<p>A year ago, I was admitted to a top 25 school as a freshman. On top of not being prepared, I was through some tough times, and was eventually expelled due to some really bad decisions related to academic integrity violations. I left on good terms with the professor who was under the impression that I would be able to start fresh after a semester or two of suspension. Its been over a year, and I'm a semester away from getting my associates in computer science and I was thinking of applying as a transfer student this coming application cycle (for the spring). Luckily, I took advantage of my bad situation and learned and did a lot of cool stuff during the downtime, including working on a few startups and doing research in algorithms with a professor from NYU (which is close to where I live).</p>
<p>I know that my previous record is going to immensely impact my prospects, and I want an honest opinion from the people in this forum on whether or not I have a shot at getting into "good" schools (my targets are Notre Dame, Northwestern, and Cornell). I can say confidently that my "extracurricular involvement" should be extremely competitive (among the top), but I am afraid that schools will simply throw my application in the trash after seeing my record. I also only have a single semester's worth of classes, while most spring transfers apply with over 2 semesters worth of credits, not to mention 2 of those classes were taken online! I am taking 7 classes right now including hardware systems and the hardest level programming as well as calculus 2, calc based physics, and philosophy , all of which I currently have A's in. I know that I probably won't have a shot at the above schools, but what do you guys think about schools like UMich, UIUC, or Berkeley?</p>
<p>I know that I made a mistake, but I'm hoping that the adcoms will see that I learned from the ordeal and took advantage of a bad situation. </p>