I’m a 26 year old community college student looking to transfer this fall to continue working towards my B.A. in philosophy. I know I’m running up against the application deadlines for most schools, but I can’t afford to apply too broadly so I’m looking for help finding target schools.
My ACT composite was 27, though I’m not sure if that will matter as I will be a junior when I transfer.
High School GPA was only about 2.8.
Cumulative college GPA from one semester at NIU and three at a local community college should be about 3.5-3.6
My three semesters at CC have been 4.0; the 2.5 I received for my one semester at NIU was about seven years ago (excessive drinking and poor attendance; no excuses, I was an idiot when I was younger). 6 of the 4.0 hours are Honors classes.
As my income is nearly non-existent and I recently filed for chapter 7 (and so won’t qualify for any private loans), financial aid is a huge factor for me.
Negligible EC activity. The only club I’ve been particularly active in is Philosophy club, and I doubt that’s even worth mentioning.
My question is, then, what schools should I be applying to?
To what extent will the strong upward trend mitigate the effect of that 2.5 from NIU?
I was hoping for Vanderbilt, UNC-Chapel Hill, or UVA; should I even bother applying with my numbers?
Sorry for the wall of text, and thank you for your time.
Their net price calculators both estimate that I would receive enough institutional aid to be able to manage the rest with federal loans. I’m adding Berea to the list, though.
The upward trend in academics is a plus and since the NIU grades were a long time ago the maturity factor will be considered. ACT scores and HS transcripts are pretty much irrelevant and they might not even ask you for them.
The problem I see with Vanderbilt is that it is a highly selective university and probably is looking for the ECs that you say you do not have. UVA and UNC are looking for similar characteristics but less selective. If Vanderbilt is do-able and your ideal place, then apply there by all means as well as to UVA and UNC. You might want to find a fourth school that you are quite sure is affordable and that will admit you for sure.
I chose those particular schools because they seem to have higher transfer acceptance rates than their peer institutions. I agree, though, that I definitely need a fallback plan (or plans) given their selectivity.
Are there any specific schools you think I should take a look at?
Given the length of time since the bad year at NIU, it’s possible that they may simply disregard those grades for the most part. They’ll often choose to look at the more recent stuff almost exclusively in these situations. They understand that sometimes people have different priorities and simply aren’t ready for college.
Those are fairly competitive schools, so you’ll want to make sure to apply to a safety school that you know you will get into as well.
What kind of debt have you taken on at such a young age that you had to file for bankruptcy? What were you doing since the time you graduated high school to now (8 years)? There must have been some type of job.
On the other hand, if you had no job, and spent the last 8 years completing only 30 credits, that seems rather unimpressive. Many high school students have this number of AP/credits by the time they finish high school.
Also - are you aware the job prospects for a philosphy major are quite poor?
While I have been employed the majority of the time since leaving high school, I wasn’t making enough money to service my debt.
In a perfect world, I would have been able to challenge a significant portion of my debt . Litigation is expensive, unfortunately.
Employment prospects for philosophy majors aren’t quite as bad as I had assumed prior to choosing my major. They may not be the best, but they are far from the worst; it isn’t exactly underwater basket weaving.
Even so, I intend to go to law school once I’ve finished my B.A. Employment prospects for most new lawyers are actually worse than they are for philosophy majors. There are a few other considerations in initial legal employment, though. Primarily, class rank and law school attended. Prior to returning to school, I found the 2007 LSAT online and took it cold; I scored a 167 under conditions that were far worse than those normal on test day. While a 167 is not amazing, with study I should be able to raise it the few points needed to breech 170. Assuming I don’t let my gpa drop significantly, my chances of being admitted to a decent law school are pretty good.
Are you in Illinois? If so, you should apply to UIC at the very least. The cost might be affordable for an in-state student. Otherwise, you have to give us a bit more detail about what you are looking for in a school? Location, size and so on matter.
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I am in Illinois. I will take a second look at UIC.
I’m not too worried about location. I’d prefer somewhere warmer than Chicago, though, haha. I guess I would tend to favor schools in the south or on a coast.
I can see the appeal in both large and small schools.
My criteria boil down to:
-Affordable
-Good to very good academics
-Limited grade deflation
-Better than even odds of accepting me
UIC is only relatively cheap for students who live at home. When compared to other state schools, it has the second highest tuition. Tuition and fees for incoming liberal arts students for fall 2014 is about $7300 per semester, and they are not expecting to increase it for the Fall 2015 cohort. There are some scholarships for transfer students. Your grades look good enough, and they will look at the trend. UIC is proud of its tradition of not having grade inflation. It is not known for its liberal arts programs.