<p>I came to the US about a year ago, and since i'm in HS here i've done an outstanding job. My GPA is 3.4 and well I came here with the intention to go to an American college. However, i found the money barrier. My family has literaly no money for my college education. I got acepted into Rutgers, but i don't like so much the campusthat i got into. Going there means to get into debt, and do not want to keep paying my college til' i'm 40. I am a kind of desperate right now, when i just came here everyone told me go to a community college, and then transfer. But since I got accepted into Rutgers everyone is saying crap about community colleges; that they are boring, not interesting, that the people that goes there are mostly bumps that couldn't make it to a 4 year school. I am just soooo confused, and i am feeling a kind of helpless now. The things is, i have no money. my only option is Rutgers, and i did not get into where i wanted to (mostly cuz' my sat's) and i don't think i will apply to any other school, I wanna get into engineering, and the best arround here is Rutgers. I know if i apply to other schools out of Jersey i would get in, but it goes back to the money issue. Then, I mean, i feel that i have tried so hard, and now i'll have to go with the crowd of those that couldn't make it to a real school. </p>
<p>any light, advice, comment?</p>
<p>One reason people go to community college is because of limited fianacial resources.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with going to a community college. If you don’t have the money for a more expensive school, go ahead and take out a loan. But since you don’t want to do that because you don’t want to go in debt, then you have no other choice but to go to a community college first then work your way up. Are you a citizen or an eligible non-resident? If you are, then you can apply for FAFSA and might get some grant money. You have to be realistic…if you don’t have the money, then don’t force it. That doesn’t mean, you still can’t go to college. Your mind is set for Rutgers, that’s why you feel like you have nowhere else to go or there’s nothing else you can do. College is very expensive here in the U.S., that’s a big percentage of the population decides not to go to college, or go to college after they find a job and save up for it. If college was affordable, everybody will be going to college…but that’s just not the case.</p>
<p>“But since I got accepted into Rutgers everyone is saying crap about community colleges; that they are boring, not interesting, that the people that goes there are mostly bumps that couldn’t make it to a 4 year school.”</p>
<p>That’s not true. I used to be a college professor. The top student in the history of the department in which I taught had started at community college because of finances.</p>
<p>I also have taken community college classes for fun as an adult. I met many bright, hard working students who were at CC because of finances. I also met students who were very bright, but had goofed off during high school, so chose to go to community college, where they were working hard and excelling. One such student now is in law school.</p>
<p>Given the economy, increasing numbers of bright students are beginning college at community college due to finances.</p>
<p>Go visit your closest community college. Talk to the admissions officers and the transfer counselor. If you start at a New Jersey community college, there probably will be a formal articulation agreement with Rutgers. This means that if you spend the first two years at the community college, and you complete a specific series of courses, and earn a specific GPA in those courses, you should be able to transfer into Rutgers after two years.</p>
<p>While you are visiting that community college, take a good look around you. There will be many other recent immigrant students just like yourself. They don’t have much money either, and many of them are working full-time to help support their families and to pay for their studies. You will not be alone.</p>
<p>If you are willing to work hard, you can make a good future for yourself starting at a community college.</p>
<p>Are you a senior in high school now? You say that you’ve already been rejected by some colleges?</p>
<p>Are you a US citizen or a green card resident. If not, getting any funding is very unlikely.</p>
<p>Are you allowed to work in the US?</p>
<p>Does your family live here? (You say that you came here to go to an American school.)</p>
<p>Have you tried taking the ACT?</p>
<p>i am senior. my family lives here. and we all have green card (permanent residents)</p>
<p>not really, should i take the act?
well, i called up Rutgers. They told me that i could re-apply by sending them my new SAT scores and a letter asking them to reconsider my admission (engineering college). well, the SAT is in 2 days. i am only 10 points away from what they ask for engineering. should i try to make it? I know the thing of the debt, but if i look from another perspective is not that bad. I can get a loan, a job, and some financial aid. I really hate to quit. This can sound stupid, but right now community college is the image of failing in the atempt to make it to Rutgers. Should i just close my eyes, take the jump and make it? or i better stop making my life miserable and just go to a community college, save money and then transfer?</p>
<p>i know… i am so confused… help…</p>
<p>Walk, some students find that they prefer the ACT. You might want to take an official practice test just to see what would happen.</p>
<p>Go to CC, save $, transfer. Why saddle yourself with debt? And you’ll still have the Rutgers diploma.</p>
<p>Some community colleges have agreements with the four-year universities for transfering and it makes it a smooth transition. Community colleges are filled with many different types of students.</p>
<p>1) Take the SAT this weekend since you are already registered for it. Then re-submit your Rutgers application.</p>
<p>2) Visit the NJ Transfer website <a href=“http://www.njtransfer.org/[/url]”>http://www.njtransfer.org/</a> and see what your options could be if you start out at a community college. It looks like the policy is quite liberal:</p>
<p>“On September 22, 2008, The New Jersey Presidents’ Council approved the Comprehensive State-Wide Transfer Agreement, effective immediately. Under the provisions of this Agreement, an Associate of Arts (A.A) or Associate of Science (A.S.) degree from a New Jersey community college will be fully transferable as the first two years of a baccalaureate degree program at any New Jersey public four-year institution. Additionally, students transferring with an A.A. or A.S. degree will be considered to have completed all lower division General Education requirements.”</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Take the SAT</p>
<p>Take the ACT</p>
<p>You don’t need to make a final decision NOW. See how you do on the above, resubmit your app, wait to see FA package, and then decide.</p>
<p>well. i’ve taken a decision. I will go to RU Newark SAS. Then i will find the way to transfer to engineering. I will go on monday to Newark to ask how i need to do if i want to transfer between school. I hope this will be my best bet. Any way, I think it is better than go to a community college and then take the risk of don’t be accepted for the transference. I also realized that the stuff with the credit is not very dramatic, and I think that we’ll be able to handle it.</p>
<p>You should familiarize yourself with the engineering school requirements to get an idea of how long it will take to get a degree with this approach. Course sequencing can mean that it takes more than four years to graduate and you may have lower priority in getting into engineering courses when you aren’t an engineering major.</p>