what colleges accepted you?
why do you think they accepted you?
what was your high school gpa?
besides community college
Depending on how low the GPA is, CC is usually the first place to go. And the best in my opinion. If one did not enjoy HS and not enjoy studying for exams, then college might not be much better. It is best to test it out at a CC and see if you like college. It is not for everyone.
The next step would be a local city college offering a 4 year degree.
Those two are the best options given a low GPA.
Disagree with the above. A low GPA isn’t always the result of not enjoying HS or not enjoying studying. Many, many kids do much better in college than they did in high school, mainly because they can decide their major and what they want to study. Sometimes CC is the best option, but I don’t believe it is always.
My son graduated with a 2.8 or so (depending on how you figured it) - he was accepted everywhere he applied. NJ publics - Rowan (both parents and grandfathers alum), Stockton, Ramapo. PA publics Bloombury, Millersville, Kutztown. PA Private LAC Lycoming with merit. VT public Castleton U. There was another one that I can’t remember anymore!
Finished his freshman year with all As and Bs. He loves it and is doing fantastic. It really depends on the kid. But there are plenty of schools you can get into and where you can be successful. Good luck!
Oh - why they accepted him? Major - education helped a lot. I think he had good LORs - he’s a very likeable kid. Teachers loved him despite his grades! Was recruited at a couple smaller schools, but he had a lot of athletic ECs with good results - several trips to semi-finals/finals, a state championship that showed dedication and hard work.
I also disagree with cc’s. I’d say pick an in state school that fits your personality or if you have a big budget then any school that fits your personality and your stats. There are more non-selective schools than selective ones.
@MassDaD68 isn’t wrong to suggest CC as a first step. Both of my very close HS friends were sort of indifferent about HS. One started out at CC, transferred to a 4-year state school, got her BS, then her teaching masters at a UC. The other got her nursing license at the CC and years later got her bachelors. Both wound up being excellent students once they got out of HS. Both needed the time to figure out who they were doing it for (themselves) and to build better study habits. Would they have been as successful had they gone straight to 4-years? We will never know. OP, I think it does help to examine WHY your GPA was lower than you’d like. If it’s poor study habits/time management, you may want to start off with a lower-cost, lower-risk college experience to work on those things, because college doesn’t miraculously get easier.
Not sure how low you think low is…but look around on the Parents forum for threads like: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/2056330-parents-of-the-hs-class-of-2019-3-0-to-3-4-gpa.html
It depends on why the GPA is low.
My D had a 2.8. She’s incredibly non-competitive and didn’t care how she did. She had been in gifted programs and even attended a school for the gifted for one year but she hated it (because all the other kids cared about were their grades, even in elementary school), so clearly lack of intellect was not the issue. In HS, she was a peer leader, a Natural Helper, a volunteer for a group that worked with autistic preschoolers, a talented musician and singer. She was accepted as an education major at a SUNY school (in state). In college, she woke up to her intelligence and graduated magna cum laude. She could have been summa but B+'s in cello class brought her down!
S17 had a 3.4 but it was hard earned because he struggles with LD’s. Unlike D, who refused to take any honors or AP classes (she hated the environment in advanced classes - don’t ask, her attitude broke my heart), S17 took 3 AP’s and 2 honors classes. He is at a different SUNY pursuing a BFA in theater.
CC was not appropriate for either of these children, but two of my other sons started at CC’s. Neither of them wanted to go away and neither was ready to commit to a course of study or a major. Both have dropped out of college but not because they went to a CC. They would not have finished regardless. Neither was interested in committing to the amount of effort and study it takes to be a college student.