Community College->Transfer or Second Choice schools? Please help!

College Search & Selection Community Colleges
1

<p>I've screwed up in high school. A lot.</p>

<p>I was altogether very uneven; either slacking off with slacker friends and then regretting it later, or I was going into hyper-overachiever-overdrive mode to try to catch up....which in turn lead to me spreading myself too thin and screwing up everything I did.</p>

<p>I could write a novel with all of my regrets, and I've tried hard in school believe me, but more often than not either bad decisions/bad luck seemed to get the better of me.</p>

<p>My dream schools have always been Stanford, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Cornell, UChicago or Georgetown, but being completely realistic, its just not gonna happen. As in there will be a cold day in Hell before I get into any of those, (3.58 unweighted GPA, 3.86 weighted, 2100 SAT :/ ).</p>

<p>My senior advisor at school said that I could probably get into some of my second choice schools though, like SCU, UCSB, UCI, UC Davis, Union or if I'm really lucky Northeastern or maybe even NYU if I'm super lucky.</p>

<p>The thing is, since I know I have the ability to succeed on the same level as the kids applying to my #1 choices, (I just feel I didn't awaken that potential until very recently) I'm seriously considering attending community college, proving exactly that, and then transferring to one of those top tier schools.</p>

<p>But at the same time, I recognize there is a huge risk on the line for that option in case I run into some similar problems at a CCC and could wind up in the exact same situation I am in now; not to mention the obvious social status that would come from going to a CCC, and just the inevitable feeling of disappointment that would come out of knowing that for all the times I did push myself above and beyond my own personal breaking points, would ultimately be worthless knowing that I would end up at community college anyways.</p>

<p>Any thoughts, advice or similar stories that you would like to share? I will listen to all of you because you listened to me :)</p>

<p>Muchas Gracias</p>

2

<p>If you have issues with consistency, you may want to get tested for ADD? You don’t want to repeat mistakes of the past which may be organic in nature. Just a thought.</p>

<p>My first concern is always cost. Your stats are not high enough to get merit aid. So you REALLY need to think about how much this will cost you. You will be able to get into some schools, but they won’t give you much in the way of FA aid.</p>

<p>As a transfer student, you’ll have a harder time transferring to the 2nd-tiers let alone your “dream” schools at 60K each. There isn’t too much FA for transfers.</p>

<p>My dd with higher stats, an URM, and a legacy to Stanford, didn’t get in; she did get into the UC’s.</p>

<p>Think about costs first!
De nada</p>

3

<p>Thank you :)</p>

<p>I actually found out just earlier this year that I do in fact have ADD. It was actually at a point when my self-esteem hit an all time low and my depression disorder started to kick in resulting in something I’d prefer not to share on a public forum.</p>

<p>I’ve always just resorted to drowning myself in work and/or isolation to cope with me hating myself, mostly because my mom believes that psychiatric medicines don’t really do much, but I might have to consider this soon since it has been going on for years.</p>

<p>And yes, college costs are certainly not in my favor right out of the gate either. We are pretty well off as a family but it certainly doesn’t help that I’m the first in a family of 4 kids to go to college :/</p>

<p>In this respect, unless I can manage to get some serious financial aid, which unfortunately, doesn’t seem likely, I might have to go to community college and hope to transfer eventually :(</p>

<p>I still feel like crap though; that I could have been so much more had I just been more applied/focused in high school. Otherwise I wouldn’t be in this mess :’(</p>

<p>Regardless thank you for the input. Any more advice?</p>

<p>From anyone?</p>

4

<p>Hi xcruciat0r. There are pros and cons of going the transfer route. Let’s first explore the cons.</p>

<p>Cons:

  • Your chances of getting into Stanford as a transfer get even slimmer. Stanford only accepts about 1-2% of transfer applications a year, which is ridiculously low.
  • Your chances of getting into Cornell may also lower, although I don’t know the ratings for sure.
  • You miss out on the first two years at your future university. I can tell you from experience, this sucks a bit. </p>

<p>Now, onto the pros:</p>

<p>Pros:

  • Your chances of getting into the UCs may actually be higher (with the exceptions of Berkeley, UCLA, and possibly San Diego). There are different transfer agreements that you can try to get, particularly if you raise your GPA a bit.
  • The more you raise your GPA, the more likely a private school will not only let you in but will give you a good amount of financial aid.
  • In terms of all the Ivy Leagues, Cornell takes in the largest amount of transfers each year. Obviously, they let in fewer transfer students than they do freshman per year, but the fact that Cornell is your top Ivy League is actually rather advantageous.
  • Assuming you raise your GPA in cc, you’ll be able to explain your poor grades in hs and show your prospective schools that you can succeed in college. You wouldn’t expect it, but a lot of schools really like transfer students because we have real world experience, like this.
  • You can use the first two years in cc as practice years for university. This seems like a bit of a “duh.” However, as you only just came to this realization and are supporting it with a lot of blind faith, I would have to say that going to a cc actually might be good for you – not just for your GPA, but also mentally and emotionally. It could provide a smoother transition for you when you eventually go to uni, and that’s never a bad thing.
  • Have I mentioned that professors (particularly at UCs) love/prefer transfer students? Love them. This will definitely give you an edge, particularly if you end up going to a UC.</p>

<p>I don’t know too much about UChicago or Georgetown. I considered transferring to Georgetown for a hot second, and I think I remember the average GPA of their transfer students was about 3.75. With that being said, I don’t think you’d have much of a shot getting into Georgetown right now since I can only assume that their incoming freshman class would, on average, have GPAs that high or higher.</p>

<p>If I think of more, I’ll tell you. In general, I’d say apply this year if you want to, but also remember that going the transfer route might actually give you a better chance of getting into some of your dream schools.</p>