Hello,
I have a unique situation that I am hoping someone can help me out with and guide me in the right direction. I graduated high school in 2009 with a high GPA and a great ACT score. From there, I attended Ohio State on a baseball scholarship and took 2 years of classes there. After being injured, I returned to Tallahassee, FL where I am from. It was too late to apply for Florida State so I went to a local community college where I should have had one or two more classes to complete for my AA. After sending my transcripts to the school, they informed me that only 2 of the classes I took at Ohio State would transfer.
I was working full time during this time, so it took me another year and a half to complete my AA. I was accepted into FSU and it went downhill from there. I started with classes that were basic and did average the first semester, then I continued to do worse and look for easier classes. I ended up in the environmental studies major. After two more semesters I was close to a degree but ended up being dismissed from the college. I will be the first to admit that it was my fault. A combination of not caring anymore after taking the same classes over and over again because of credits not transferring and partying is what led to my grades.
After failing out of school, I went to work and have been a sales manager at a company since. I am now 27 years old and I would love to know what my options are. I would love to go back to school and start over with my AA completed knowing what field of study I want to go in. I am much more mature now and see my mistakes I made before. My question is this : Is it possible to apply to a different college and start there with just the classes you took to get your AA on the transcript? Can you even get into another college with an academic dismissal on your record? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You can’t just ignore any previous college experience…there is a National Student Clearinghouse that shares info about students to colleges.
A college wants to admit students who will succeed.
How can you show them you will succeed?
I think i would contact the transfer admissions at some of the public florida schools. You will have the best chance of transferring your CC credits that way (and it will be the most affordable). Try to research which colleges support non-traditional students. If nothing else, contact the colleges that are closest to you. Tell them your situation, and ask what it would take for them to consider you. Would you need to take some more CC classes to show you are able to do the work?
As said above, you can’t ignore classes you taken. Make an appointment to meet with the admission office at a couple of schools you are considering and see what they suggest. As an older student you may qualify for different admission programs for nontraditional students. That’s just one example of what you might do. As you said, yours is not the usual case and the info you’re going to find on the web is for the usual case. So you’re going to have to work with the colleges directly to find out what options you may have. It’s likely several options exist but you’re going to have to investigate to find them
You also can contact FSU, and ask what is necessary to be reinstated there. They have a process for this. If you want to study your new major there, that is probably your easiest option. But if you want to study somewhere else, being considered to be “in good standing” at FSU will almost certainly make your transfer process easier.
I also recommend meeting a local college admissions officer IN PERSON to review your transcript and options.
also contact the deans office at FSU and see if there is some way to retroactively withdraw from your last semester when you were dismissed. Chances may be low but you’ll never know unless you ask. There is someone on the UC transfer forum with a story loosely similar to yours that is doing this with his previous college and reports he is close to having his withdrawal approved.