Concern: my first three semesters of community college weren't very good

<p>I was, quite simply, a terrible student in high school, VERY intellectual but insecure/afraid to compete. Anyway, my mother, being a good parent who was probably concerned that I might be wasting my life, made it an ultimatum that I must attend community college in the fall after high school. I complied and signed up, absolutely unconerned about any possible conflicts with my 30+ hour a week job.</p>

<p>Long story short: After slacking off continually in high school and getting by on the bare minimum, I lacked any sort of academic disipline. Consequently, I fell flat on my nose in the first three semesters. These were the fall of 04, spring 05, and fall of 05. Here's what my transcript from those semesters will look like. I thought I'd be an electrical engineer</p>

<p>(Plan: Engineering)
Intro To Psychology--W(Withdrawn)
Precalculus with Trig--W
English Composition--B
History of Music--B</p>

<p>Srping:
Intro To Psychology--W
Biology 101--W
Precalculus With Trig--W
English Literature--B
History of Music 2--B</p>

<p>Fall:
College Chemistry--W
Precalculus with Trig--W
Mythology--F</p>

<p>I got an F in that class--A class I enjoyed very much and never missed once--because I simply grew disheartened at where my life was headed.
Nevermind how cool the teacher was, I too was depressed to finish the final assignment. Community college and I aren't working out, I thought. I was absolutely being irrational and knew it.</p>

<p>It was then that I realized how much time flies. I mean, an entire year and a half had passed since I finished high school, meaning that my high school class were about to finish their second year of college, and I was literally nowhere. Some of those kids were intellectually dull and proudly never read anything they didn't have to read. And yet many of them ended up in excellent colleges. Where did all my hobbies in high school--artsy movies, literature, classical music--where did they get me? </p>

<p>After this realization, I became ambitious. I gave up all my hobbies, cut my job to just weekends and hit school as hard as I could. That spring semester I think I did alright:</p>

<p>(Change of degree plan: now business)
Us History 1--A
Sociology 1--A
Physical Geology--B
Some crappy student development course--B</p>

<p>In the summer I took that Precalc class again and got an A, and now am retaking that mythology class. It's at a different campus with a different professor, and, ironically, it's WAy, WAY harder than the previous time. Oh cruel fate!</p>

<p>My other classes are Calculus 1--which I'm doing great in--and public speech, plus a required a physical education course. In short, the minimum required for full time status. Next sememster I'll be doing 15-18 credits though. Sadly, because of my wasted time, I won't be finishing up community college until spring 08, when my high school class will be graduating. =(</p>

<p>I got the foolish idea into my head though that, till then, if I maintain 15 credit semesters with as many A's as possible I could possibly transfer into schools way better than the one this community college feeds its student into. I'm hoping to transfer to Virginia Tech, but I'm reaching for UVA.</p>

<p>FOCUS: Those three semesters...how damaging are they to my new dream?</p>

<p>Through your post, I can already sense that you are indeed an EXCELLENT writer. I could really feel your regrets toward your first three semesters of community college. </p>

<p>If you could write like this on your essay, explaining thoroughly of your dilemmas and personal struggles you had to go through, I'm sure the adcom will be understanding of your situation and may possibly put less weight on your earlier years of community college.</p>

<p>If you can get a 4.0 this semester, it'll be an EXCELLENT way of showing how you've changed over time and your full academic potentials.</p>

<p>Remember, GPA does play a big part in admission, but the trend of the GPA and your essay can be an extremely more powerful combination that may award you with an admission to the school of your dream.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

<p>Colleges love to see students excel and change, especially when there is an upward slope in your grades. I HIGHLY recommend you writing about this in your personal statement - your change in motivation/determination/ambition and state what had happened before. I'm sure they are going to be looking forward to reading about your story after seeing your transcript. This change seems like it will be very helpful.</p>