How Far Can I Go?

Applying to College
1

How far will a 4.0 GPA in community college go?

I’m 29. In h.s. i got a 1440 on the SATs but then I dropped out. Now I have my GED and a 4.0 GPA for 32 credits. At the end of the spring I will have 50 credits, be done with Gen. Chem. I and Calc I and hopefully still a 4.0.

Basically all I have going for me is my GPA, my old test scores, and I could probably write some pretty good admissions essays. I don’t have much in the way of a good work history or other kinds of extra curricular things I could put on an application. I was a preschool teacher the last couple years until I quit so I could go back to school fulltime. I just got hired as a part time tutor at my college.

I want to major in Engineering or Computer Science. Some schools require transfers to take up to Calc III/Physics II before transferring. If I did that it would take another year to get there. I feel that time is better spent at my transfer school because I could take the Calc sequence as well as some courses in my major(my college has no computer science or engineering classes). I could get up to Calc II and Physics I in the summer right before transferring.

Would those summer classes be able to be put on applications? Or do they typically only look as far as Spring?

Could I get into a good school for this Fall? My dream school is Cornell. My I’d-still-be-pretty-proud-to-get-in school is Virginia Tech. My safety school is USF(South Florida). USF is local for me, but I think I’d really like to ‘go away’ when I transfer.

Another question is online classes. My college told me that online classes are exactly the same as traditional classes but now Ive come to see that many universities won’t give credit for them. My transcripts don’t say whether a class was online or not. I’ve taken some classes(not all) online so I’m worried about this. Could the universities tell if a class was online or not?

In short, how good of a school could I have a decent shot at getting in at with my 4.0 gpa, Calc 1 or 2, and little extra curriculars? The USF admissions guy said I was pretty much guaranteed to be accepted for Fall 2011 as long as everything kept on going as planned.

2

I am poor enough that even the application fees are going to be difficult!

I think if I actually got into Cornell I’d find a way to pay for it. There are a million scholarships, grants, and, if worse came to worst, loans. Not to sound unrealistic but if I actually got into Cornell and it were Cornell at full price vs USF(almost nothing being instate) I would choose Cornell.

3

Most big schools take application fee waivers for students who, like you or I, are seriously financially burdened by paying them. Google it, bro.

4

I have a cousin that went to a state school (UCLA) with a 4.0 from CC. She got a 4.0 there and then went to Harvard Medical School.

Sky’s the limit, though I wouldn’t waste all your money on two years of undergrad if you can go to a prestigious state school.

5

Yeah, I agree about the wasting of money on undergrad. I’ve come to the decision that if I don’t get in with good financial aid to the privates I’ve applied I will go to my state school in the Fall. Since I’m older than the typical undergrad I’ve got less time to pay off student loans. I’m gonna try to keep them down to minimum or none at all if possible.