<p>I need some advice on the transferring process, and what my options would be for my situation</p>
<p>Basically when i was 18 I attended an out of state four year school. Long story short, I did not do well there. I had two medical withdrawals done my freshmen semesters. My second year i got a 2.5 gpa the fall semester, but things fall apart and i ended up withdrawing again in the spring. After that i left the school with an admin hold.</p>
<p>Back in January I signed up for my local community college, after not attending school last fall. I've been attending full time in the spring, and the summer I and summer II semesters. I got two Bs and a C+, for summer I I have 9 credits with straight As, and summer II B and C+. </p>
<p>In the spring i declared an education major and took general ed courses. Did the same in summer I, but at that point I decided that teaching was not something i wanted to do anymore. I switched my major to accounting to see if i would enjoy that. I took two business courses and a math remedial course, didn't do as well as I had hoped and my GPA dropped a bit. </p>
<p>Overall I have a 2.9 GPA with 34 credits earned</p>
<p>Now I'm 100% positive that accounting is not what i want to do. I'm considering computer science now instead, pretty much made up my mind. The problem is I can't take most of the required courses. Just the math alone would require 3-4 prerequisites. But this is not the main concern that I have right now. </p>
<p>While researching schools it seems like my options are limited transfer-wise. Even with straight As this coming fall I would not get into a really good school. Not to mention scholarship/grant opportunities would be slim.</p>
<p>So I'm wondering what are my options? I'm looking to transfer for the Fall 2014 semester. I want to go to a school with a large engineering undergrad population. The graduation rate is extremely important to me as well; I'd prefer over 80% within six years. Also money is a huge factor. Assuming I get all As this fall and spring semester what else can I do to improve my chances? What big of a role will my first school's performance play?</p>
<p>I’ve a different story: Engineering major, GPA 2.97, oversea university & no-residence at U.S. but anyway I managed to transfer to US, majoring in “undeclared”, which requires much less than CS degree. I am still working towards my CS degree! </p>
<p>Best wishes, man. I thought “TheTransferBook” could be a good general guide, which I am currently reading…</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations on your transition and success so far. I’ve met a few foreign students in the past, so I’m aware of how difficult it can be.</p>
<p>But the problem isnt so much transfering, because I know i can get into certain schools right now if i want too. The issue is getting into the schools that have the characteristics I’m looking for, mainly graduation rate and average FA need met over 80%. But a lot of those schools appear difficult to get into and I’m not sure what my chances are, or what they will be in the future</p>
<p>These are some of the schools that I am considering right now, but I’m going to narrow down the list to eight. This list is not concrete either, since I’m completely unsure of what schools I should apply too. Rutgers, NJIT, and TCNJ are staying no matter what since they’re in state schools.</p>
<p>University of Rochester(NY)
University of Michigan
University of Virginia
Clemson University
rutgers newark/new brunswick
the college of new jersey
Lehigh University
North Carolina state
Wake Forest University
njit
Virginia Tech
Iowa State University</p>
<p>Merit aid is very limited for transfers, see the Resources sticky thread for a link to some opportunities. Need based FA can also be less for transfers than for fr admits, be sure to read the college websites for FA policies. And other than UVA on your list, you are likely to receive little FA from any of the OOS publics.</p>
<p>You should plan to get documentation of your medical withdrawals. Your earlier academic performance always matters, even if you were in a different major. I think you’re being unrealistic in expecting to be admitted to some of the top engineering schools with: low college gpa, low standardized testing, no ECs, and I’m assuming no experience in CS.</p>
I think you should stay in community college and study those required courses for Computer Science. If you don’t like the community college that you’re attending, you should try to find another one as soon as possible.</p>
<p>So you’re saying even if I do to get into some of these schools, odds are I will not get much FA? Even if my application determines I have need? I go to community college for free now because of my family’s income. What else can i do to improve my chances?</p>
<p>And I know my chances of getting into those schools is very small. That’s why I’m asking if i were to show consistency from this point on, getting straight As, would it make any difference? Especially if it’s in CS and math courses. Will the low ACT score hurt me now after a few college semesters? Also is it too late to get involved, although I’m not really sure what to get involved in at that school.</p>
<p>4kidsdad if i cannot get into the school I want, or if it’s too expensive I will stay at the community college. But right now I have 34 credits, so it wont take much longer to hit the 60 credit mark, as I plan to attend full time for both semesters. What I’m afraid of is that if i were to change community colleges, it would appear as if I flop too much on schools in addition to my major. When I went in to talk to the transfer advisor, she claimed I was “hopping” to schools since i wanted to transfer so soon.</p>
<p>I make an effort to write precisely, so please go back and read exactly what I wrote.</p>
<p>Other than UVA and UCH-CH, public colleges provide little need based FA to OOS students outside of loans. </p>
<p>My point about the testing score is that it’s combined with all of the other factors and doesn’t help your case.</p>
<p>Here’s how I see your academic record:</p>
<p>fr year: two medically related withdrawals (hopefully supported by documentation; but not a great academic record).
soph year: poor fall sem followed by withdrawal sp sem. (poor academic record)
fall: not in college
sp: sub 3.0 average (OK but not great)
summer 1: 4.0 (great for 2/3 classes)
summer 2: sub 3.0 average (OK but not great)
fall: shooting for 4.0 with full load</p>
<p>Consistency from this point on means 1 sem. Of course it will help you to get a 4.0 with a full load, but will it make you a competitive candidate for many of those schools? That’s questionable, particularly since you’re just now taking prerequisites for your intended major.</p>
<p>I would agree with your advisor that with the combination of your past record and lack of experience in CS, it’s too early to transfer to a 4 yr.</p>
<p>I want to make sure I understand this correctly</p>
<p>You’re telling me that there are better opportunities for FA with private schools, as far as OOS schools are concerned? In other words I should consider private schools moreso than public? Like I said expense is a huge factor for me. </p>
<p>Honesty I’m not too sure if i have documentation outside of my personal letter, and the letter I received from the university. What else should i have, as I’m assuming it would be for my applications? </p>
<p>Like I said before I’m willing to stay in community college for now. So it wouldnt be a huge deal if i am over 60 credits by next fall? I worry about them not taking a bunch of classes, and then I end up taking even longer to finish. Should I just wait to apply to schools for the fall 2015 semester, strengthening my GPA and doing a few ECs in the process?</p>
<p>As far as FA, my main point is that your IS publics are likely going to be much more affordable than OOS publics. Most states have been in fiscal crisis for several years now, and full pay OOS students (who pay substantially more than IS tuition) are one source of revenue. </p>
<p>As far as privates, yes, some will be more generous with their Institutional FA, however these are also the most selective colleges. In order to overcome the generally higher tuition of a private, a school will need to offer substantial need based FA, and hopefully with little/no loans. </p>
<p>Don’t you have something on your transcripts that state that the withdrawals were due to medical reasons? Also, medical records that would document that taking care of your condition would impact your ability to undertake coursework.</p>
<p>It seems to me that your first step should be taking the CS prereq courses this fall and making sure that that’s the path you want to take. Confirming to yourself that you like CS should coincide with getting good grades which will help your transfer plans. If you could find some work in the CS field would also help both of these too. </p>
<p>As far as number of credits and transferrable credits, that’s going to vary with the school. Your advisor should be the best person to tell you about what you need to do to transfer to a 4 yr IS public.</p>
<p>I agree that you need to take some CS classes and math before you start picking transfer schools. It is unrealistic to think that you will be able to pull 4.0. And many of those schools just look unrealistic with your record.</p>
<p>If you were only just in remedial math that does not point to doing well in a CS degree because you need at least 2 levels of calculus, discrete mathematics, likely linear algebra and possibly probability/stats.</p>
<p>CS is not the same program as CS Engineering. If you can manage to pull of a CS degree then don’t be overly worried that it is at a top school or not. Just get it done.</p>
<p>That makes sense about the OOS schools, as I did pay a lot of money out of pocket for my first school. In that case I’ll keep this in mind when I consider schools in the future. Thanks for letting me know this.</p>
<p>Yes it does say medical withdrawal on it. What exactly do you meet it would impact my ability to take courses? How much does that influence the admissions process?</p>
<p>I’m most likely still going to take the courses in my CC, and just wait another year. The only thing I’m wondering is that if i get the admin hold off from the first school, improve the GPA drastically, and participate in ECs, does this improve my chances for the schools on my list? Are some of these schools not an option no matter what i do after this point, due to my early history? </p>
<p>Also I disagree it’s unrealistic to get a 4.0, but we’ll see what happens. I’m aware of how much math is in the degree, and it’s not an issue</p>