<p>I'm 22 years old and just now starting to look at colleges. I had it pretty rough in HS. My family lost our house, my grades were horrible, we were moving around all over the northeast, and we were basically homeless living in motels and a car for an entire year, sometimes we couldn't even afford to get dinner off the McD's dollar menu. I mean it definitely affected my ability to make it to school sometimes and focus. Some of my grades my junior year and first senior year were in the 40s and 50s, so of course, I was held back.
But my last year of high school (super senior year), we moved to a school that I loved and I did awesome in. I got A's and B's and my average in math was a 95%. I scored advanced on all the state testing. </p>
<p>I know I'm not getting into anywhere like Princeton. But I see schools like Washington State have an acceptance rate of about 85%, UNLV 82%, and ASU 90%. I saw the average SAT score for WSU is 1060, which seems pretty low. Do you think they'd they give someone like me the time of day? I haven't taken the SAT or ACT yet but I plan on taking them this summer and I don't think scoring above a 1060 will be difficult. So not factoring in my potential SAT & ACT scores, based on my circumstances and the turnaround my super senior year, do you think they'd consider someone like me?</p>
<p>I saw the average SAT score for WSU is 1060</p>
<p>That’s for the Math + CR sections only.</p>
<p>Since it sounds like you’re low/modest income, those OOS publics will be unaffordable for you even if you got in. Those schools cost $30-40k per year for an OOS student. You might qualify for a $5500 Pell grant and a $5500 student loan, but that’s all they’d give you.</p>
<p>What is your home state? You need to apply to those schools, and possibly consider starting at a CC first. You have two issues, getting accepted and finding affordable schools. Most schools do not have much aid to give.</p>
<p>If you’re living in a stable environment now, then look into attending your local CC for two years. then transfer to your local state univ. At that point your high school grades won’t count.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response. Yeah, out of state tuition is pretty high. I’m all the way on the east coast too.</p>
<p>I was thinking about joining the National Guard, transferring to a unit in whichever state I go to college in, getting a job, and paying out of state tuition the first year but establish residency the second year, and that the Guard would help me with that. But just as I was about sign the Army’s pre-qualification form, the government announced that they cut tuition assistance for the military. So I’m sort of lost right now. Hopefully something good happens but I don’t know what to do. My only worry with CC is I’m not sure if credits transfer and I’ve heard some colleges don’t really take transfer students so easily. Plus, I’ll be 24-25 by the time I’m done with two years at CC.</p>
<p>If all else fails, I may just go active duty military, which is what I wanted to do when I expected to graduate from HS on time (before everything went downhill). But even if I do that, I’ll be 26 before I get out and at least 32 before I get my degree.</p>
<p>Don’t let your age hold you back. My brother inlaw took a while to decide what he wanted to do and didn’t finish undergrad until he was in his his early 30’s. He worked two jobs and has managed to his masters and is working for his phd (he’s 44 now), and no these are not online degrees. My brother worked as a electrical assistant until 24 when he realized they really were not teaching him just using his back for the hard labor, he then started CC and took classes to become a fireman. He has major learning disabitilties but just put his head down and never gave up. He has been a San Francisco Fireman since Oct 2001 (first class after 9-11). Not everyone is ready for college at 18. If you go active duty take advantage of some of the college classes you can take both on site and on line. A friend of mine did this and was able to get into the Army’s PA program and now has a great career. You have already been thru a lot so don’t let anything hold you back you can do it.</p>
<p>Where on the east coast are you. Harvard, Columbia and Penn all have continuing ed or extension programs where non-traditional students can get degrees very inexpensively. </p>
<p>I am most familiar with Harvard, and they don’t care about your HS record. At Harvard, you basically have to get a B average in 3 courses and a B in a particular writing class that counts as one of the 3, and then you are admitted. Most people have day jobs and are getting their degree at night. It’s a high quality program, so you will have to work hard. There were definitely members of the military in some my classes.</p>
<p>RE: CC transfer credits - many students don’t realize that there are lists of which CC courses will transfer to the 4-year colleges and which ones won’t. In California, for instance, there are lists of acceptable courses for transfer to CSUs, and a separate list for transfer to the UCs. These lists are obtainable through the CCs. </p>
<p>Though the college system is different in the northeast, I imagine you could speak with the guidance office about courses more likely to transfer. Many students don’t realize this situation and then are stunned when a large number of their credits don’t transfer. You can avoid that situation by planning the courses carefully ahead of time.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you. You sound determined, and you will go far.</p>
<p>In Mass I believe that there are arrangements with the CC’s to guarantee transfer to the UMass schools. I’m sure there are GPA requirements but it might be something to look into.</p>
<p>Don’t let age hold you back–community colleges and state universities are filled with non-traditional students like yourself. Usually, any credits from a CC will automatically transfer to any public university in the same state and anywhere else the CC has an “articulation agreement” with. And they usually transfer to other universities, you just have to plan in advance.</p>
<p>I’ll be sure to look into the CC to UMass program. Right now, I’m trying to find schools that offer a reputable construction management program that I’ll be able to transfer into since that’s what I want to do. So I’m pretty limited as well. Thanks, everyone. :)</p>