THE IMPOSSIBLE, POSSIBLE? (Notre Dame, USC, Emory)

<p>I graduated with a 2.1 HS GPA, I have a solid essay for why my high school grade point average was so low. I have great community service and reccomendations. I scored a 28 on my ACT. I have a 3.78 GPA from a regionally accredited community college, taking two years worth of classes in one year (including 3 Semesters of Spanish, and Calculus). What do you think?</p>

<p>University of Southern California
Emory University
University of Notre Dame</p>

<p>Please give me a rating on those three, and reccomend any others that you think would be a good fit for me. Thank you.</p>

<p>Your GPA is pretty good, although it's from a CC, so it's expected that you have a high GPA.</p>

<p>ND - Decent (not necessarily good) chances since they're transfer friendly. Make sure your curriculum matches with their first year program.</p>

<p>Emory - Also decent chances since they're transfer friendly, especially towards males.</p>

<p>USC - Dunno</p>

<p>That GPA is actually quite impressive if you've really taken two years worth of courses (60 credits) in one year...how did you do that though?! That would imply that you've taken about 10 classes per semester unless you participated in a summer session as well.</p>

<p>USC - High Match
Emory - High Match
UND - High Match / Low Reach</p>

<p>Get a safety just in case as this transfer process is somewhat unpredictable.</p>

<p>What exactly is the difference between a high match and a low match? Do you think that the admissions committe will take into acount the heavy courseload I was taking? I did it by taking 25-28 quarter units a quarter, including summer school.</p>

<p>It's difficult for anyone to accurately assess your chances at schools, but I use a system like many here of rating the school on a scale; from easiest to hardest:</p>

<p>Safety, Low Match, Match, High Match, Low Reach, Reach</p>

<p>So if two schools are deemed high match by a reviewer, it means you've got the credentials to be pretty competitive at those schools, but you won't "wow" the adcoms and thus nothing is really definite. Low Reach means your stats are lacking (in this case, high match / low reach means your stats are kinda good for that school but really are lacking). I called Notre Dame a high match / low reach because of your GPA, which comes from a community college. </p>

<p>Yes, your heavy courseload definitely matters and is likely to be a factor that works greatly in your favor.</p>

<p>Only coming out of a CC, you might want to find some other choices. I transferred to Notre Dame, and the committee there strongly encourages transfers to attend a 4-year university before making the switch. That said, I understand the UC schools take CCs. Are you from California? If so, maybe consider one of those universities. Although USC is not public and part of the system, maybe they are accomodating to community college students, too.</p>

<p>USC is quite accommodating to california community college transfers, but they pretty much require that all of your GE requirements be finished, particularly the freshman writing requirement, as well as pre-major requirements, (i.e., for engineering, that would be calculus and physics, etc)</p>

<p>I am not from California and I have a good reason why I am at a community college. I did read that Notre Dame encourages transfer students to attend a four year university, but I feel as if I have a good explanation for why I am here. Do you guys really think that coming from a community college will affect me that much negatively for Notre Dame?</p>

<p>Unfortunately I do think it is very difficult to transfer from a CC to ND. I know of a few who have done it but all of them had 4.0 GPAs. I think ND is probably a reach, but you never know. If you have the proper classes you definitely have a chance. Also, unlike a lot of other schools, the essay is huge with ND and can make or break you! Good luck and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!</p>