<p>DS left college at the beginning of his senior year - he probably has enough credits for transfer as a junior, but not a senior. He's worked at a series of food-service jobs and thinks he's ready to go back and finish his degree. Although he left in good standing, his GPA is low. He does not want to return to his old school (LAC) and probably has too many credits for CC. Has anyone else been in this situation or know anyone who has? He's stumped on where to apply. I'm thinking one of our state universities (not the flagship).</p>
<p>He should start by paying a visit to the state universities that offer the major(s) he is interested in. The transfer admissions officer should be able to give him a reading on whether or not his GPA is good enough for admission, and how many of his credits might transfer and as what.</p>
<p>It’s not quite the same , but my daughter has decided to go to grad school after being out for 2.5 years and having no luck finding a job in her field of study.
It turns out that while endlessly applying for jobs, she has discovered her passion for teaching ( has been subbing for about 1.5 yrs )
I never would have seen this if I think back to her high school days , but here she goes !</p>
<p>Does he really want to go back to school, or does he just want to have a degree? If he just wants to get a degree, I have found a couple of accredited “degree completion programs.” They are part of state university systems in NY, CT and NJ. (I have not found any others, but there may be others out there.) They give you credit for college courses you have taken, some give credit by exam, some give credit for work, and then whatever you are missing to complete your degree, you can take on line. </p>
<p>Look up Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College and Thomas Edison State College. </p>
<p>I have a friend who got his degree this way, then went directly to law school and has had a successful career.</p>
<p>The easiest school to get readmitted to as a senior is probably his original school. He should check its policies on readmission after leaving in good academic standing.</p>
<p>Many schools do not want to admit transfer students who have enough four year school credits to get senior standing or close to it. Also, the choices of schools to transfer to may be limited with a low GPA. The most realistic choices are likely the less selective state universities in his state.</p>
<p>S2 did this. He left after Junior year, waited 4 years and had moved to a new state. When he went in for a review, very little transferred so he started over again at a community college, transferred to state u and is getting his degree now. Starting in a new school meant GPA was not an issue since grades don’t transfer. That can be a good thing. He had to explain what he was going to do differently when he started again. Since he was older, his financial need was only based on his own income and he received a lot of financial aid. Also since he was older he was serious about his classes and his grades were good. </p>
<p>He needs to go into the CC and talk to them. They are very familiar with all of the variations of this theme. He could also go in and talk to the state u. In any case, he needs to go talk to admission folks. I am always amazed at the extent some will go to to not talk to the only ones who really know. If he can’t bring himself to talk to them, he is not ready to go back.</p>
<p>I’d go to the state flagship or other nearest local university and have them do a review of the credits. If they are on the same system (semesters, quarters, whatever), it will be easier to convert. If you can get the course catalogs from his LAC during the time he took the course and all syllabi, this will be helpful to convince the new school of satisfied requirements (gen ed or distribution requirements) that may have different titles, but are essentially the very same class. </p>
<p>i went back to school to get an additional degree. I will admit I did not have a strong UG gpa the first time around. BUT I was also returning nearly 7 years later. What I found most important is persistence and confidence in your documentation. Try to look at what the requirements are at the new school and fit classes already taken into their spots. For example, I had classes in history that had different titles, but essentially were the exact same curriculum. I appealed and won probably 7 or 8 classes they had previously rejected between English/History and electives. Truth is, the CLA where i had earned my first undergrad degree was a heck of lot more rigorous than the state flagship. But those years of life experience really helped me navigate a system that is only for the persistent. It’s easier for them to say, no. But I was not easily thwarted. In fact, I knew I had really grown up when this one guy was essentially trying to bully me. I said to him, you might the able to get away with treating 18 year olds like this, but you don’t intimidate me. And I went over his head. Yep… persistence.</p>
<p>Obviously they only took courses where I had a C or better (and I had to take Econ again for that very reason). It’s amazing how much better you understand supply and demand when you have a little life experience behind you! So the good news is if you have all your ducks in a row (get syllabi and course descriptions), your S may only need to repeat courses where he received an inadequate grade or were very specific to a major at his CLA. I will say that the biggest difference in my first UG degree and the second was the language requirement. </p>
<p>Also, a friend I met in school in was essentially the exact same as your kid. She somehow had convinced someone to let her go back essentially on probation to prove herself. He’s going to have to want it. But if he does, he just has to be prepared before he ever makes an appointment with the academic dean. And as to that… you can always just call and get appointments with people.</p>