Quick backstory: Did college after highschool over 5 years ago. Got pretty bad grades. Decided I needed to fix myself and joined the United States Marine Corps…discharge 4 years later (July 2016). Went to Towson University for that next fall semester and got a GPA of 3.15. Which I’m proud of.
I sent in an application to UMD for fall 2017 and was told by the admissions office that the better grades that I just got should definitely help my chances of getting accepted.
Just got this decision recently:
...we are unable to offer you a space in our Fall 2017 transfer class Our decision is based on a thorough review of all college-level work attempted at regionally accredited colleges or universities.
Does anyone think it’s possible for me to make the case that my past grades shouldn’t reflect as the kind of student I am now?
Or is a 3.15 GPA really not that great?
Made the same post on Reddit r/UMD, here are the replies if anyone cares to see them:
“I think you’re allowed to appeal if there is new substantial information that you did not include that would make them reconsider. I think that your past college work will be considered no matter what but you should definitely give it a shot.”
"I can tell you that I went to college after High School, got kicked out. Had awful High School GPA, awful college GPA.
Went to community college and took classes while in AF 11 years later and got a 4.0 for like 35~40 credits of classes.
They required my old transcript, but were willing to overlook my old GPA. I also addressed it in my essay.
So, the moral here is that yes, it’s clearly possible. But it may be the case that you haven’t made the case strongly enough yet, and will need to put in some more time at Towson and continue to work on your GPA.
If that is the case, don’t be distressed. Towson is a good school, keep working hard and you will be more likely to get in spring or next fall."
Still open to responses if anyone has anything else to offer.