Non traditional international student seeking advice.

Applying to College
1

Hello all, i’ve been a long time lurker, and now a first time poster.

As the thread title says, i’m not your run of the mill international student, so let’s put a little more meat on my bones…

I’m a 31 years old (yep, late in life prospective student) hispanic man, that plays hard and works harder. Life hasn’t been kind to me, but i’m grateful for i have had the chance to develop kindness and compassion for that. To make quite a long story short:

<li>I’m applying for admission at U of M Twin Cities (it’s my main target, feel like the best match for me), either in Computer Science or Education (love both careers).</li>

Thing is, when i was 18 i did a semester on civil engineering to appease my parents (withdrew, hated it) and ended working full time. Finally, in fall 2010 i was accepted in computer science here in my local university; but things went south when my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer (i was his main caretaker since 2008), i had to withdraw (again) and only could complete a couple of credits. Because of that i have to apply as transfer student, which i don’t mind. I’m aware that my transcripts are awful, but prefer to be honest rather than try to hide it, i’ll work about it in my application essay.

Of course, during all these years i’ve held several paid and unpaid jobs, developed many extracurricular activities and even had my fair share of community work (i’ll address this also on my essay).

My high school GPA is a not bad unweighted 3.44 (not the best either).

The TOEFL doesn’t scare me (have the ESOL CPE from Cambridge University), though it worries me that the admission officer that i’ve been exchanging mails with recommended me skipping the SAT (unfortunately now, the sooner i can take it in my country is in May, way too late for an application form), considering that a good SAT score might improve my chances.

So, considering that current admission rate in UofM is 47%, how do you see my chances? I might not be the smartest nor best student, but i don’t fit many molds either (and all universities like to have “unique” students, right?). Any advice that could help me improve my chances would be greatly appreciated. And any further detail that you might think you need to know about me to give your opinion, don’t hesitate to ask.

That’s all for now, thanks for your time.

2

I think you could write a really great essay that would carry some weight. It’s obvious just from reading this that you can write. I know you have to send the transcripts from 2010, but I wonder if you have to include the ones from 13 years ago? They won’t transfer any of those credits anyway so I’m not sure if they need to see that… but it sounds like you’ve been talking to someone in admissions so they can give you the best advice about that. Certainly don’t hide anything that you are supposed to include. I think you have a good chance, but if it doesn’t work out for you, you could take some courses at a community college and ace them to bump up your college coursework GPA. Hopefully the university realizes that mature students are an asset. Good luck to you!

3

Thanks for complimenting my writing :slight_smile: considering that english is not my mother tongue, it is heartening reading your comment.

Actually, including the transcripts from civil engineering from 13 years ago is more of an honesty thing. I’m sure nobody gives a damn about them, but i prefer to include them rather than be questioned later if they somehow resurface.

About the community colleges, one thing that is rather amusing (and weird), is that the ones i’ve been seeing have more restrictive requirements to apply than some universities i’ve been also seeing.

4

Colleges will require every transcript. They may or may not transfer any credit but they like to be the ones to decide. The transcript will also contain other information they would want to be aware of like disciplinary actions, expulsions etc.

community colleges almost always have open admissions so you must be looking at some very unusual ones.

I have no idea any chances with unusual circumstances. If you got advice directly from an admissions officer at your target school then it clearly won’t be a necessary factor or he would suggest it. Might have been handy for other colleges, though. Good luck.