Hi there,
I am a 30 year old undergraduate transfer student (I just completed my freshman year). I have applied to transfer to UNC to major in creative writing. Prior to receiving my waitlist decision I had been in communication with the head of UNC’s creative writing program, who kindly invited me to sit in on an intermediate nonfiction course and who read some of my writing, told me that I would be eligible to bypass introductory creative writing courses, and offered to put in a good word for me with admissions. High school was a nightmare for me; I grew up in an abusive household and live with PTSD and mental illness, and at the time things were particularly bad. I failed every semester of high school (with an overall GPA of 1.7) save one, in which I achieved a 3.9. I ultimately dropped out and cycled in and out of inpatient psychiatric institutions from about age 17 until about age 28, when I decided that enough was enough - institutional psychiatry had atrophied my aptitude for navigating civil society, so I left and worked on my health largely on my own. Oh, at 26 I briefly studied for and acquired my GED, following undergoing six months of electroconvulsive therapy, which severely impaired my long-term and short-term “working” memory. With my application to UNC I enclosed a personal essay I wrote about the memory loss.
Anyway, after I left the last hospital I moved back to North Carolina to be near my elderly parents, as I’d learned my mother was not doing well. It was sort of peculiar, when I moved back I decided out of nowhere to apply to a small private school in Raleigh, and I guess the head of the adult education program liked my essay enough that he decided to offer me an interview, upon which I was accepted (to Meredith College). I have maintained a 4.0 GPA for the duration of my time there and have won three awards/scholarships. When I initially applied to UNC, though, I’d only completed 18 credit hours, as I’d needed to take a medical leave of absence for the semester before this last one, and I was told by the Vice Provost (Mr. Stephen Farmer) that I was put on the waitlist rather than offered admission outright because I had so few credit hours, and was encouraged to submit my updated transcript - which I went ahead and picked up and dropped off in person today, and which now reflects a 4.0 maintained over 30 credit hours.
I had two outstanding recommendation letters (one by a writing mentor of mine, who is a well-respected author and another by a Meredith professor who knows me well) and my disabilities services counselor at Meredith actually wrote a personal letter to Mr. Farmer sharing some things that I didn’t in my application (that during my time at Meredith I have tutored other students with disabilities free of charge, etc.).
I guess my main concern is that I have so few credit hours, and that things have seemed to extremely competitive this year. I love my current school, but it’s private and unsustainable financially even with the significant scholarships the English department has awarded me for next year, and above and beyond that I can’t think of anything more exciting than being able to both study literature and creative writing. My intention is to go on to pursue my MFA and then PhD in creative nonfiction and to ultimately teach at the college level, and the thought of studying creative writing undergrad and having that time built into school - I love academic writing, but it’s different - is just a dream to me.
I’m so sorry I rambled, but if anyone does read this, would you let me know what you think my chances are?