Transfer: Chance me for Ivy League

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello Everyone and thank you for your time to read this,
I am a white male and am currently an, enrolled freshmen in his spring semester at City College of San Francisco. I am a political science major hoping to pursue politics one day, determined and hopeful attend an ivy league one day and be amongst the greats.

Perhaps I should start with my background: Please note beforehand, my life is not meant to be a sob story nor is it meant to portray sympathy but instead show the difficulties I overcame in the past and why my high school marks are the way they are. I grew up in a hood of a small town called Lompoc, California where I attended Cabrillo High School. I was active on the water polo team, mock trial, medical interest club, and red cross clubs. My mom ran off when I was young. My dad was unemployed and a severe drunk. When I say drunk that is no doubt an understatement. He has severe addiction to many other recreational drugs and was constantly in a rage which lead to multiple CPS calls, constant fist fights, many police incidents (nothing on my record), and a severe depression on my part. I spent a good majority of the high school years trying to connect with people similar to my situation, which only got me to worse situations in my life. I got caught up in the wrong crowd and started missing lots of school, by my junior year, and although I somehow qualified for a couple AP classes, nothing was phenomenal. Short story, I was a complete mess which unfortunately took me down the route of gang life. At the time, the gangsters were open, welcoming, and gave me a sense of family. I lacked incentive to do anything with my life. In the beginning of my spring semester of my senior year of high school, literally the minute I turned eighteen, my father kicked out of my household. This was b.c. his sixth wife (divorced by the other five) did not like me and persuaded my dad to remove me. I became homeless and my living situation varied from homeless shelter to friend’s couches to the streets. By then I dealt with substance addiction to multiple drugs, missed most school, dealt with major depression/anger issues, and got by by breaking into cars, stealing their contents and selling them (somehow the police never caught me). Yes I was a terrible individual who was entirely self centered, a complete juvenile, and I should be punished for everything I’ve done. However in early May, the principal called me in. She sat me down and had a one-on-one conversation with me about my life, where I was going, and fixed me somehow to this day I cannot explain what quite did it. I told her I wanted to change and I didn’t know where to even begin. She offered me therapy if I would actually start attending class and I gladly obliged. A distant friend from an middle-upper-class family, offered to take me in. His family were strong Christians and for some reason taken pity on me and saw something in me I never saw. They became my new parents for those last months before graduation. I dealt with substantial withdrawals and tried to avoid anybody from my old life, especially the gangbangers downtown that seemed to always be looking for me. Somehow I actually had barely a good enough attendance to graduate. I graduated with a 2.8 GPA with an SAT score of 1540. A different friend of mine was moving to Pacifica after graduation to attend City College of San Francisco (to Pacifica because rent is cheaper) because it had a good transfer program and needed a roommate. Most kids in Lompoc, if they even went to college usually went to Allan Hancock, but I knew if I was going to survive by permanently disappearing from the gangsters and was to actually chase greatness I had to leave, so here I am now. I acquired a job in SF because of the high minimum wage, but I have to work at least 40 hours to get by. In my fall semester two of my closest friends passed away which put me back in a severe depression plus I was not very smart to begin which lead to the finished fall semester with a 3.3 GPA. I do not talk to either of my parents and am entirely alone nowadays. I do not think ivy leagues colleges ask nor care about the past, only the results which is a set back for me. This current semester has been the first of my recovery and I am finally showing positive results for once and I intend to keep things this way, I will not give up. I am showing progress

H.S.
Clubs: Medical Interest, Mock Trial, Red Cross
Team: Water Polo and Swim Team
GPA: 2.8
SAT: 1540/2400

City College of San Francisco (spring semester)
Major:Political Science
CURRENLTY OFFICER IN: Political Science and Economics Club,alpha gamma sigma (honors society),alpha gamma beta(business honors society)
Community Service:earned more than 100 hours this semester in miscellaneous soup kitchens
Non-Profit: VP of Island-Aid non-profit, which sends food and relief to starving families in Philippines
Work:40 hours minimum as busboy in restaurant b.c.I need the money to pay my bills
GPA:3.96 (3.3 fall semester, I since then have multiple tutors and I currently have a 4.0 if I continue at the same rate I am going.I calculate it at that b.c. 3.96 that is what I will have when I graduate)
EC: in honors society, have a membership at the World Affairs Council and watch speeches from renowned individuals whenever I have the spare time

Credits: 12/semester, no more because of work, which means I will spend three more semesters after this current one to graduate from CCSF
Planned: looking for a summer internship with a politician/ internship with world affairs council, was looking to join student council but the head of the honors society/my political science professor discouraged it because the student council is “futile and powerless” and if I want to become a politician I should run for some miscellaneous position in the city government and get experience campaigning, hope by my fall semester to start campaigning and start with experience in politics

I know many of you will see me as a juvenile delinquent and a loser but I want you to see that I am better than that. I am much different than I was last year, and I will do whatever it takes to get to my dreams. I want to aspire greatness and I don’t want to die a loser, die like the people where I used to live or live in the same fashion of when I was homeless, flipping burgers at the local McDonalds for a living, or be unemployed, wishing I had actually done something with my life. This is all I have left and I want this more than anything.

My difficulty is knowing what I need to do and how to get there. I hope one day be able to attend an Ivy League such as: Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Duke (not an ivy league though). Please let me know what my chances may be

CCSF does also direct acceptance to all UCs except UC Berkeley if you meet the proper requirements. My professors and counselors tell me that there is an extremely high chance I will get accepted to UC Berkeley if I keep working as hard as I currently am and I will regardless make the requirements to transfer to UCLA and get in even on the slight chance I don’t make UC Berkeley. So I must ask, although I will apply to UC Berkeley regardless, should I just apply to UC Berkeley and the other UCs alone and attempt to transfer to an ivy league for a graduate program and not even attempt to apply to the ivy league?

I have many other questions as well:

  1. I understand Ivy Leagues want an SAT score, do I have to send my h.s. SAT score or can I retake it now that I’m in college? If so when is the latest b.c. I would start finding a tutor ASAP
  2. When is the deadline to apply to colleges as I will not be able to graduate till my spring semester of next year?
  3. What else can I do to get involved and increase my chances?
  4. How much does h.s. GPA matter?
  5. Is there anymore advice you can give me?

Thank you all for your time for reading such a lengthy question :slight_smile:

2

sorry for the bad grammar, I wrote too much and had to shorten it due to the amount of characters:
b.c.= because
h.s= high school

3

@determination01 - You can’t end up with a 3.96 on a 4.0 scale after a 3.3 in your first semester. Even if you were to get a 4.0 from now on, you’ll have around 3.77 when you submit transfer applications next year.

It’s highly unlikely you would be successful in transferring to any of the Ivies, Stanford, or Duke. They will be looking for near-perfect grades, strong test scores, and other accomplishments that would make you stand out from a highly qualified applicant pool. I do not believe it is worth your time to pursue this - however transferring to the UCs or CSUs is a worthy goal. The odds are much higher and their requirements for transfer applicants are clearly defined.

It sounds like you are on the right track. Remember - you don’t need to go to an Ivy to succeed in life. Best of luck!

4

I mean I don’t get why you are even considering Ivy League schools. You messed up in high school, no excuses there. You still have a low gpa in college with no chance at above a 3.9 - even if you got 4.0 from now on which isn’t exactly easy. I mean do you have any idea how hard the courses are in these type of schools? Even if you got into one which would be a miracle in itself, you would struggle. So, you don’t really have any chance at these sort of schools even with a story. However, the turnaround is quite impressive, and I wish you good luck in the future. I would try to transfer to the UCs as a much more realistic goal.

5

Try for a top UC. You are doing great. Maybe keep the Ivy dream for grad school.

6

I don’t think going to an Ivy should be your goal. You are asking a bit soon as you don’t really have much track record yet. That is just distracting imo. If you find that you are Phi Theta Kappa and very active in your community and you pull a near 4.0 maybe, think about putting in a couple of applications, but your attainable goals are the UC and CSU and any UC is more than fine. The problem with the Ivy schools is they are harder to get into as transfer than freshman. Often the successful transfers come from peer schools, or the CC transfers come from instate, as they try to contribute to the state they are in. Harvard for instance only takes about 0 to 12 a year.

I’m not sure any college wants to see a post-HS SAT. But all colleges with holistic application process take into account your background. But they want to see outstanding performance in a hardship situation, not just ok or poor performance.

Also if you keep your gpa very high you can look at applying to the Jack Kent Cooke transfer scholarship. But be aware that UC colleges will ‘meet need’ and you will get costs covered with a reasonable loan and some work study. You should be able to get a letter from your hs GC that you were homeless and you might want to do that now so that you will be considered independent for financial aid. Are you getting a Pell Grant now?

I would just say to keep on doing what you are doing and take advice from a variety of people. Just showin up for your job is a big step up for you and you might get a better position if you show interest. Sometimes having the skills to do pick up restaurant work is an advantage as you work your way through school.