<p>Okay, here's the deal. I am going back to school after years of living, working, and thriving without a college education. I had a unique educational experience in high school that succeeded in implanting a desire for further education so far in the depths of my soul that no matter how well I did outside of school, I always felt a constant nagging to go to college. So for the first time in about 10 years, I am going to school full time at the local community college. I have a 4.0 after one semester, was admitted into the Honors Program and am working in various other ways to gain academic and community experience. I go to school in Bridgeport, CT and my college has lots of transfer agreements established with school like NYU, Sacred Heart, Smith, Mt. Holyoke (there are currently more transfer options for women, with Smith and Holyoke being very strong but they're working on more options for men) So here is the gist of my post. IF I find it possible by the slimmest of margins to defy reason and gain entry into an Ivy League via community college ... should I? I absolutely intend to get at least a Masters degree and many of my friends, of varying degrees of education, are telling me to go cheap and easy for undergrad and then go all out for grad school. I tend to want to go all out for both. Any input from anyone on here will be greatly appreciated. Oh, I'm posting in the Columbia forum because I love NYC and the General Studies College seems well suited to my situation. Yale is another school I am drooling over, though I am getting very tired of Connecticut and it's much harder to get into, it seems. Are the undergrad programs at these schools much different than a $4000/year education at, say, Hunter College? I'd be going into History/English with a Spanish minor. Thanks again, Josh</p>
<p>Columbia GS does seem ideal for your situation. I'm not sure how expensive it is though.</p>
<p>asdfasdfas</p>
<p>good advice, Transfurious, I appreciate the time you took to deem my post unworthy of the use of language. you remind me of the transfer counselors at my school.</p>
<p>Ivy league undergrad is going to be pretty dang expensive, and I'm not sure how much it's worth it. It kind of depends on your income and what you want to get out of your undergrad and what you want to go into after college. Comparing an Ivy to Hunter college is really pushing it.. obviously the Ivy education is going to be far better, but if you find a different school in the top 50's you probably won't have too big of a difference in education, especially if you are applying to grad school. That is what really matters, I say do your best to get into the most competitive grad school of your choice.</p>
<p>Since you've been out of HS for 10 years, I'm assuming you're independent for FA purposes. If you have substantial financial need, and if you are accepted, some of the privates (including Ivies) have excellent FA programs. This year several more replaced loans with grants for students under certain income levels. You need to run a calculator to get an estimate of your Institutional EFC and read the websites of schools you're interested in to get an idea of what type of FA you would qualify for.</p>
<p>There are a lot of IFs involved, but it is possible.</p>
<p>I just got into Cornell from a C.C. I've heard of others during the same as well from my CC and other top 20 schools. No reason as to why you shouldn't be able to pull it off.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that as being older, you might not fit in with the other students. You would do well at CGS for sure though. Honestly? Just fill out those applications. Get to know your teachers (truthfully, make sure you like them!). Join a couple of clubs. I believe you should have a PTK at your school. Take summer courses to show you're serious (1-2, they're usually fairly easy). Just get involved. Essays. Not much else I can say.</p>
<p>Just make sure your course load is 15 hours per semester (not that bs 12). You have to show these colleges you will not be a liability once you get there.</p>
<p>...i think it comes down to whether you can afford it.</p>
<p>have you saved up a good amount of money these past years while working?
are you currently employed, and will you remain employed while at school? if so, is your employer willing to help you foot the bill?
my mother went to a CC at age forty and got an associate's degree. she excelled, and right before graduating with her associate's was hired by an employer that rarely hires anyone without a master's, let alone a bachelor's. she finished her bachelor's at penn state's world campus (online) and then was accepted to harvard for grad school. she showed a lot of ambition and promise, had lots of creative ideas and has already helped her employer expand its services and prestige, so they've given her several thousand dollars towards her college tuition every year since she was hired.
that might be something you want to look into. i know lot of employers have similar benefits.</p>
<p>personally, i understand your desire to go to a fantastic school, believe me i do (currently in the process of transferring...), but if it isn't financially feasible, then i would wait to "go all out" for grad school. that's where the difference in the quality of your education will REALLY make a difference. also remember that ivy league schools accept almost no transfer students; it's incredibly difficult to gain admission in the middle of the undergrad process. transferring costs a lot of money and is very, very stressful and time-consuming, especially when the odds are stacked against your admissions (as they are at any college with a less than 50% admission rate, no matter how stellar your application is).</p>
<p>whatever you do...good luck!! i think it's really cool that you're working towards this goal after being out in the "real world" for several years. many people never come back.</p>
<p>Godsend--as for 12 vs 15 credit hours:
i have been accepted to some really awesome schools with 12 credits/semester. granted, i work full-time as well: it's all about the balance.
you'd have to be almost inhuman to take 15+ credits at an honors and/or 300-or-400 level (as ivys like to see their applicants do), maintain a 4.0, AND work 40 hours a week.</p>
<p>thank you all for the encouragement, it's always nice to have support even if it's from people I don't know : )
My plan is to do as well as possible in every way and after a full year I will start looking more seriously at these schools; visiting and sitting in on some classes to see if it's even a good environment for me. I think the Ivies are an impetus to do really well and if I can get in AND get a decent F.A. package, I'd love to go. If not, work hard at a cheaper school. What is it about the Ivies that is so seductive? I wish I didn't want to go, it would make things much easier but it seems like such a challenge. Combine that with the prestige and reputation, it's hard not to be drawn towards it. Is the Ivy experience truly more rigorous and intellectually driven than a state school? Also, is a school like Columbia competitive to the point that kids sabotage each other? I sometimes feel a small Liberal Arts school would suit me much better but my choices are Sarah Lawrence (which seems to have a strange rep., even though to me the program sounds great) and Eugene Lang New School (trustafarians?) I don't know, am I making too big of a deal out of the school? Does it really matter in the end?</p>
<p>jroe, </p>
<p>I do hope you get into an Ivy of your choice. I have a similiar situation as yours, but I've only taken time out of school because I had to immigrate to the US. I was out of college for two years and then went to a community college because it was cheaper for me to do so.
Applying to an Ivy from a community college is a long shot, says my current counselor, but you will never know if you never tried. A student from my school got into Harvard as a transfer back in '05, yet he did not enroll because he never really thought about getting in. His credentials were not as excellent as the incoming freshmen, but he did have an amazing life experience - he worked for a nursing home, etc. I think he was 22 when he applied for Harvard. He just decided to enroll in University of Florida because he was offered a full tuition scholarship.
I plan on applying to Dartmouth, and some non-Ivy schools like NYU, JHU, and BU. Florida has an agreement that grants community college students admissions to most of the four year colleges and universities, and as long as the student performs well, all he/she has to do is submit an application. And of course, I decided to go kill myself for admissions to out-of-state schools.
Its great that you are a member of the Honors Program and you have community experience. I think the admissions panel wants to broaden their student body, and if that means adding more experienced, older students the so be it. How many are you planning on taking per semester?</p>
<p>PS: Columbia will be great because then you wouldn't have to worry about taking pre-major classes in you current college. General Studies program is just wonderful... Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>LACTranferhopes, </p>
<p>I'm taking 17 credits this summer. I'm trying to kill myself, really. My counselor suggests that after this semester, I tone it down a little. I currently have a 3.77 GPA for my first semester, Spanish screwed me up...Its a necessary evil. But my math and science classes are A's. I am invited to be a part of the honors program, PTK, and i'm really considering it.</p>
<p>PTK only requires a 3.5 GPA, they rarely even check up to see if people slip back below 3.5</p>
<p>"he did have an amazing life experience - he worked for a nursing home, etc. I think he was 22 when he applied for Harvard."</p>
<p>Is there another amazing part about his life? Working for a nursing home for a few years after highschool doesn't really ring with excitement.</p>
<p>To the OP: Don't get too ahead of yourself, straight A's for one semester doesn't really show much to an adcom. Do that for 4-5 semesters then you'll have something to talk about - at least if you're really leaning toward an elite school.</p>
<p>A prof of mine said he recovered from substance abuse. That was not exactly stellar, but he wrote his essay about that experience and how he came to appreciate life more. That is why he worked for a nursing home. I really didn't get why his life was 'amazing.' I'm just qouting from my advisor. =)</p>
<p>First, congratulations on your return to school. It sounds like you're off to a great start and your enthusiasm is infectious.</p>
<p>You asked why the ivies are so seductive; maybe you'll find the following analogy agreeable. Note, though, that I'm only a community college student myself. I think of an ivy league school as a beautiful girl. She gets a lot of attention, turns many heads. She's approached by many and talked about by more. If you "get" her, you get a little bit of everyone else that wanted her, and maybe that's why she's so seductive. But would you marry a girl for her looks alone? As you court different girls in your research, you'll find out which personalities are alluring and which personalities are... for someone else. Your soul mate might even end up being a liberal arts college with average looks and minimal prestige (due to a lack of a reputation-building graduate school).</p>
<p>It looks like you've already received some good and varied advice. I have one piece to add, a personal mistake I constantly make that you hopefully will not--don't overestimate your current ability. Certainly you should take a course load that is challenging with classes you find intellectually stimulating, but keep in mind that classes become more and more difficult as they begin to build off of previously learned knowledge. I don't know much about english or history major courses but I can provide a relative anecdotal comparison. A 4x accelerated introductory sociology class was slower paced (in both content and workload) than regular second semester organic chemistry. Both classes are 3 units.</p>
<p>As a person who transferred from a CC to an Ivy I'll tell you
#1. not many people do it </p>
<h1>2. classes are much harder</h1>
<p>I'm sure orgo is hard everywhere but I know people who have taken the "same" classes at a CC then had to take them again at an Ivy and they struggled with the SAME class just because it's so much harder.</p>