Stressed, terrible GPA, do I have any option?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Okaaaaay; I'm at Penn State (Main) but I'm from Maryland/DC. </p>

<p>My GPA after this semester (First semester, Freshman year) is a 2.75 ... I only took three classes (BUT I was full time because my Italian class was 6 credits on it's own) I was in 4 but withdrew from Intro to Poli Sci (~500 people) because it was based on three tests and for the second test I was home and in the hospital do to a Lupus flair up, when I emailed the teacher he never answered and in class I spoke to the TA and he said he would email me about a make up test and IF it was allowed but he never emailed me and it got to stressful because I had already gotten a 74 on the first test...</p>

<p>Anyways, ever since about late september I've been seriously looking at transferring but I feel like I have NO options now, I wanted to go somewhere on the same level as PSU (Pref. University of Miami in Florida)</p>

<p>College profile:
Summer 2009 (at community college)
Psych 100: A+
Intro to Drawing 101: A+</p>

<p>Fall-
-Intensive Italian 010 (6 credits): B
-Honors Middle Eastern History 181U(3 credits): C+ *This class kicked my arse, I was he ONLY freshman and 18 of the 25 students were juniors
-Honors Greek Civilizations and Sanctuaries 083T (3 credits): B-</p>

<p>Spring-
-Intensive Italian 020 (6 credits)
-Introductory Chemistry 101 (3 credits)
-Trigonometry 026 (3 credits) *I tested out of Statistics 200 with a 5 on the AP Stat test
-Intro to Microeconomics (3 credits)
-LA 101H (4 credits) *Combo of two first year english classes Writing & Public speaking, counts as two classes</p>

<p>High School profile:</p>

<p>Me: Female, Hispanic, Parents make a combined like... $400K a year so no need for fin aid
High school: Public, brand new but already run down (47 people in my AP Government class)
Legacy: Mom~ Summa cum laude @ University of Maryland- Smith Business School
Major: No clue anymore</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA- uw 3.46, w 3.78
top 30%
class of 372
13 Honors classes
4 AP classes (Psych, Stat, Lang & Government)
Spent 2nd semester junior year in Italy at high school</p>

<p>Scores:
SATs: Reading (560, 510) Math (620, 620) Writing (560, 620)
ACTs: English (22, 24, 26) Math (27, 27, 27) Reading (30, 27, 27) Science (26, 27, 25)</p>

<p>Extrassss:
*Internship-12th grade- 15 hours per week/August 1, 2009-May 31,2010 (Police Department, Learning the Enforcement & Law sides of it and doing research on old cases for them, Training help also 1 of 2 in the county selected)</p>

<p>*Language Tutor- 11th grade- 8 hours per week/12 weeks per year (While leaving in Italy, helped to tutor the Italians in english language & culture</p>

<p><em>Varsity Cheerleading Football & Basketball *want to continue in College IF i can</em> (except 12th grade football due to severely broken hand)- 9 through 12th grade- 10 hours per week/22 weeks per year (11th grade Captain)</p>

<p>*Competition Cheerleading - 9 through 12th grade- 8 hours per week/40 weeks per year (do a lot of community service with them: Were also ranked national and have won many National & State competitions)</p>

<p>*Competitive Figure Skating (hoping to continue in college)- 9 through 12th grade- 10 hours per week/20 weeks per year (Training a the local rink, and have place State & Nation wide)</p>

<p>Community Service:
*Cheerleading Coach- 12th grade- 4 hours per week/35 weeks per year (At the cheerleading gym where I cheer, I coach along side two others a team of 3 to 5 year olds) </p>

<p>*Cheerleading Camps- 9 through 12th grade- 6 hours per camp/5 camps per year Various sponsored camps we helped to run & work for younger kids, and kids coming into high school)</p>

<p>*MS Walks- 9 through 11th grade- 5 hours per walk/2 walks per year (With my cheerleading team, we helped to run them, get people signed in, pass out numbers, and hand out medals and food)</p>

<p>*Soup Kitchen- 9 through 11th grade- 3 hours per week/5 weeks per year (At the local soup kitchen, we helped to prepare and serve food)</p>

<p>*Environmental help, Earth day- 9 through 10th grade- 5 hours per week/1 week per year (on earth day, we would go out and plant trees and flowers in community parks)</p>

<p>Honors & Awards:
Honor Roll 9-12th
Academic Letter 9-12th
Athletic Achievement 9-12th
Mind in motion 9-12th
Graduating with Honors</p>

<p>Schools I got INTO as a high school senior:
Alabama
Penn State
Towson
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Colorado- Boulder
Connecticut </p>

<p>I now realize the schools I had in mind of transferring aren't an option
(BU, Lehigh, Wake Forest, GW) I don't even know what to do :/</p>

<p>uhhh yeahhh any advice?</p>

2

<p>Those look like some pretty high-level courses for a freshman. Most universities give you space on the application to write about any extenuating circumstances that have caused you to screw up, I would explain that 1- this school was not a good fit for you and 2- your schedule turned out to be too ambitious. You can also go into why you think ______ University would be a better fit.</p>

<p>Given the other stuff you have done, you have a chance of convincing admissions officers that PSU wasn’t right for you and that you will succeed at their school.</p>

3

<p>Thank you, so on the common app there is a place for that? haha I agree it was probably too ambitious but I didn’t choose the schedule but ended up thinking it would be fine, I was definitely wrong! It probably doesn’t help that I got insanely sick this semester</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice, I’ll try and go about that :)</p>

4

<p>Bump…/…</p>

5

<p>I think that if you explain your circumstances for the low GPA that it would help. It’s not like PSU was too difficult. You just had health problems. You should still apply to the schools you originally were planning on, while knowing that it will be hard to gain acceptance. I think you should consider American University. It seems like you want to be near a city, and the school is mid sized. What type of school do you want? (location, size, etc)</p>

6

<p>Thanks :slight_smile: I think that’s what I’m going to do, lupus… sucks… so much but I wont let it hold me back! I visited American U back when I was a senior (last year) and I just wasn’t a fan it for some reason didn’t rub me the right way… </p>

<p>as for what I like:
~ Midish size I’m not sure, just SMALLER then PSU
~ Near or IN a city
~ Must have a football team
~ Not overly liberal
~ Greek life (just a pref doesn’t HAVE to be)
~ Good opportunity for Internships, etc.</p>