Greetings Everyone:
I am currently a student who plans at a two-year institution and i am my current goal is to transfer to Stanford University and pursue a double major in Computer Science and Economics. At this current moment in time I have obtained a full scholarship along with what many would consider a very healthy refund check. This being noted the program I am currently enrolled in requires me to maintain a 3.5 GPA. At this current moment in time my GPA is 3.25. The low-grade point average is due to classes I took at the college level while as a high school student. For the past weeks in the Semester I have been very stressed. Out of the six classes I am taking i currently have two B’s a 85% and a 86%. This being noted in order to maintain my academic status I need to earn all A’s this upcoming Semester. This being stated are there any words advice you may have for achieving a;; A’s as a college Freshmen. Among my circle of Friends achieving all A’s is rather hence, I know it is possible. However, at the back of mind there lies doubt and uncertainty in the future. How can I continue to improve my grades over the course of the next ten weeks with the goal of achieving a 4.0 for the Spring Semester.
What classes will you be taking? Maybe people can give you more specific tips for those courses.
Do you realize how hard it is for ANYONE to transfer to Stanford?
http://admission.stanford.edu/application/transfer/
I think you need to find a Plan B!
This being noted my program has had a significant number of student accepted into Stanford University in the past. Of course I won’t be applying just to Stanford but I will be aiming for schools in the California area. Despite the statistics of my program which reveals that majority of students will attend the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill).
I am currently taking:
Microeconomics
Pre-Calculus
ENT (Class offered and taught by MIT instructor)
Sociology
English and Composition
Leadership(Class required in program).
I know getting into Stanford is extremely difficult. This being noted I did the
Math and depending on the amount of courses I take over the Summer. After
obtaining a 4.0 for Spring Semester. Reaching a 3.8 will be challenging but it will
not be far-fetched.
Why are you using "this being noted " so much??
it is a dreadful habit.
Have you talked to your advisor?
Are you absolutely sure that CC classes that you took as HS student count toward your scholarship GPA? It sounds very strange.
It is February. Classes started less than 3 weeks ago. It is too early to worry about Bs.
Is any extra credit allowed in any of your “B” classes?
Do you go to office hours to become teacher’s best friend and to get help with assignments and class material.
Do you have any tutoring available in your college?
I spoke to my advisor, and she told me that there is very little that could be done to change the grade that I earned as an HS student. I have been meeting with the dean and she recommended that I speak to my professor in order to change the letter grade of a ‘C’ to an ‘F’, I know this sounds very strange but the current institution I attend only enables students to change letter grade if they received a letter grade of a ‘D’ or an ‘F’. Not a ‘C’ because technically a ‘C’ is considered passing. If the grade is changed to an ‘F’ and can then file a petition and have the grade removed raising my grade point average. Hence, increasing the probability of me remaining in the current program I am enrolled.
My college started classes in the first week of Jan it has been about 6 -7 weeks, and there are ten weeks left in the semester. My Economics professor stated earlier in the course that she gives extra credit. Also, I lost a letter grade on my Math test because of technicalities. Hence, now that I know how my professor grade I can provide more work to my answers in the near future. The good news for my Math test my professors drops the lowest grade.
Do you attend the same community college now where you took your class during HS? If it is so C is included in total GPA.
But what I am asking is - does your scholarship look at the GPA that you earned when receiving this scholarship, or it looks at your total GPA? If your CC advisor doesn’t know it and you don’t have any scholarship manual with explanation can you contact a scholarship person in charge?
Is your scholarship for 4 years only?
I have 2 concerns besides financial
- your choice of classes
- your choice of college
Choice of classes.
You are currently on Pre-Calculus level and you are taking “easy” core classes, not much Math and Science. It means that graduating with 2 degrees (CS + Economics) within 4 years would be almost impossible. Of course, you can try very heavy load of classes, but in the end it will be too much Math/Science and nothing relatively easy left, and to maintain 3.5 GPA would be very-very challenging.
Microeconomics is usually considered Social Sciences. Do you need 6 credit hours (Microeconomics + Sociology) for your future major requirements?
What is ENT class? I tried to google and found only MIT OpenCourseWare. Is this class in your major requirements?
Choice of college.
I don’t know about Economics, but for CS, especially in California, it doesn’t matter where you study. You will get employed both from Stanford, San Jose or any CSU. But in Stanford it would be much more difficult to maintain 3.5 GPA than in any CSU and some UC, so the chance that you loose your scholarship would be much higher.
My apologies the scholarship which I currently have is awarded to students who are currently enrolled at my CC. The scholarship which I currently have is only given for two years . After transfer I would have to look into to find other sources of funding my education. At this current moment in time I am currently an Economics major but if accepted to one my choices in the state of California I would continue to pursue Computer Science as my second major. I have been advised to continue taking classes in programming to decrease the amount of credits of time I would need to spend in school in order to obtain a double major.
I am currently on probation due to a class I took as a dual-enrollment student. This being noted I have spoken second years who will be transferring in the next few months. After evaluating my schedule they recommend that I focus and continue improving my grades in Microeconomics and Pre - Calculus in order to maintain my scholarship and my status at the current college I am attending.
OP, I’d love to see those Stanford stats you’re referring to. How exactly do you define “significant number”? And what is this “program” you keep referring to? Is it some kind of academically elite community college program?
Are you hoping for merit money when you transfer or need-based financial aid? Very few schools award merit money to transfer students. What state do you live in? What schools is your community college a feeder to? You’d be wise to focus on those.
Well, in this situation you have to do as much work for extra credit as possible and spend as much time with your teachers during office hours as you can. Find out if there is any free tutoring available.
In the future for financial purposes you should probably chose CS over Economics, much more financial aid is available, including all kind of government and military money.
I will admit the term significant is a relative term. Last year alone there were five students who made the decision to attend Yale University. I am completely aware that the odds of being selected by competitive schools are slim. However, I will not allow the low acceptance rate to be deterrent. There is a valid point to be made when stating that acceptance rate on average are low for transfer students when compared to Freshmen. However, I prefer to think of it has a double edged sword when applying as a Freshmen a student has to struggle to separate him or herself from
from 30k-40k students. As a transfer although there are less seats to compete for I would argue it becomes less difficult to stand out among 1k applicants.
Your assumption is incorrect. Just because there are less transfer applicant, doesn’t mean the compeition is any less fiercer
@paul2752 That was not the point of the argument. When applying to schools it is be expected that top tier students are going to be applying. What I was emphasizing in my last post it although acceptance rates are low separating yourself from a pool one-thousand applicants in comparison to forty-thousand applicants can be done. Unless you are college application advisor I find your comment of my assumption being incorrect flawed. Of course I understand you may disagree.
Unless this “CC” is Deep Springs College, I can only wonder where you’re enrolled. A community college that sent FIVE students to Yale in one year, places a high number of students at UNC, and regularly sends a "significant number of students to Stanford? This has to be the best-kept secret in college admissions!
Students have been accepted to the top fifty schools in the nation with the exception of Princeton University due to the fact they do no accept transfer student. Moreover, the program in which I am enrolled has an acceptance rate of 30%. Hence members of the program make up less than one percent of the total population of the community college. A small number of students use the program in order to save funds due to the fact many consider pursuing graduate education. Stanford along with Columbia and Amherst visit annually to recruit students. Your skepticism is completely understandable.
OK, if you insist so. The number proves my point though.
For Fall 2015, out of 42k students 2142 students was admitted. That is about 5%
In 2013, 1.6k students applied and 33 students are admitted. That’s around 1.95%
Obviously its still harder to get in as transfer, meaning it is HARDER to differentiate yourself from others.
I understand the point you are making. I knew the statistics for Transfer compared to Freshmen, and I argued my point because the reason the transfer rate is low is because there are lower amount of seats of available I know this may sound redundant or obvious. The point I was attempting to make for example is lets student A as an example. Student A applies to Stanford as a Freshmen 5% rate of acceptance. He or she has to compete against 40k other students. Hence, there is higher probability that there is someone in the applicant pool that has grade point average and same SAT scores and extracurriculars. I ask you what is the likelihood of among 1k applicant there being someone who also similar to you. Would you rather competing against one other applicant that may a similar portfolio or compete against the 2,500 students that you have the same application. I understand the point completely because to state applying as a transfer is easier at its base would be incorrect. However, if one took advantage of extracurriculars, perhaps conduct research with professors and truly grows his or her portfolio as a college student. If one were to build portfolio that was parallel to none. The argument could be made that it possible for Admissions offer to remember Paul/Edward the transfer competing against one-thousand other students. Compared to remembering applicant #11253 competing against 42k others.
I understand completely respect the point you are making.