<p>I was a 3.8-4.0 student at Rutgers College who had a bad semester (due to personal circumstances and subsequent depression) as a Junior. That academic 180 culminated in a dismissal after not making a recovery during probation. </p>
<p>Now I am more confused than ever, because I don't know what people in my situation do, and it's not like I can go to my old Dean for a counseling session! Someone in a transfer thread said that there have been NYU transfers from community colleges, but I still haven't found anything in the forums about recovering from a dismissal.</p>
<p>Given my history, would a 4.0 GPA at a community college (which I know I could pull off) after one semester be enough to get me accepted to a school with a better reputation than Rutgers? My dream school is NYU--should I kill the dream?</p>
<p>Confounding factors:</p>
<p>-I don't have scores for the Writing portion of the SATs because they didn't require them yet when I was an incoming freshman.
-I have legacy at NYU, if that helps, although...
-...I come from a disadvantaged background in spite of that. Being white and female is working against me since AA is stronger than ever this year; it's also one of the most stringent years for admissions in history due to Boomer kids coming of age (and 2008 isn't looking up--read the NY Times article if you want to feel as ill as I do).
-Even more upsetting to me is that my ECs are weak because I have had to work since I was a teenager (and had to work full-time during my college years to support myself). </p>
<p>I realize how illogical it must seem to aspire to attend a better school than the one from which I was dismissed. But even though I am obviously not Ivy material, I felt overqualified for RU while I was there, and I don't want to go back to that or someplace worse. What's the best I can hope for? NYU or BC would be a dream come true...</p>
<p>What would it take to get me there, if it's even plausible?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance! It's been a rough two years...</p>