General Advice Please!!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I’m a current community college sophomore in Colorado. Honestly, I’m seeking general advice regarding which universities to apply to, or start researching in order to complete my four-year degree. Mainly, which universities are realistic for me! My intended major is microbiology or neuroscience, with a minor in Spanish (premed designation). I guess I’m a non-traditional student, I did not go to college right after high school. I had over a 4.0 weighted GPA until the end of junior year until I became overwhelmed by mental illness and pretty much dropped out of school and screwed up everything I had worked for. After barely graduating, I went to culinary school, which turned my life around, and one thing led to another and I’m back in school in a much better mindset. Sorry for the essay, I’m new to the site and trying to give all the details (irrelevant as they may seem haha)!!!

Current college GPA: 4.0.
EC’s:
-I am a paid tutor for statistics & anatomy and physiology at my school
-I have been volunteering at a non-profit for about a year teaching children about sustainable agriculture and nutrition, and I run a local farmers market in an impoverished community selling the produce that we grow with the children.

  • Member of NSLS (National Society of Leadership and Success) and PTK Honor Society
  • I volunteer in the clinic for Planned Parenthood (this is recent)
  • I am working on writing and publishing a cookbook focusing on affordable recipes for people living on a food stamp budget
  • I have worked part/full time (20-40 hrs a week) since I graduated from high school, which has unfortunately prevented me from accomplishing more in terms of EC’s, but hoping to change that after I transfer.

I’m open to all suggestions, as I’m not really committed to living in any particular area of the US. Once again, I’m a non-traditional transfer student, no idea if that helps or hurts me. I love California, so any of the UC’s would be amazing. Maybe Duke or Penn State are possibilities as well? I’m not applying to any Ivy League schools, as I don’t think I have a chance at getting in, but that’s okay with me. Maybe one day! The most important factor in my decision is how affordable it will be, as my parents are considered low-income and I am planning to take a break from work while finishing my Bachelors degree.
I’m a first gen college student, female, and Asian.

Thank you! :slight_smile:

2

Well, transfer students often get the worst aid, so you’re going to have to be very picky about where you apply.

None of the UCs will give you the aid you need, so forget those. Penn State won’t give you aid either.

Stanford and USC give aid to transfers, as well as Cornell. Cornell is one of the few Ivies that accepts transfers.

Pretty much avoid all the OOS publics except UNC and UVA, but run their NPCs to see if you’d get enough aid.

Do your parents own a business?

NPC = Net price calculator…found on each school’s website.

3

Glad to hear things are going much better for you!! =D>

You’ll find CC is a great source of information. However, my first recommendation is that you go to your local library and check out several of the college search books/magazines, such as, Fiske Guide to Colleges, the Best 380 Colleges, Colleges That Change Lives, etc.

You’ll find that many OOS schools are simply too expensive. For example, the UC’s charge $38K+ a year in tuition/fees to OOS students, and they offer little to no aid (to OOS students). As you do your search, you’ll find several OOS schools that may be affordable, including private schools, but keep cost in mind. You have several very good in-state public universities, so start their, and then expand out to OOS privates/public universities that offer a significant amount of financial aid.

Your best friend will be the Net Price Calculator that most schools have available. These can give you some idea how much in aid the school will offer, and what your expected contribution will be. I recommend using College Navigator to search for schools; each schools profile will include tuition (and OOS tuition), and a link to the NPC.

http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

Go ahead and use to check out some of the public universities in Colorado, and run the NPC for CU-Boulder

http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?s=CO&ct=1&ic=1

Go ahead and also run the NPC for Duke, since it’s one of the schools you’ve listed:

http://nces.ed.gov/transfer.asp?sec=true&location=npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/duke

Since you will be a transfer students, the freshman merit scholarships will not be available. However, some schools offer merit aid to transfer students. For example, here’s a list of merit scholarships that could be offered to a transfer student to CU-Boulder.

http://www.colorado.edu/scholarships/auto-consider/transfer

Keep asking questions! If you’re interested in a school with an active forum, then I recommend posting questions about that school in it’s forum. Here’s the link to CU-Boulder’s forum.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-colorado-boulder/

Good Luck!!!

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How old are you now? Some schools, like Wellesley, have special programs for non-traditional transfer students, but for their program the age requirement is 24.

5

You would still be eligible for financial aid. If you are above 24 your assets are considered Independent of your parents. The NPC should give you some guidance. Keep in mind that COL may be significantly higher on the coasts (like 2x more) when you do your planning.

6

Your best bet is to look really hard at your in-state public university system. Look at the main campus and the “directional” universities as well. Staying in your system will give you in-state tuition and the best possible credit transfer scenarios, decreasing your time to graduation.

If you have time to visit campuses, talk to the premed advisor, sit in on a meeting of the premed club, talk to professors who might have research jobs for your med school application. You only have two years at this school, so make sure you prepare yourself to make the most of them.

7

With a 4.0 and a steady job (counts as a ‘strong’ activity) you can apply anywhere. The issue will be costs so run the NPC.
Columbia school of general studies is set up specifically for non traditional students.
Women’s colleges have programs for non traditional students too - check out conditions at Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, smith, Mount Holyoke, Agnes Scott.
Cu boulder , csu, USC, Stanford, Cornell cals are also strong possibilities.

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Stanford is a ridiculous lottery for transfers. The current common data set shows 20 students out of 2000 applicants accepted. It’s not a strong possibility for anyone.

9

I am 21!

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21 is not really a non-traditional student. You’re only a couple of years behind your peers. What were your SAT/ACT scores? What was your cum HS GPA? The more competitive schools include your HS info for transfer consideration. You can look up the Common Data Set for most schools (google Common Data Set and the school name). Section D shows what transfer info is used for admission.

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@“Erin’s Dad” Gotcha. I googled non-traditional college student and saw something that resembled my experience so I just threw that in! My ACT was a 32 taken once (I don’t remember the specific scores, something like 36 English, 36 reading, 23 math and 29 science) and I am actually not sure what my final HS GPA was, probably somewhere around a 2 or 2.5 since I stopped attending my senior year. I know that will definitely hurt me, but I was hoping the positive performance in college would outweigh that and I’m not getting my hopes up for any Ivy Leagues or super competitive private schools! Just trying to do the best I can with what I’ve got now.

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CU Boulder requires HS info. http://www.colorado.edu/oda/cds/cds16/index.htm
Look up other Colorado schools and see what section D of the Common Data Set says,

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They should not hold your HS grades against you, since you have proven that you can perform in a community college setting. That is exactly what community colleges are designed to do.