Community College Student with "rocky past" looking to transfer. Advice?

Hi everyone,

So my college story is a bit complex. I had a pretty bad bout of depression in high school/early college, which caused me to have tons of withdrawals and even ended with me facing a semester of 4 incomplete classes which turned into F’s. I eventually left college after 2 years to figure things out and become healthy, and took a gap for 2 years, in which I started working full-time at a startup in marketing. I also worked a bunch of teaching jobs (test prep SAT/Math).

Fast forward to today, I am enrolled at my local NJ community college with a 4.0 GPA in Business Administration, with goals of pursuing a Finance degree when I transfer. I’m 24 so I would be considered a non-traditional student.
EC’s include: Treasurer & VP of Leadership within Honor Society, Working Full-time with leadership position at startup, teaching test prep/math on the side. I also won 2 scholarships for excellence in business.

I am wondering how to best put together a college list for for transferring. I am low-income so financial aid is important. I also would like to try for some ivy’s like Columbia GS.

Lastly, I am most worried about how to represent my rocky college past on my application. I have often just explained the situation as a “medical issue,” however I feel that’s extremely vague and leads to speculation. Should I just come out and say I battled with depression and have since fully recovered? Unfortunately, I feel there is still a stigma and I don’t want admissions officers thinking it could happen again (which it won’t, since at the time I was just young and dumb).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, whether it is how to address the “rocky past” on my application or how to put together a good college list. Also, if anyone has recommendations for good non-traditional programs, good undergrad finance schools with good financial aid, etc, please share.

Thank you.

No specific advise. Congrats are your accomplishments. Good luck.

I don’t think you need to mention all details of past problems.
Congratulations on your hard work and success!
Have you received federal loans or grants every semester?
Find out from your advisor if/which universities have articulation agreement with your community college.

Also check out sub-forum for non-traditional students
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/non-traditional-students//p2

Get in touch with the Transfer Advisor at your CC. That person has seen it all, and will have good ideas about which colleges and universities you should be targeting.