I have a unique situation which I’m having trouble navigating. Anyone’s help would be greatly appreciated. I graduated from public high school in 2012. My SAT score is 2170— Math and Reading are 1470 together. I was involved in many extracurriculars, in leadership positions (Student Body President, Editor in Chief of the School Newspaper, among other things). The fall in spring after graduation I attended University of Richmond. This is where my addiction took hold, and it begins to show in my grades. I don’t remember exactly my GPA from Richmond, but I believe it hovers somewhere around the 1.5 range. After Richmond (Fall 2013) I thought it would be best to go back home and attend community college for a while, so I withdrew from Richmond and enrolled at Delaware County Community College. At this point I was still in denial about my disease. However, it brought me to a point of disability. I was rarely able to go to class and was so invalid that I didn’t even withdraw from any courses. This went on for two semesters. My final GPA from Delco is a 0.16. It was shortly after my second semester there that I asked for help and got clean and sober. I’ve been this way for a year and a half now. I applied for transfer to Temple University this fall (fall 2015) and was rejected due to my low GPA at Richmond (I had not submitted grades from Delco— unaware about how not-okay this was to do). I then enrolled at Montgomery County Community College for the Summer 2015 session, taking two classes with an A in each. I’m attending this fall, as well. I’m taking five classes, and will likely have five more As, maybe a few Bs. I’ve applied again to Temple for transfer, including all my grades. I’ve been in correspondance with a woman in admissions who told me it isn’t likely that I’d be accepted unless I had above a 2.0 GPA. Today I received an email from TU asking me to submit my final transcript from Montco as soon as possible. Does this mean they are considering accepting me despite my GPA? If not, what chances to I have of getting in? Can anyone recommend a course of action for me to take to get there? Any help from anyone is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hello!
First off, I am glad you got help. send them! You can also send a letter stating your situation. Schools always take into account stories like yours. Tell them about your struggles, what you went through. Tell them you re starting something new, you are ready to get your undergraduate degree. write a personal statement and submit it to them. You seem to be on the right track, schools will always consider recent behavior over old ones. If they see you are getting good grades this past year, they will assume that you will do the same as one of their students.
I HIGHLY recommend making a personal statement and sending it to the admissions office or the dean of the college you are applying too.
Good luck
I agree about being open about your story and how you are back on track. I don’t really have any expertise, but as a person who loves someone still fighting addiction, I wanted to tell you good luck and keep working hard.