From high school slacker to ivy/equivalant

[sweatypi]

<p>Hey guys, I'm a senior in high school this year, and I'll never make it to one of my dreams schools due to my horrendous academics.</p>

<p>However, I would still like to shoot for a transfer some day. My top schools, in order of interest are:</p>

<ol>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Olin</li>
<li>UPenn</li>
</ol>

<p>Again, my HS stats are far beyond awful:</p>

<p>GPA at end of Junior year: 1.6
ACT: 29 (will be retaking)
ECS: Full time job for five years (30+ hours a week), one part time job on top of that during sophomore year; Three years FIRST robotics as team captain, head engineer, programer, designer; Three years science club; One year volunteer work.
Letters of Rec: Awesome one from my counselor, good one from my physics/chem teacher, good one from a pastor
AP'S: I haven't taken any tests yet, so this year: AP Comp Sci, AP Gov, AP stats, AP physics C. I plan on doing awesome on all of these.
SENIOR YEAR GPA: 4.0 (I will be maintaining this.)</p>

<p>The 1.6 is due to my monumental difficult and frustrating life causing me to lose interest in school. this is thoroughly explained in my personal statement. My gpa aside, I have still been learning, as represented by my current grades and classes, and I know I am more than capable of succeeding at a top tier university.</p>

<p>and if it matters, I'm becoming emancipated.</p>

<p>Obviously, no admissions officer at northwestern is going to think that, so I must go the transfer route. This is where I need help.</p>

<p>I'm deciding between three schools right now: My state university (MT), South Dakota School of mines and tech., or Milwaukee School of engineering.</p>

<p>I'm interested primarily in mechanical engineering, but am still at a toss up between aero and electrical, or physics and math.</p>

<p>So given my stats and options, where does CC think I should go? And what all can I do to make my chances all the better? I am confident in my essays, so I'm not worried about those. I am just worried on whether or not my school choice will effect my chances for admission. Cost, Course difficulty, etc, all worry me. I obviously want to maintain a high gpa to better my chances, and that will probably be more difficult at an engineering school than my state uni. Also, I'm unsure as to whether location or name has anything to do with it. </p>

<p>I'm quite confused on where to go, and I want to get a head start on transferring to Northwestern, if not the other four. I understand I may fall in love with the first school I go to and dismiss this entirely, but, just in case. I want it to be an option.</p>

<p>Thanks for any help.</p>

[ucbalumnus]

<p>Realistically, a 1.6 GPA is going to be a hard sell to any four year university.</p>

<p>You likely have to start at a community college, take the preparatory courses for your major (math, physics, English composition, etc.), and then transfer to a four year school. Your transfer prospects (including how selective a school you have a realistic chance to transfer to) will be largely determined by how well you do at the community college, though you should be aware that the most transfer-friendly schools are public universities, particularly those in the same state as your community college. Many public universities have transfer credit equivalency listings so that you know what courses to take at your community college. Example: [MSU</a> 2010-2012 Catalog - Admission as an Undergraduate Student](<a href=“http://www.montana.edu/wwwcat/cat2010/admission/admit12.html]MSU”>http://www.montana.edu/wwwcat/cat2010/admission/admit12.html) .</p>

<p>Unfortunately, it does look like Montana community college offerings in math and physics may be limited (e.g. no math beyond calculus 2, when calculus 3, linear algebra, and differential equations are typically needed), based on the above link. So you may have to try transferring at the sophomore level instead of the junior level, but your high school record is more likely to be looked at then (although if you do get a 4.0 senior year, that may help).</p>

<p>Among Montana schools, Montana State - Bozeman has mechanical engineering. Among South Dakota schools, South Dakota Mines and South Dakota State have mechanical engineering. If you can get into any of these schools as either a transfer or freshman, you should be able to get a decent education in mechanical engineering (they meet [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET%5B/url”&gt;http://www.abet.org]ABET[/url</a>] accreditation).</p>

<p>Use the net price calculator at each school’s web site to get a financial aid estimate.</p>