<p>Frankly, I've screwed up a lot in my academic career. I started community college in 2004 and have been going back on and off, getting on probation and even suspended a few times for flunking along the way. My high school transcript is totally unimpressive.</p>
<p>Now that I'm pushing 30, I'm really buckling down because I'm sick and tired of being a loser with nothing to show for myself. I'm currently enrolled as a full-time student taking a rigorous schedule of 16 credit hours total this semester and maintaining a straight-A average. Since summer school this year, I've managed to raise my unweighted GPA from 2.4 to 2.9, so I expect it to be over 3.0 by the end of this fall semester. Math is not my strong suit, but I hope eventually to end up with at least 3.5 by the time I get my associate's degree.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I still have to take the majority of my core classes, which means I have an opportunity to make a lot of transferable As. In fact, if I retake a couple classes, I can replace some unsatisfactory grades, and then literally every single transferable credit could theoretically be an A if I really work hard. Sadly, however, I'll never truly have a 4.0 because the slate will never be wiped clean. My transcript will still show my past mistakes.</p>
<p>At the rate I'm currently going, I'm becoming the straight-A student that I always knew I could be if I just had focus. Do you think that doing a complete 360 might impress a school like NYU? That's the only school I really want to go to for my bachelor's degree.</p>
<p>By the way, I'm also getting involved in a few extracurricular activities, not just ones that I think might make me appear to be a "good person" on paper, mind you, but ones that I truly care about. I plan to get an internship related to my major next summer.</p>
<p>Another thing I'm worried about is my age. I don't see why it should be an issue, but I have no idea what the policy is on that. I look considerably young for my age, so I can easily fit in with students who are ten years my junior. Actually, my maturity is an advantage because I've finally gotten my partying days all out of my system, so now I'm ready to take my future seriously (even if I am a late bloomer).</p>
<p>For my admissions essay, I don't want to dwell on my misspent youth. Even if I were to write a happy ending to my sob story, I'm afraid it would sound clich</p>