High School Sr. Suspension on Transfer App

Transfer Students
1

Hi guys,
So I’m in a weird situation regarding my academic future. Long story short, I took a year off after high school and am planning to begin community college this fall and then transfer to a real school later on. One thing I’m curious about is how a suspension in high school will affect my apps. I got suspended right around spring break of my senior year for having alcohol on campus (I went to a boarding school, where regulations against this type of stuff were much stricter). This was after I had submitted apps for that year–at the time, I did not inform any of the schools I applied to about it because I had zero intention of going to them anyway (and I didn’t). In December of my gap year, I reapplied to a school or two, but this time I included the suspension because my counselor told me I had to (so I assume it was in the counselor report as well). I wrote a short statement that said very straightforwardly what I got suspended for, that I learned to be more conscientious of how my actions affected others, etc, I did not make excuses or attempt to explain it away, just that I understood why it was wrong and all that junk.

Generally, my stats are ok and I’m an ok student. 35 ACT, 1560 SAT, highest GPA in my class, which was very small tho (we do not do class ranks and I was not valedictorian due to my disciplinary history, but my counselor did tell me I had the highest GPA). I have a unique-ish life story (not ethnicity/race related) and some fairly ok ECs.

So I’m wondering:

How likely is it that this suspension played a major role in my decisions from last year? I applied to a very selective school, and while my stats certainly didn’t guarantee an admission, my app was fairly decent as far as I could tell. So based on your guys’ very limited knowledge of my situation, is it likely the suspension was a major consideration from the beginning or more of a tipping point if it “came down to it”?

And two, how will this affect my application as a transfer student in a year or two? Like I said, gap year, then a year or two of CC. Assuming my grades and everything are still decent, and I am a generally competitive applicant, will this suspension still haunt me on my transfer apps? Will I even have to include it at all still?

If you guys want more info, or more details, message me.

Thanks.

Edit: When I say disciplinary history, I don’t mean I have a long record of doing bad things. I’m mostly referring to my suspension, as well as a previous major violation at my school for a similar thing and my general reputation on campus (neither of which is evident in my apps).

2

You applied to a very selective place, and your stats did not guarantee admission. Period. End of story. About a bazillion other students with stats like yours were also rejected.

Did you apply anywhere other than this place that rejected you? Why are you only considering a CC at this point?

3

If you start at a cc you lose the opportunity to get freshman grants. You may be better off working for a year or two then apply to colleges directly. You do have to.report your disciplinary history, so you’ll have to apply broadly.

4

@Happymom08 I am well aware of that. I guess my question was worded poorly—I’m just wondering broadly if a violation of this nature this is a major factor/deal-breaker, generally speaking, or if it’s more of a secondary thing.

And as for why I’m planning on community college, the answer is manifold. It’s too late at this point to apply to any desirable 4-year colleges (desirable in terms of what I’m looking for), which means I would have to take another gap year and then reapply. I don’t have money to do anything fancy on my gap year, so I would just continue working and probably not impress many colleges. I also have no idea what I want to study and no direction whatsoever in my life, so I want to spend some time at CC so I’m not wasting a year doing nothing but working, while also buying myself time to get a clearer picture of what I want and strengthen my apps. I also want to have CC transcripts/recs to overshadow the high school stats, though I know they will still be taken into consideration.

5

@austinmshauri I know that grants/aid aren’t always great for transfers. But I would also only be paying for two years of tuition since the first two presumably would be at cc, and I could also look into external scholarships. Not to mention, does taking two gap years raise any red flags/ questions? I mean I don’t know, but is that looked down on?

6

Two gap years, or twenty, because you are working and living your life, won’t be held against you. Don’t worry about that.

If you have no idea about what you want to study, then there isn’t much reason to take credit classes at a community college. Look at their non-credit continuing education courses instead. You can explore a lot of different things - maybe even learn a marketable trade - for even less money than for credit courses, get to know instructors who will write solid letters of recommendation (I do that all the time for my non-credit students), and not have an academic record that wrecks your freshman applicant status.

7

Can you afford the full costs of 2 years of college? Outside grants are difficult to find and some colleges reduce any aid they do offer by the amount of the outside grant.

8

@happymomof1 Thanks for the suggestion. I understand that gap years won’t be “held against” me, but it seems to me that they won’t exactly bolster my apps either. I mean, unless I cure cancer or win a nobel prize during them, it seems my applications will be largely the same as they were out of high school, with an additional activity slot for the work I did as well as the onus of justifying my two-year sabbatical. In this case, it seems that I would have simply postponed my academic career for two years for no real reason. Moreover, I’ve found that “students”–even CC students–have access to more structured opportunities than non-students. I’m talking competitions and programs which can boost an application/resume. There are opportunities for non-students, yes, but they are few and far between. If you have any suggestions of things I could do as a non-student that could improve my application, I would gladly welcome them.

9

@Austinmshauri nope, i can’t afford it, but I can usually rely on luck when it comes to money :wink:

10

You won’t fund college on luck. If I were you I’d get a job and start applying to places that will give you automatic merit for your stats. How much can your parents pay per year? If it’s not much, you’ll need to be strategic. Starting at a cc without investigating other options might be a costly mistake.

11

@austinmshauri it was mostly a joke lol. I do have a job already and have put myself in a position where I do not have rent or car payments. I’ve looked into schools and even been accepted at one with pretty generous aid, which I will not be attending. I do not want to go to any random mediocre school that will give me merit for my stats, because I would rather be poor than miserable. I appreciate the advice, but I feel this is straying from the original topic of the thread.

12

How did you construct your application list? Why did a place that you consider to be random and mediocre end up on that list? Why is a CC better than that place?

Work through those questions too.

13

If you do not go to college because you can’t find one that you think is worthy of you, you are likely to be both by the time you are 30.

14

@MWolf haha, it’s not about “worthy” of me–I don’t think that highly of myself–it’s about fitting for me. And one does not need to go to college to be happy or wealthy.

15

For young adults, age 25–34, circa 2017

Median annual income, with high school diploma, no college - $32,000
Median annual income, with undergraduate degree - $51,800

Unless somebody is a trust-fund kid, and doesn’t need to work for a living at all, I cannot see how one can become wealthy on $32,000 a year, unless they are really lucky, or can do something for which people are willing to pay lots of money. Or, of course, if they learn a trade instead of study for a degree.

Unfortunately, luck runs out eventually.

16

Also, almost 40% of college grads work jobs that do not require a degree, and almost 70% have jobs not related to their major. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/05/20/only-27-percent-of-college-grads-have-a-job-related-to-their-major/?utm_term=.755eaa2c412a&noredirect=on)

Sorry to be cliche, but correlation is not causation. You have to take into account that the people who choose to go to college, put in the effort to do well, and actively apply their education to their career search are people who, largely speaking, could have likely been successful on a variety of paths.

I’m not at all saying college won’t help you, depending on who you are and what you want to do. It can be a great thing! And I do very much understand the symbolic value of that expensive piece of paper (even if the practical value is often lost on me). But statistics aren’t everything, and it’s simplistic to think they tell the whole story.

17

@happy1 Lol, my school requires seniors to apply to and be accepted from at least one college (so that they can boast 100% college acceptance on their stats), so my list was largely built on necessity.