<pre><code> I am currently a student at a community college in the Dallas area of Texas. I chose to attend CC in favor of a university due to several things going on in my life at the time, but mostly finances. I have attended this CC since my junior year of high school in which I was taking dual credit courses. Due to my lack of direction, and overall motivation, I recieved mostly C's with some A's and B's mixed in during my initial semesters at CC (this is including the three semesters I took while in high school). After deciding that I wanted to attend law school I exhibited an extreme upward trend (after this semester i will have made straight A's for 5 terms; excluding a B in a remedial math class that the CC made me take that doesn't affect my GPA). However, even after turning my grades around, I still had those lower grades affecting my GPA, so I retook every class in which I received > A. This semester I am retaking my last 4 classes and I know for a fact that I will receive A's which will give me a GPA of 4.0. How is this going to look to transfer admissions at schools like NYU and Cornell? My hope was that it would show that I was willing to go back and do what ever I had to to make my goals happen. However, I thought it would be advantageous for me to get an idea of what I should be expecting. If it matters at all, my high school GPA was an unweighted 3.8 and I made a 2250 on the SAT (I'm hoping this proves to a testament to my intellectual abilities). I have included a link to a screen grab of my transcript below in case it helps clarify anything
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<p>The only classes you can get grade forgiveness in are classes where you get a D, F or when you withdraw and retake the class. So those retakes you have on your transcript w a D and W will replace w the higher grade you received. The classes w a C will not receive grade forgiveness.
They will see an upward trend which is always a good sign. </p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. However, after to speaking to a counselor here at my CC I have been reassured that I can retake any class for a higher grade (even a B) and they will only count the retake when calculating my GPA.</p>
<p>That’s interesting, at my CC they only allow retakes on grades D or lower and then the lower grade is dropped from your GPA calculation. I myself was in a similar situation as you and was not motivated my first year. I recieved a couple of F’s for not attending classes. I retook those course and it replaced those F’s as if they never happened. Unfortunatly though the school’s I plan on transferring to include all grades attempted when recalculating your GPA. So even though my CC has grade forgivness some Universities do not. So make sure to check that the Uni’s you want to transfer to for undergrad do not include all attempts and accept grade forgiveness when they recalculate your GPA as a transfer.
All the best to you and you seem very determined and motivated so I know you’ll succeed wherever you plan to go.</p>
<p>Also…about Law school or any graduate school for that matter they always include all attempts at every school you attended when recalculating your GPA.</p>
<p>I think colleges will see you as truly determined and dedicated. That, combined with your good SAT scores should give you some nice options.</p>
<p>If finances are an issue, you’ll need to create your list carefully. NYU is unlikely to give you much aid. Cornell would, and if you need aid you need to look at other schools like it that meet full need for all transfers. Have a good range of schools, some significantly less competitive than Cornell that still meet full need.</p>
<p>I have considered this, and I view it as such that I can risk appearing like a “grade grubber” by retaking classes, or I can have virtually no chance at all by not doing the retakes (I would have a 3.0 GPA, which in the world of selective colleges might as well be a 2.0). Were these courses at a legitimate 4yr institution and peppered throughout my transcript (as in, one or two a semester), I think it would be foolish of me to retake all of them when I had obviously performed to the best of my ability. However, by looking at my transcript, it is clear that I was not performing at my best and that my intelectual ability is far greater than one would assume by viewing my initial grades. I am not the same student I was when I took those courses, I was still in high school when I took most of them and i simply didn’t appreciate the gravity of performing well. I would hope that admissions will find that it speaks volumes to the determination, will, and heart of an applicant that they are willing to retake classes to demonstrate their ability and turn their goals into reality. I plan to, if possible, include an addendum with my applications to outline this concept.</p>
<p>Finances are most certainly an issue and I am fully prepared to be accepted at NYU, but simply not be able to afford it. My mother is a kindergarten teacher and my father is a firefighter, so while I have lived a comfortable life, we definitely can not afford 20-30k a year for tuition. My intention is to apply to NYU with hopes for a financial aid package that in addition to a scholarship makes the cost of attendance more manageable; However, I understand the chances of this happening are extremely slim. Getting to attend Cornell would be epiphanic, but it seems that transfer admissions is extremely selective and I am not sure that I would be competitive. I have done quite a bit of speaking to a transfer counselor at SMU (since they are local to me) and she has been telling me that students with my academic abilities coupled with my financial standing (families making >100k are a rarity in university park where SMU is located) generally attend for free with possibly some money left over to help with living expenses. Nonetheless, I am not sure if a school like SMU will give me the tools I need to ultimately end up at a T10 law school. </p>
