to you. 3) You’d like to major in economics but the classes are too hard. 4) The econ classes also are not adequate for grad school.
@MaineLonghorn is correct but here goes one more shot.
You can’t find undergraduate rankings by department so I had to use graduate school. Purdue is tied for 42nd in Econ. USC is one notch up at 37 and Vandy one above that. Not shabby.
Forget grade deflation. You’re telling me Purdue is too easy and now it’s too hard. Someone has to make an A. Be that student. Lot’s of colleges have large classes for Econ. Large classes aren’t as bad as they are made out to be. I’ve had great large classes and horrible small classes.
@rosered55 @Sportsman88
I didn’t say the classes were too hard, I said the classes are grade deflated. Purdue students recently received an e-mail from our president affirming this fact, how he wishes to continue and even deflate it more, and how he may begin targeting professors who don’t partake in it. While the two (deflation and difficulty) may coincide and often do, that is not always the case. Many students here take Calc AB and/or BC, pass, and retake Calc I here to get a better foundation, and up doing very poorly by their stands This is rather common from my discussions with fellow students and I know they are not weak at math. All STEM here seems to grade deflate, but Math seems to be the worst here due to how it is done.
Regardless, I do not think I am fit for Purdue’s baptism by fire grade deflation and I think a LAC or something along those lines would be better suited for what I wish to do. I am sure the system is a great match for many students, but I am not one of them.
@sybbie719 http://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_244fb5a3-3620-5162-9da4-b995214cff36.html