Much Needed Transfer Advice Please

<p>Hi, I'm new here to CC and I'm not entirely sure where I put this topic. I hope it's in the right place. Anyway, I am interested in transferring schools and I am curious about my chances at various state schools. </p>

<p>I was going to Washington University in St. Louis for a year and a half, but was having a rough time with various personal troubles (parents' divorce, deaths of two people who were close to me, I was raped, etc, etc) so that I could not really focus on school at the time. I left the school with a GPA of 2.2, so I did not flunk out...but I was far, far from doing well. A year later, after tackling my problems and getting away and clearing my mind, I really want a second chance. I guess my first question here is: how honest should I be on my transfer application? Should I tell the admission staff <em>why</em> I was having these problems, or would that sound like I'm whining? I feel like I am mentally prepared to tackle school now to the best of my abilities without being distracted by a bunch of stuff like I was at WashU...but how do I convince my transfer school that these problems have been taken care of? Is it even necessary? Would being honest work in my favor, or against me?</p>

<p>Some other background information: I have about 12 credit hours from community college with all A's after I dropped out of WashU. I got one B at 3 credit units from Ole Miss in basket weaving (LOL). My horrid grades at WashU are more or less of an anomaly...all throughout high school, I got A's and was involved in extracurricular activities. I don't remember my exact SAT scores, but I <em>think</em> the cumulative score was 22-something. How much does this matter now that I've screwed up so much after high school? </p>

<p>I have Utah residency. The schools I am looking to transfer to are: (1) University of Texas at Austin, (2) University of Utah, (3) Texas A&M, and possibly (4) BYU (even though I'm not LDS, but I digress...). I want to study psychology and hopefully, with any luck, get into a PhD graduate school program in clinical psychology. So...any advice? How hard will it be to get into these schools? Sorry my question is so specific, but I could really use some help from people who know more than I do. </p>

<p>Thank you :)</p>

<p>I’m sorry for your tough circumstances and wish you good luck in your applications. If I were you, I wouldn’t just list reasons you had trouble at Wash U. and leave it at that. Rather than that, you could describe what happened and how it made you learn about yourself and what you want to do in your life. I can see very obvious parallels between having these significant personal problems and wanting to become a clinical psychologist - to perhaps help people through similar problems later on.</p>

<p>I hope I’m not jumping to any conclusions and I apologize if I did, but I think you have a compelling story to tell. Don’t say the ‘why’ but more the “how you got to where you are now” and how these experiences developed you as a person.</p>

<p>Anyways, hope I helped.</p>