Should I even bother applying to tier 1 schools?

Transfer Students
1

<p>First let me put it out there that I moved out of the US at age 15 and did not complete HS. I returned at the age of 19 and attained my GED. I have attended Montgomery College (a CC in Maryland) since 09 and will have 55+ credits by the end of the Spring.</p>

<p>I feel the GED is going to hurt me a lot, as well as a course load lacking strong science or math classes. My major is political science by the way so I'm not sure if I should even be worried about that.</p>

<p>Anyway here are my "stats"</p>

<p>College GPA: 3.8
Courseload(after Spring): Intro courses for Psychology and Sociology, year of Elementary Arabic, year of Economics, year of English, 3 courses in Political science, 200 level courses in History and English, two classes in the Arts, Int Algebra, and finally Business Calculus. You can probably throw in a random elective or two in there too.</p>

<p>H/S GPA: N/A
SAT/ACT: N/A
EC: Little volunteering here and there, Deans list, Phi Theta Kappa, etc (Is EC even important for transfers?)
LOR: From my Arabic professor</p>

<p>Would taking the SAT/ACT even be worth it at this stage of my academic career? My range of schools are from Towson/ AU / Howard to schools like UMD:CP / GW / Penn St. Long shots are Georgetown (my dream) / NYU.</p>

<p>So what do you think? Do I stand a chance?</p>

2

<p>Yes. Go for it. Be sure to have a few safety schools in your app. list, but with a 3.8 transfer GPA the GED just does NOT matter anymore. Write a GREAT essay (get help on the boards here or with someone who actually understands what the adcoms are looking for) and you may get into a few of your dream schools.</p>

<p>Yes - if you need the SAT/ACT for the apps, take them. If the scores end up being crummy (I hope not and assume not) it is then still the case you have your safety schools.</p>

<p>A 3.8 is no slouch–you should toss a few “reach” schools in there (assuming you can afford them!).</p>