<p>I'm a Naval Reservist currently serving on my first deployment overseas in Kuwait. As for my background, I graduated high school in 2006. I scored a 1050 on my SATs (math and verbal combined) and I finished with a 2.4 gpa which is a result of a downward spiral of events after transfering to a public school (for the first time in my life) during my junior year. In 2007 I joined the Navy Reserves to square my life away. Since then, I graduated at the top of my Aviation Electronics class during my training and currently hold a 3.0 gpa with Embry-Riddle. Training to be an aviation electronics technician made me realize how much I enjoyed working with electronics. A lot of what we did touched on material that would be studied in Electircal Engineering programs. One of my instructors in particular actually inspired me to pursue a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. I realize that my high school transcript may not reflect the criteria colleges require engineering applicants to meet. I've e-mailed a handful of admissions offices and I regret to say that only one has actually responded to me. What I am seeking is advice from someone who may be able to point me in the right direction of what kind of four-year college I can apply to. Does anyone know of any places where I might meet their admissions requirements? Or is anyone aware of any institutions (not community colleges) that might be willing to give me a chance to prove myself? Any advice is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Honestly, you probably wont get into a good college with those stats. Thats just reality. We all have our sad stories and regrets, but colleges are looking for numbers.</p>
<p>I’m affraid that the best solution for you is to enroll in a CC in your state and then transfer into a good instate engineering program. Traditionally, this has been the route that students who have messed up in high school have followed.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, the college has to be confident that you can succeed in their program. A story is not going to convince them of that.</p>
<p>Also, dont get yourself into the situation where you go to a “bad” university just because you can get in and dont want to go to a Community college. The “poorer” standard of education will follow you throughout your working career.</p>
<p>Jacjac, </p>
<p>I don’t have much experience with military transitions but I think your plan of action would depend on the school you want to attend. If your goal is to attend a top-tier university, community college is the most likely option however since you already have coursework, you wouldn’t want to merely repeat classes and make no traction on a full degree.
You could also apply to lower tier universities and while your stats aren’t the best, I still feel that your gpa and military experience should help you gain admission. </p>
<p>Are there training programs with the Navy that will allow you to transition to college?</p>
<p>I don’t know why you wouldn’t consider a CC to start? You won’t get your degree from there - you just go for a year or so until you have the grades to transfer. In my opinion this is by far the best route. After a year you can transfer into a great school if you get good grades at CC.</p>
<p>There are lots of great universities that will give you a chance, after a year or two of CC.</p>
<p>Also, the navy is very supportive of education. I’m sure there’s some person or office you can ask for advice.</p>
<p>Go to community college first, get your calculus and physics prerequisites done there, prove you can do well, then transfer. Many CCs have guaranteed transfer programs into 4-year universities that have engineering colleges. Now, that’s not the same thing as guaranteed acceptance into engineering college, but it gets you in the right place.</p>
<p>Study, study, study. Know all about single-variable derivatives before you take calc I, know all about integrals before you take calc II. Be familiar with the material, you’ll do well in the classes, and should have an easier time transferring directly to engineering.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the responses. I have nothing against going to a community college. The only thing that holds me back is how packed they’ve become since the start of the recession. In the state of CT (where I am from) it’s hard to enroll in courses because of the number of students who have began attending. In addition, it would be a better fit for me to attend a school where I can live on campus as opposed to having commute from home. I’ve never ruled out the idea of starting there first, I was only curious if anyone knew of a lower tier school that may give me the opportunity to prove myself.</p>
<p>The packed classes won’t be calc., if your local CC is anything like mine. Weeks into the semester there are still spots open in several of the calc I classes, and I imagine there are more spots available as you go on to calc II, III, etc. Same with calc-based physics.</p>