<p>Hello,
In high school I had a 2.4 GPA and 2 suspensions (drinking and a fight). I did graduate but I took a year off because I had a child. Now I have just completed my first semester at a community college with a 3.18 GPA (A, -A, B, C) and 12 credits. I am also registered for 14 credits next semester.
The college I want to transfer to has rolling admissions so I applied and stated that I want to start in fall 2013. I also sent my transcripts to the school. The only issue is that you need 15 credits to get the SAT/ACT requirement waived. I will meet that requirement at the end of NEXT semester so now I worry. I did email the transfer coordinator and she said,
"Applying now for Fall 2013 does not present a problem at all. The colleges official policy is to only waive the SAT/ACT requirement when a student has completed 15 transferrable credits. I suggest you send us your official high school transcript and a college transcript as soon as you complete this semester. This will give me the opportunity to fully review it and have a discussion with the Director of Admission if I think it would be appropriate."</p>
<p>What are my chances?</p>
<p>First it would EXTREMELY helpful if you listed the colleges you were planning on transferring to, it would make it easier to analyze based off of their transfer rates as well as expectations.</p>
<p>As for your credentials, your HS gpa is bad, and your college GPA isnt fantastic, but depending on what your transfer ambitions are, it may be sufficient. My advice would be to wait until the end of your sophomore year of CC to transfer. That way you can build a bomb-ass GPA at your CC, and the distance in time means that the college you hope to transfer to will put almost no weight on your high school GPA, thus increasing your chances.</p>
<p>You have a very unique story since you have had a child. Im sure you have grown in ways that many of us will never understand so when you are writing your essays, make sure to highlight how motherhood has transformed you as a learner.</p>
<p>PS try to take 15 or 16 credits a semester. 14 is a little low</p>
<p>It looks to me that the college will look at your high school and first semester college transcripts and will make a decision as to whether or not they will waive the test requirement for you and accept you on that info, or if they will tell you that you either have to take and submit a test result or wait until the end of your term when you have another semester under your belt before making a decision. A lot of transfer decisions are not made until the summer. My son’s good friend did not hear until mid summer whether or not he was accepted as a transfer and even with test scores and an excellent high school transcript and an okay first semester transcript, the college that he wanted wanted a second term of grades before making a decision. </p>
<p>My guess is that you will be asked for that second semester of grades, before this college makes a decision on your app.</p>
<p>The only school that has the degree I need is Delaware valley college. Their acceptance rate is 74-77% but I read that their transfer acceptance rate is 66%.</p>
<p>I have to think about waiting until the end of sophomore year. It could work but it makes it difficult because then I only have 2 years with working on the college farm with the animals compared to 3 years. But if that’s the only way to get accepted then that is what I will have to do.</p>
<p>Do colleges ever make acceptance contingent on certain things? Could they say that I will be accepted if I get X grades and do Y?</p>
<p>So since the transfer rate is so high, you can attempt to transfer this year and probably get accepted. More time=better. Even if you got rejected, then you can easily just reapply in a year after upping your GPA and EC’s</p>
<p>Most colleges do not use the formulaic method of “GPA X = Accepted” they use hollistic approaches looking at GPA, SAT/ACT, EC, Racial/Socio-economic background, interview, essays etc. Like I said, you have a fantastic opportunity for growth and knowledge by being a single mother. Use that blessing to your advantage when writing your essay. Let your life experiences outshine everything else.</p>
<p>Yes, every college I know accepts students out of high school on the contingency that they graduate, do not get into certain types of trouble and that the final transcript,which has to be submitted shows grades that are still satisfactory to the college. So, yes, it is possible that your college could accept you contingent on a certain average with no withdrawals, drops or incompletes during that second semester. However, what I have usually seen with first year transfers, more often, is that they will defer the decision until after they see that transcript. It also gives them more time to see what kind of return they will be getting for the next year and how useful admitting you will be, information they won’t have early in the process. They will snap up the “hot” prospects right off the bat–the ones with high grades in college, high school and in test scores, taking tough courses and taking a course of study where the college knows they could use some fresh blood. But you aren’t in that category. I would hold off on a decision on you until the summer because you do have only one good semester of school work at this point, and it is a light load, the minimum for full time. WIth a second term of grades like the first,with no drops, withdrawal, incompletes, you would have a good chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>I know noting about your specific college, however, and in cases like this, each college has its own way of doing thing and their own needs that will prempt any of our opinions.</p>
<p>Thanks. I didn’t realize that that was considered a high acceptance rate. I will talk to the transfer counselour and see what she thinks would be best. I will be sure to use my experience for my advantage. Having a child really did change me.
Thank you for the reply.</p>
<p>Wow 12 credits is considered a light load? I didn’t feel like it was too much work but when I first enrolled the CC registration guy almost fell over when I said I wanted 4 classes. He said really tried to get me down to 6 credits.</p>
<p>It is the absolute minimum for full time status. Since your high school transcript was not so hot, the CC probably wanted you to start out part time. If you are looking to get government money, like PELL and Stafford loans, their full amounts are based on a minimum of 12 credits. THings go down rapidly when you are not a full time student.</p>
<p>what four classes is a lot of load? I take 6 classes and do not feel extremely challenged but to each is own. I also agree a lot with what Schneizal says. That is not a great GPA at all for going to a community college a 3.18? rather low in my opinion, and considering the school you would like to transfer to has a high acceptance rate I do not think you have a problem. I also think most places would make it contingent on certain factors in your case! good luck!</p>