So I need some advice, I applied to a few schools this past application period in hopes of transferring out of my community college and entering a 4 year university. The only thing is I ended up taking some extra courses from another school after I finished applying. So now I have 2 colleges, one of which I sent out my transcripts from (the main college I take classes in) and the second being a school where I am only planning on ever taking 2 classes to round out my credits. In addition, I did not apply to as many universities as I should have this past application period and I am wondering whether or not it would be a wise decision to hold off on deciding on a school that I applied to and apply to more schools for a Spring 2021 decision. This way I would have both transcripts completed and I would be able to apply to more schools that have peaked my interests since my initial transfer applications were sent out. Good or bad idea? Will potential universities dislike the fact that I took a break from school for a semester while I weighed my options?
To add a bit of context:
Currently enrolled in a community college and will receive my AA degree by the end of this spring semester.
I am looking to apply to top schools as my gpa is a 3.8.
The colleges I have applied to for the Fall 2020 decision are as follows: Cornell , Columbia, Northwestern and a couple of fallback options but I want to add good amount of schools to that list, something I regretfully overlooked previously.
Any help to this situation would be gladly considered and appreciated!
“Cornell , Columbia, Northwestern and a couple of fallback options”
Cornell, Columbia, and Northwestern are reaches for transfer students with nothing but A’s in community college. I would not count on any of them coming through unless you have already been accepted. A 3.8 GPA in college is quite good and will help you get into a good university, but there are other students with higher GPAs.
What are your “fallback options”?
On the one hand life is not a race and taking a gap year is perfectly reasonable. On the other hand there are a lot of very good universities where you can get a strong education and depending upon what your fallback options are you might be already in at a very good school.
I would expect universities to want a transcript from every college that you have grades from. You should at least tell them that you have taken these couple of extra classes. Did you take them this past semester (which either just ended or is about to end), or are you going to take them over the summer?
Yes I agree they are reaches, that is precisely why I am debating taking time off in order to apply to a few different places that will open up my options. Well the fallback options are just some state schools in NY. And yes those classes are ones I am taking currently and end when this semester concludes. I have already updated my applications to reflect the new classes. My problem being that the reach schools may just be that, too far of a reach and my fallback options may have not been the best options. That is my reason for debating on whether or not I apply for the next term, so I can add options that are great schools that are not too far of a reach without being considered fallback options.