<p>Ok here's some history on my situation. In high school I had relatively good grades, 3.8 gpa, and scored about a 1300 on my SATs. I went to a small school in Pennsylvania, called Pennsylvania College of Technology. I was accepted into the Honors program, I was one of only six. Now my freshman year there I did horribly. By the end of the year I had a 1.9 and was on academic probation for my grades. Mainly due to my lack of discipline and way too much partying. I decided not to go back to school the following year and instead went military. I joined the National Guard, went through training, and became a Signals Intelligence Analyst. I graduated with distinguished honors and learned some very important things about myself and how to better deal with school.
Now it's time to apply to college again. Here's my question, based off of my academic standings, would I have a better chance of being accepted by going in as a freshman and not putting down my year of college, or should I bite the bullet and put down the horrible freshman year?
I'm applying to a few state schools, as I can go there tuition free, but most of them on their applications don't have anything as far as essays or anything to distinguish myself from the grades that I had. They are basically fill out your basic info, high school grades, college grades and that is about it. Is there anything I can do to better my chances of acceptance, meeting with admissions, writing an essay even though it's not required, or anything of that nature? </p>
<p>Thank you in advance for any input brought forth.</p>
<p>You have to put down your horrible freshman year because if you don’t, and the colleges find out, they’ll either kick you out or reject you.</p>
<p>You can submit an essay even though it’s not required. In the essay, you can tell how your National Guard experience matured you, etc. </p>
<p>The fact that you’ve been in the National Guard is a big plus.</p>
<p>Years ago, I had a friend who had entered the military after bombing out of community college. After his military service, he was accepted to a 4-year college. </p>
<p>As a back-up, also apply to some community colleges. If you end up having to go to community college, make sure that you take courses that will allow you to transfer to a 4-year college.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t know that they could actually kick you out because of not putting down that you were a student before. It’s a good thing I asked this, thank you very much!</p>
<p>I am sure schools will realize you are not the same immature teenager who had such a hard time freshman year. The fact that you were out in the real world, with a job that requires responsibility, will allay any fears they might have had about your seriousness towards your studies. Your good high school record and work record demonstrate that you have the necessary intelligence. I think you will do fine with your applications.</p>
<p>That’s my problem though, in terms of the applications they are online applications with nowhere to put any sort of personal touch to it. There’s nowhere to explain why I was out of school for a year, no way to defend why my grades my freshman year were so bad. I’m just afraid they’ll look at that 1 year and not decide to go further. Even if I could get an interview I am confident that it would not be a problem, it’s just getting to that point.</p>
<p>You can mail additional info.
Remember, you also can use community colleges as safeties. I know plenty of people including some lawyers, bankers and some state and city officials who went to 4-year colleges and professional schools after going to community college.</p>
<p>Also, would the college that you went to before take you back now that you’ve had some very productve time off?</p>
<p>Yes, when I was put on academic probation, I was able to write to them explaining my grades and what the reasons were, and was accepted back for the fall 06 semester, I instead chose to take the time off and better myself with military before hurting myself by screwing up again.</p>
<p>I would enclose a copy of the letter that says your first school would accept you back. I know of at least one school that will not accept transfer students if their original college will not take them back.</p>
<p>Maybe you could call the admissions office and ask someone how/where you can include this info in your application? Or just ask for their advice?</p>
<p>Thank you, I did a little more searching and FINALLY was able to find a paper version of the application, and there was a section to explain what happened with my previous school. Also thank you cmbmom, you were correct in stating that I should enclose a copy, that was one of the things they asked for.</p>