My Life has been turned upside down! Please help me out CC!

Transfer Students
1

<p>I can't believe this! I just had a one hour "discussion" with the head of the English department of my community college.
Because I've taken [x] amount of credits there, I now need to talk to her in order to register for more classes. She's trying to get me to take classes that will help me to get my associate's degree, while I'M trying to take higher level classes that will make me look like a much stronger applicant for the Fall 2011 semester. I never came to this school with any interest in getting an associate's degree. I came here from a good liberal arts school that was too expensive for me (incurred $25,000 in loans on me) so that I could go to school for free while taking as many high level courses as possible so I can look good and transfer into an elite school with much more benevolent financial aid packages.
So she's telling me I have to take this class called EN102- Composition II because it's a pre-requisite for all of the higher 200 level English classes. I've already taken 3 200 level English classes at my community college (EN214- Shakespearean Survey- A, EN216 World Literature II- A, with 2 weeks to go in the semester EN290 Topics in Literature: Comedy- A, with 2 weeks to go in the semester) because for the past 2 semesters, I didn't have to see an adviser, I was just allowed to talk to a counselor who registered me for the classes I wanted (pretty silly, isn't it? I'm used to registering for classes on my own, not having a counselor do it for me), in some cases the question of the pre-requisite classes for those courses was brought up, but I smooth-talked my way into the classes, and on one occassion I had a professor sign me in.</p>

<p>It seems like my whole future is going through some sort of whirlpool. Everyone's advising me to apply to an in-state school in New Jersey, but I didn't try so hard this far to go to a school I could have easily gotten into out of high school. My dream has always been to go to an elite university like Penn or Northwestern. </p>

<p>Now it seems like my dreams are falling apart because I got rejected by Vanderbilt so I'm assuming I'll likely get rejected by Northwestern too.
Am I really going to have settle and go to one of the other schools I applied to, provided I get in, such as Boston College or Fordham??? It's just not fair, I've calculated that as long as I continue working hard through the last 2 weeks of this semester, I'll have a 3.73 cumulative GPA through 59 credits. I honestly don't think I'm THAT far away from realizing my dream and getting into an elite undergraduate school. I just need the classes I requested for next semester and for the Spring 2011 semester.</p>

<p>I can't have a schedule littered with 100 level pre-requisite courses! Well actually it's only that one composition course, but I really don't want to take it. Some schools like Cal-Berkeley don't require you to take those courses if you had a 700+ on the Writing section of your SAT. I had a 720 on the Writing Section so I tried to talk the Head of the Department into letting me take the courses I wanted and skip that silly comp course. </p>

<p>Please help me out. My whole life is in disarray right now. It all goes back to those essays I wrote for my transfer applications. I thought they were good, but they were only a page and a half long and a couple of them were sympathy essays. (hell, I was just being honest, my mom is addicted to prescription drugs, my sister's a felon, and this is the environment I've had to live in while going to school)</p>

<p>What do you think I should do???</p>

2

<p>When you transfer, the college where you go will evaluate all your credits and decide what you will need to graduate, and believe it or not, it might require the low-level comp/lit class. Getting an associate’s degree can help you to transfer IF the college where you transfer has some kind of articulation agreement with your CC. However, if you have no intention a seeking the associate’s, perhaps you could ask about taking a CLEP test or applying AP credits if you have them to get that pesky low-level English class out of the way.</p>

<p>All colleges have some requirements; you are just at a point where what they want you to take is not of interest. Once you know where you are transferring, perhaps you can find out what that college requires. It is going to be cheaper to take it where you are if you have to have it for the four-year school. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Yeah I know. My CC obviously doesn’t have an articulation agreement with any of the schools I applied to. And some of the classes I need to fulfill pre-requisite requirements for my English major at other schools are the 200 level classes (such as EN211 Modern Poetry, which would fulfill the poetry requirement at Penn CAS for example)
I’m really not concerned about credits that won’t transfer, I’ve taken a bunch that won’t transfer and it doesn’t bother me one bit because I’m glad I took the classes and did well because they were higher level classes. I don’t mind transferring in as a sophomore to a top school even though I will have spent 3 years in college by the end of the Spring 2011 semester, I just want to get in, that would make my life! Having sophomore status will be even better than transferring in as a junior, at least I’ll be able to utilize internship opportunities during the summers (I plan to go to law school upon completing my bachelor’s degree).</p>

<p>I’m honestly considering taking the CLEP test, but that would only get me out of Composition I (I haven’t taken that either). The more I think about it, the more it looks like I’m going to have shell out my own money, take and pass the CLEP test and then take composition II in the Fall. This is such a mess, if only I could just get into Northwestern THIS Fall… but that’s not going to happen =/</p>