Hello! This is going to be quite the explanation so stay tuned:
I am a senior in high school and am struggling with decisions. I switched to online homeschooling in junior year and it was the most difficult decision of my life. I fell behind because of personal struggles in 2016 and am trying to catch up and graduate this summer. My counselor and I originally planned on applying for spring admission but that limits my selection greatly and I’d have to wait till fall 2018 to start at the colleges of my choice and I don’t want to wait that long. Homeschooling is tiring and I am itching in my seat, ready to get out of the house and study in a classroom again. I am stuck between attending Broward College (Community) this fall (fall 2017) or waiting for Spring 2018 to begin at FIU (started application but haven’t submitted transcript yet, still have credits I need). If I submitted I’m pretty sure I would get accepted to FIU but I do NOT want to wait until spring. I am going absolutely crazy and totally need to start college.
My plan is, if I go to BC I would stay for a year to earn 30 credits to then transfer to a major four year university of my choice. My preferred choices are UM (uni of miami), Fordham, NYU (longer shot), New School, Syracuse University, Sarah Lawrence College, Amherst, Northwestern (long shot), and BU (long shot). I am relatively confident but because of my setback I’m not sure what my luck would be. That’s a post for a later time.
My current high school GPA is 4.2 (it was 4.5 until I switched, scale is different), I get As and Bs with one C+ from an art class in 10th grade, and I am a pretty good student. I got a 26 on the ACT and SAT 1110 (thus the reason I want 30 creds before transferring so they don’t have to see my test scores).
What is your opinion? Should I graduate, jump into community and save some money then transfer, or wait an entire year/till spring? Community college gets a bad rep but honestly I want to start as soon as possible to work for my transfer applications. Thanks!
Actually, update GPA is 4.06.
What is your unweighted GPA?
I think the quesion is Broward College for 30 vs transfer to a state school in Florida. You are a high reach at every school you mentioned for transfer, regardless of whether they see your test scores. You also need to factor costs in for every school you mentioned. It will be upwards of $60,000 for most. By “New School” do you mean New College Florida?
Look at the publics in Florida and research transfer rates from CC as well as agreements to accept credits. I’m not sure that UF and FSU are realistic but you could check. They might be great options if you take 60 hours at a CC to build a strong academic record in college.
The mistake we see on here repeatedly is HS students who didn’t get in to their first choice (not your issue), so they apply for transfer after one semester of college and are shocked when they are denied as a transfer (would be your issue). If you want to transfer after 30 hours, you are applying after one semester. That will require test scores. Transfer admission rates are also generally much lower than freshman admit rates.
Things for you to consider . . .
My unweighted GPA right now is 3.61.
It could be a high reach but I am an A/B honors student, high GPA, AP classes, and summer programs. I have a colorful record and I feel like I am way too qualified to be going to Broward College. The only reason I’d be at Broward college is so I am able to start in the fall and boost my college record so I don’t have to share my SAT score with schools, which won’t help my application. The New School is in NYC, it’s not my top choice but it’s an option. Transfer rates I’ve looked at for various schools, but most schools I want to go to are private and out of state, the exception (in state) being University of Miami. Transferring after 30 credits (not hours–I meant credits as in class credits) would be one full year of community college, 15 credits per semester. I would also be in their Honors College program which boosts my record further. I would send my application after first semester of sophomore year, not freshman. This would exempt me from sending test scores, as 30+ credits = no SAT or ACT. Transfer admissions vary depending on the school and my record but it’s the best shot I have right now.
My most confident options for transfer are Sarah Lawrence College, Fordham University, and University of Miami. NYU, BU, and Northwestern are long shot, cross-your-fingers applications.
Unless you have your AA completed 95% of colleges will still require your ACT/SAT scores when you transfer over. Everyone of the colleges you listed are in the reach section even with your stats UM is only second to UF in Florida and extremely expensive have you thought of how you’ll be paying for college? Is financing an issue for you and your family? More realistically you may wanna apply to 2-3 of the schools you currently have listed and USF, UCF, FSU match/Safety schools. Or work on increasing your ACT/SAT scores. Or you could finish your AA with a 3.8+ and give yourself a more competitive edge.
Most of the colleges I want to apply to only require SAT/ACT scores after 30 credits. If I completed one full year of college I would have exactly 30 credits, assuming I applied to spring transfer. I might just stay to get the AA in terms of transferring credits. I might start at FIU in the Spring and stay there for two years (assuming I am accepted) and then transfer. It just depends on when I finish high school. I am working crazy hard to finish and try and get into the Honors College at BC before this August so I can start right away. Even still when I finish I’m sending my transcript to my FIU app just as a backup–then I’d start FIU in spring. UM is second to UF but I think with my credentials I have a pretty high chance. I have friends who had lower stats than me and were accepted to UM. I’m definitely not going to take ACT/SAT again because I spent a lot of money taking the ACT several times + SAT practice books, etc. I’m a senior and the whole standardized test thing is over for me. No more of it. So I’ll either go to BC or FIU in the spring. Either way I want to save money and get my AA so I can transfer over to the school of my choice and finish there with a bachelors. I am not too worried about financial aid as we are relatively comfortable and my college account has enough for at least two years at UM or more.
Keep in mind that most Uni’s don’t award AA degrees and I’m pretty sure FIU is no exception to that. And most colleges give priority to AA holding transfer students especially in Florida.