<p>I've spoken to a couple of people on this forum regarding the slightly more elusive requirements for transfer and non-traditional students. It seems the best thing to do is simply have the courage to ask questions of the schools you're interested in and professors you'd like to do research with, which I'm going through now. I've also read the various threads on older students, retaking standardized tests, etc. Right now I'd like to put myself out and see if the community has any advice to offer. Since everyone here seems quite frank about discussing their achievements and chances, I probably don't need to preface this by saying that the purpose of this is not to self-aggrandize or illicit sympathy, but simply to receive some advice.</p>
<p>Here's my story. I apologize if this turns out to be scatter-brained, terse, or voluble. I have quite a bit to lay out.</p>
<p>I am a college dropout of 23 years. Naturally, I'm here to figure out anything that will will assist my returning to school. My top choices, based solely on academic concentrations are Brown, UPenn, Columbia, Harvard, Rochester, Cornell, BC, Trin C, and NYU. Academic affinities are a combination of philosophy, poli sci, and econ (perhaps Penn's PPE program), or comparative literature/philology/philosophy. I would also like to continue on to law at one of these.</p>
<p>Beginning with high school, my academics were quite lacking on paper, despite being on the honor roll. Mostly this is due to anxiety and distractions related to personal life, though nothing so clear-cut as having escaped a foreign genocidal regime. I had some terrible high school grades, but consistently contributed the most substance to my classroom discussions in a public high school. I had my club affiliations, honors, AP, and Academic Decathlon and such. I also had a reputation for being one of the most skilled writers at my school. However, I was mostly interested in computer science and foreign languages, which is where the time I spent not doing work was directed. My school was lacking in both of these programs, and my French teacher was quite awful. Fortunately for my interests in C.S., I was accepted to the inaugural class of a community college program during high school with some other talented students. Here I was at the top of my class and began to receive further visibility. I did some independent/volunteer projects for my school and this program, working as the administrator for the multi-district site through which the technology initiative of the college program was based. I had invitations to people's labs, and I had the opportunity to be mentored, sponsored, and offered jobs by executives of defense contractors that interviewed me while in high school (they were supposed to be mock interviews), one of which is now notorious for their involvement in the Abu Ghraib scandal. During this time I ran a small business, founded a small non-profit information assurance group leveraging the industry resources that I had at the time, received scholarships to begin classes at my local university early (the one I later failed out of), showed up some teams of university students in state sponsored competition, received a commendation from the Texas House of Rep., and spoke at city council on behalf of the college program. In my senior year there was an unsuccessful effort conceived by some students to have me instated as their instructor due to the unsuitability of the now senior professor in the college program. The group I founded is now defunct and I have no contact with my former colleagues who were involved due to personal differences. I never saved any articles that were published about me, and in general don't have contact with any of the people who were around when I was in high school. The former directors of my program moved on, and I was involved in blowing the whistle on my former professor. I have also endured numerous trying circumstances as a result of age discrimination since I began working in high school, having consistently found myself working in technology departments with males twice my age.</p>
<p>I began my college career being shoed into the honors program with advanced credit. It was then I also realized, after an interview with a French professor, that I had apprehended more of the language than I realized. Due to some poor experiences that I allowed to hold sway over my attitude, anxieties, personal life, and general inability to order myself, I eventually lost touch academically and especially with C.S. I was also very un-athletic and concerned about my health entering college with my weight increasing. I was the fat kid. With this mounting worry I decided to return to athletics by pursuing martial arts, which meant other distractions from academics. To know how much of a distraction, I should mention that I previously began in martial arts at the age of 3 and it comes quite naturally to me. Two years later when I should have been finishing school instead of stalling, and after having quickly transformed my body, I was doing exhibitions in Tae Kwon Do and had a modeling contract. Unfortunately, TKD eventually came to a grinding halt due to some injuries that kept me from performing at the elite level I was otherwise qualified for. I won't go into details, but I spent incredible amounts of time and money with multiple doctors that never gave me a definitive answer on what the seemingly simple problem was. Eventually, I was so disheartened I gave up. By this time, I had been on probation, dismissed, reinstated, and dismissed again. With my lack of physical activity went my modeling contract. Despite having failed out of a large university I have a 3.6 cum due the breadth of courses I have taken since high school.</p>
<p>Throughout all this found myself in many roles, but have consistently felt intellectually unfulfilled. So, now I've come full circle and am trying to assuage myself of the things that kept me from balancing scholarship with the rest of my life. Originally, I'd thought I would try to do some reviewing and take the new SAT and Subjects/APs for English Lit., French, Japanese, etc. I did not mention that in addition to my own studies, I picked up Japanese from my friends, the native student I lived with, and while working in a Japanese restaurant during/after leaving college.</p>
<p>I’ve since heard stories of people in the situation I was in during high school. I've wondered if I wouldn’t have fit into this category I’ve now heard so much of: the "smart" kid who was disinterested in general academics, but took initiative with a strong record of contributing to his interest/field, and that admissions is confident would bring something to their campus and classroom discussions. Not to mention my status of being poor, a minority, and a legacy at some of the Ivies I mentioned. I could have gone to a school further away from home, frankly had fewer difficulties, and been happier. Perhaps not. But that is needlessly hypothetical. I hope I can appropriately frame the details I have, as well as have not mentioned, to admissions. I have practiced with essays and personal narratives, but it is a great deal to organize. It seems like combining decent essays with some very high test scores and well-written essays would help. I wonder if I shouldn’t put more effort into tracking down teachers and mentors (seems all the reliable people have moved on) who might be able to vouch for me, or just focus on my future achievements beginning with returning to my old Univ. or community college. Some schools also require that you be eligible to attend all previously attended institutions. I haven't figured out yet if this necessarily includes dismissals or someone who has committed some other heinous offense. Either way, I'm set on entering a school of choice as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Otherwise, maybe I'll just join the military and go from there.</p>