<p>Well. My story is not a success story yet. I was an average student in
HS with typical honors and APs until my junior year when I dropped out.
I worked on my physical fitness to join California Dept. of Forestry. I got
a GED during that time. I was a firefighter for 3 years and got my certs.
( HazMat, First Aid, Chain Saw Operator, etc. ). Unfortunately, I blew out
my back and that ended my short-lived career. I've decided to go back to
school and shoot for an MBA. I've got 17 units with a 4.0 GPA so far and
plan on taking 14 more for the fall and 14 more in the spring. I'm aiming for
BU, BC, or USC, and the rest of the b-schools. I hope to post here next
year with a really great college record story. </p>
<p>oh btw my HS GPA ended up being 3.3 UW and somewhat higher weighted
but regardless, dropping out and finishing up a diploma at adult school
never looks good.</p>
<p>29 ACT/1990 SAT (not terrible)
2.8 HS GPA with some abysmal grades in some classes
4.0 college GPA freshman year
Transferred to Oberlin College (accepted to Dickinson as well)</p>
<p>My story isn't a success story yet either, but I hope it will be by this time next year.</p>
<p>I dropped out of high school my sophomore year, earned my GED a year later. Had nothing but C's, D's, and F's from the 8th grade to the 10th grade and never stuck around long enough to take the SAT. I have a 3.48 college GPA and will have my AA after the Spring semester. I dislike that GPA, which is funny as someone who didn't care about his high school grades.</p>
<p>I hope to transfer to a university next year with a higher GPA.</p>
<p>I wasn't that bad of a student in High School, got a 3.5 weighted GPA, passed 3 APs, 31 ACT, and 1430/1600 on the SAT. My parents (well mostly my mom) just wanted me to get into a middle tier UC and I blindly followed that advice. Come senior year, when it was time to apply, I decided to attend a local Community College. I figured that I could save some money taking general ed classes, and transfer my junior year. After talking to some counselors, I was convinced that if I did ok at the Community College I would get into AT LEAST a middle tier UC, and possibly some better schools depending on my performance. I figured I had nothing to lose.</p>
<p>I met with a guidance counselor on the first week at my CC, and I asked him what I would need to do to transfer to a good school. He told me that coursework and GPA were most important, and to make connections with a few professors. I took his advice and enrolled in the honors program, and followed the IGETC plan (might be a California thing). Two years later, I finished with a cumulative 4.0, an Associates of Arts degree, and will be heading to Northwestern Univeristy in the Fall as an economics/math major. Pretty big leap, since I didn't even know of NU when I was in High School.</p>
<p>I hope you learn from my story that Community College is not just for people who did "crappy" in High School. You can be pretty average and still take advantage of the system. At the very worst, if you put some effort into your school work, you'll end up at the same school you would have attended straight out of High School, but with more money in your pocket.</p>
<p>Did not care at all about h.s.
Barely graduated with a 2.0. Failed about 7 classes. sat scores: 1700/2400 (eh, 490 on writing ha). sat IIs: 640-lit 590-history. I think that my sat scores were those of a much better student, so I am sort of proud of myself for pulling that off.</p>
<p>I have just transferred to a really good public college (at my ok public college before this had a 3.7)...but I am so far from home, and though I love the schooling here, I am still trying to decide if I will go to an even better school (thinking about Cornell and Columbia because I am a sucker for the Ivies). Also, school reputation seems like it matters for graduate school...I don't know I am transferring regardless so I will look unstable either way BUT I am thinking about transferring down just so I can be close to the ones I love.</p>
<p>I don't know I am not EC active, so I am pretty sure the ivies won't even give me a second look. Also, failing 7 classes seems like blasphemy in the ivy admissions world.</p>
<p>WOW Jokwon! WOW. Stories like that give me hope! What else, besides the 4.0 did you manage to do? Community service, a compelling story? Anything? I need to know, for I'm applying to a few Ivys myself...</p>
<p>Both of my best friends have done this. The first one graduated high school with mediocre grades (3.0) as well as an average SAT (1050). He then attended Santa Monica Community College where he achieved a 3.9. Afterwards he applied and was accepted to Columbia (Economics), Cornell (Architecture), and USC( Architecture). Ironically, the only school that rejected him was Berkeley.</p>
<p>My other bestfriend had a 3.2, and a 1270. He attended a tier 3 university where he earned 3.8/3.9 and transfered to writing seminars in John Hopkins.</p>
<p>The odd thing is, if we were to go on the specific college boards and ask them transfer questions, everyone will jump and say "no chance at all, give up while you can!" I suppose that's because they're full of students who did exceptional and don't think that kids who didn't do as good as they did can make it.</p>
<p>these stories are really inspiring! it makes me feel alot better that i actually DO have a chance to attend any college I want to eventually (icky freshman and sophomore HS grades lol)</p>
<p>slacked off in highschool..did a lot of sports and didnt really care about homework...i think ended up with a 3.0 gpa (ib system) and 1770 on sats....now im in a top 50 LAC on east coast..my gpa is something like 3.7 at the moment but im still in my first seemster... hoping to get into USC college of letters and arts...its the only goal i had when i step foot on this campus..i heard its gonna hard to transfer this year though</p>
<p>i really hope my highschool grades wont come back and bite me in the ass ><</p>
<p>I am so ecstatic right now! I just received my acceptance to the University of Miami. I am currently in my second year of NJ Community College, I am graduating with a 3.6 gpa. I really believed I had no chance at all. My high school stats were embarrassing. I had a 2.5 gpa and basically no EC's except for varsity hockey captain. During my senior year I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, from that point on I set out to change my life and get on the right track. From there I volunteered assisting children that were deaf, I myself am partially, I improved my grades, retook my SAT's 1000 to 1300, worked a pt job, started the ice hockey club, invited to PTK, and a bunch of other EC's. I'm sorry to ramble on but I am so grateful my reach school accepted me on the person I am now. Also, a big thank you to everyone on CC which had a similar story like mine for the motivation. -John</p>