<p>Cheshire Cat, you started two threads to obtain some input from PARENTS on this forum. You asked and they gave you honest opinions and feedback. </p>
<p>In my opinion, your tone in many of your posts on both threads is not respectful of the adults here who are giving you their time and attention voluntarily at your request. As the parents of two young women myself, I would not be pleased if they ever spoke to adults in this fashion. Sometimes young adults your age may talk to their own parents this way but I surely wouldn’t expect it with other adults who are not close to them. I can’t imagine my own girls doing this. So, if you are talking to the parents here this way, I wonder how you talk to your own parents where you can be more “loose” so to speak. </p>
<p>Anyway, based on what you shared, my advice is to get the AA first. I say this because you should be succeeding at CC before trying to transfer, so that your odds of transferring are stronger or more options will be open to you. Right now, you have a 2.4 GPA which is below average. And it is just at CC (regular college tends to be much tougher). You say you will have a 2.8/2.9 by the end of the next course but not only is that an assumption but it is hard to imagine a grade in one course improving your cumulative average by .4/.5. In any case, this GPA is weak as an applicant. Some colleges may ask to see your high school transcript. Some will still ask to see your test scores. But you would benefit from increasing your GPA at CC over the next year and earning the AA and your application will be much stronger. So, I say that no matter what position your parents hold. Also, financial aid is more difficult generally speaking, for transfer students and so perhaps it would help financially to do two years at CC and then do a BA school for two years. You won’t qualify for merit aid in any case. But your record at CC needs to improve to help your admissions odds. Further, I can see that your parents may want more evidence of success on the CC level before paying for regular college. If you were excelling at CC, that might be different. But truthfully, you are not. You are achieving at a below average level and CC is easier than regular college and so you should show evidence of a stronger record before moving onto the next level. Also, your parents would have final say if they are footing the bill. If you foot the bill, you would have greater say. But money and permission aside, I think you would benefit from another year at CC and improving your record which will help you not only look better for admissions, but also prove that you might succeed at the harder level of regular college, which is important to make the investment worthwhile. Your parents understandably might want that evidence FIRST before shelling out the bucks. </p>
<p>Ignore the advice if you wish, but if you are going to ask for advice, please listen with respect. It doesn’t mean you have to follow the advice.</p>
<p>I just looked at some of your back posts. You had a 2.3 GPA in HS and a 1230 (CR+M+W combined) on the SATs. You state in back posts that your CC GPA is 3.1 but that isn’t so…currently it is 2.4. Those are the facts to date. You even ask your chances at Villanova (you do not have a chance at Villanova…very unrealistic). Your best chance to get into college is to strengthen your record BEFORE you apply. You need another year to do that.</p>
<p>I’m done with the OP who can’t decide what his GPA REALLY is, can’t take suggestions without being rude, and who just keeps spamming the forums with his threads because he doesn’t like what he reads.</p>
<p>Its a little hard to follow what your GPA is and what is on your transcript, but essentially it appears that your grades are currently still below a B. I agree with everyone who says that getting your grades solidly in the “B” zone should be a priority.</p>
None of us are following the math here. You say you hope to have 71.5 qp and 24 credits after this summer course so 71.5/24 = 2.97. And you have 21 credits thus far, 15 transferable, with a 2.4. That means you now have 59.5 qp/21 credits which is 2.8333. Since you keep saying you actually have a 2.4, then there must be something else going on - like a class which was retaken but is counted in the credit hours or something. Anyways, it doesn’t add up.</p>
<p>You also explain that a college states a 2.0 MINIMUM GPA. That doesn’t mean they accept people with that GPA. On one thread, you were discussing Villanova and someone showed you the stats for Villanova and how only 1% of all those who were admitted had a GPA in your range. I am sure that those 1%, they had a lot of major tip factors such as recruited athlete, URM, strong test scores, major awards, or something to override that low GPA. Getting into many colleges with a GPA lower than 3.0 is more difficult. It doesn’t matter what the published MINIMUM is. You have to examine the stats of those who are ADMITTED.</p>
<p>cheshirecat,
On your OTHER post, I was very supportive of you and encouraging you to discuss w/ your parents going to college and that you showed motivation and maturity by taking college courses in HS.
I too am a parent, and after reading both posts I am changing what I wrote. You should continue in Community College. Your rudeness to the other parents shows an incredible amount of immaturity. Finish your AA degree, grow up, and learn some manners.</p>
<p>If you are convinced that you can be accepted at the university, you should absolutely apply. Start looking for a full time job and an apartment in todays newspaper. After your acceptance and graduation with your 4 year degree, you can tell your parents they were wrong. I am sure they want what is best for you but you are 18 so my advise is to move out on your own. That is what I would tell my daughter if she said/wrote what you have been posting.</p>
<p>Feb158, how do you suggest that Cheshire Cat funds the college degree and apartment, etc. if the parents do not back up this plan? This student is dependent on the parents helping pay for college. If on her own, she will have to rack up huge loans, and that is if she could even secure enough loans on her own.</p>
<p>You also suggest she obtain a full time job. How will she handle college with a full time job?</p>
<p>Also, Cheshire Cat may be “convinced” she will be accepted but based on back posts, she doesn’t have a realistic view of her odds at certain schools such as Villanova. She also mentions Temple, where she has some chance of a reachy odds nature, but not a “sure bet” nature at all.</p>
<p>I looked up the OP’s earlier posts to get more of an idea about her background and what type of school she may be applying to.</p>
<p>I learned that at the end of 11th grade, she was ranked 499 of 549, and while attending community college instead of going to high school senior year, she got a D and an F fall semester. The “D” was in psychology, which is a related to what she wants to major in. As a result, the community college wanted her to take a remedial course and a course that would help strengthen her study skills. Her SAT score without writing was a 750, 1230 with writing. She also has an LD and ADD. She has had some problems with depression, which she believes resulted in grade problems in high school.</p>
<p>She wants to go to some public universities in Penn., where she is a resident.</p>
<p>She seems to be exactly the type of student who benefits most by going to community college. She’d get more personal attention and remedial help at community college, the type of college that often is the best place to start for a student who has had a bumpy academic record. </p>
<p>Spending an extra year or two at home also would provide her with the support to help her through what typically is a very stressful time for students: when they start college as a full time student, something that from what I’ve read it doesn’t seem like she has yet done. I don’t think she took a full course load at community college during the past school year.</p>
<p>NSM, thank you for filling in a broader picture. It is hard to give advice on a forum when we only get bits and pieces. But with these other pieces which you added, your advice in the previous post is spot on. CC is precisely for a student like Cheshire Cat, where she needs to hone her academic skills and study skills and can get individual support. She needs to have a full time stronger academic record over a period of time to prove she can handle regular college. On other fronts, she needs support to get her emotional development on an even keel in order to go away to college. So, this is an excellent time for her to go to CC and really develop in all areas and be ready to go to college. Not only do many of us advise this, but I think admissions officers will look at her overall record and think the same. In any case, her parents seem to be thinking along these lines and they are the ones paying the bills. It doesn’t mean Cheshire Cat can’t go away to college. But first she need to prove her readiness in all developmental areas. Going to college is not automatic. Parents (and even the colleges) expect certain benchmarks before going to the next level.</p>
<p>Annika: “With a 2.9 (smattered with some D’s as posted in a prior thread)”.
I do not have any D’s on my transcript. I took a class in which I got a D in, but I retook it and now have a B for that class(the psych class). The D will be on my transcript, but it is not factored into my GPA. The B is.
And sylvan, I also am confused on my GPA too. Once I finish my second summer session course, I need to ask the student services office about it.
And northstarmom, I am retaking the F I got now, in my summer session class. I also got a 770 without the writing section on my SAT’s, not a 750. I do have ADD which I’m being treated for(I was not treated for it in high school) and yes, I get sad every once in awhile. High school is not for everyone. But I do like college.</p>
<p>Cheshire Cat, I think the parents here, myself included, are trying to encourage you in your efforts to improve and to seek out a college education. You are on the right track! But you can’t skip steps. Another year of solid and rising academic profile, will benefit you all the way around in admissions to college and getting on your feet in all respects. We do wish you well. Stay the course and keep reaching. But be realistic about what it is going to take to get there.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your grade improvement. Sounds like you also have found a way of managing your ADD.</p>
<p>It can be emotionally harder to be a second semester transfer than to transfer at the beginning of the academic year. A big reason is that the other students often have developed friendships, and it can be more difficult to break into those groups, which may seem like cliques. Fall semester, however, there are lots of new people looking for friends, and the clubs, too – which tend to be one of the easiest ways to make friends – are actively soliciting new members.</p>
<p>In addition, in a state like Penn. that has cold winters, students tend not to be outside socializing as much.</p>
<p>And the colleges and professors tend not to explain their policies as clearly second semester because they assume that most students have been on campus at least a semester.</p>
<p>All can be reasons for considering a transfer in fall, 2011.</p>
<p>There is only one college that I really believe I can get into.
If you have at least 15 transferable credits, you don’t need to send in your high school transcript and SAT scores. IF I apply next month, I’ll have 18 transferable credits, so I wont have to send in my high school stuff.
On the website for transfers it also says that the average GPA for transfers is a 3.0. If I get an A in my summer session class, I will have a 2.9 GPA. My cousin also goes to this college and she told me that she knows people that have transferred with as low as a 2.6 GPA.
I am also going to write an essay.</p>
<p>Can you and your parents afford this college? Have you discussed your EFC and the most likely financial aid package you would get from this college? Have you gotten any solid numbers on how much money you parents are willing and able to pay?</p>