I just graduated from a business program (pre-mba) degree in a private midwestern university Spring 2016. Originally Im from Cali, I wanted to go back to one of the UC’s in my home state, but most are limited for second degree seekers. I want a career in computer engineering but at the time of my first degree I just came out of high school didn’t know what to major in, my freshmen year I was convinced by my counselor to take business, looking back, was the worst choice I ever made I hated the course and my grades reflected poorly had a couple D’s on my transcript. I wanted to change my major but I couldn’t because I wanted to graduate on time. My cumulative GPA when my Senior term ended was 2.87 (B-) average, But I’m not satisfied at all with my degree nor do I want the low gpa to label me. For the past few months I was depressed about my situation I got numerous job rejections and heard about my high school friends succeeding while my own life was down in the dumps. Then I found out about Columbia General Studies in New York (I’ve heard stories of former college dropouts who went back to school there) and I made that my ultimate academic goal to get there. right now I’m working on starting my own startup app company in Silicon Valley, my transcript from my first degree is rusty but right now I’m at a 2-year community college in the Bay Area majoring in Computer Science, I hope to go to GS in 4-6 years from now from a double degree in Information Science and Philosophy. I’m thinking about going to another community college after my current one so I can have 4 years of a better gpa on my transcript. Any tips on how I can get to my goal of the second bachelors by overcoming a low GPA from the first? I am 22 years old
@dreamerofivies I’m not sure going to four years of community college in necessary. In fact, I’d wager it’d be excessive. If you have done and continue to do well at your current community college then you can make a strong case for yourself to Columbia GS’s admissions committee. You want to shoot for a GPA in the 3.8-4.0 range. But again, I don’t think it’d be necessary to attain two associate degrees. If anything, put more work into your startup app and how you would write about it in your essay. The essay is so damn important - I can’t stress that enough.
On another note, is Columbia GS the absolute best place to accomplish your goal? If you’re from California, why not take a look at some of the UC schools? I suggest this only because of how terribly expensive Columbia is. I’m not sure a degree in Information Science and Philosophy will give you a solid ROI on all the money you’ll put forth toward community college and a bachelors degree from Columbia. Just worth thinking about, in my opinion.