Transfer Student:// Nervous about Grades from Prior Schools

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello, I was wondering what your opinions on this would be.
Here's the story, in short:</p>

<p>After graduating High School, I often got threatened a lot. A lot of "If you don't do this, you will not be living here. We will not support you if you follow your passions." Due to this, I had tried to find work for a long time with no avail. Anyways, because of being told this, I ended up switching majors-- and schools- from 2009 to 2012. I also had depression at the time (Now seen to be bipolar NOS and Borderline Personality Disorder and General Anxiety Disorder.) and was not getting proper treatment in the least. The medicines that were prescribed ended up doing more harm than good.</p>

<p>I am the type of person that does not respond well to negativity, so being told things like "If you switch your major, that's the same as failing, and you will not live here if you do it." ended up taking a terrible toll. I went from a strictly Culinary School due to stress, to doing a web design program at a school while living at home, to getting kicked out and jumping into being an English Major. While at this final school, I was often told things such as "If you fail or quit this one, because you fail/quit everything else, you are NOT to come home." This added a bit more added stress to me than I needed, along with the fact that the school wasn't right for me, and neither was the major.</p>

<p>Anyways, here I am almost 2 years later, I want to jump back into school after doing lots of research, and after getting proper treatment for my mental illnesses. I have cut off communication from my parents, so I can follow my passions now (art~ <3) without any threats or anything of the sort. Because of how I was being treated, along with the lack of treatment for my mental illnesses, my grades are quite low. I am worried about being rejected due to this fact.</p>

<p>What do you think would be the best way to go about this? Should I explain this to the admissions counselor as I get my transcripts sent in? Should I have my mental health doctor communicate with the admissions office as well in explaining the situation? Or would it just be more worth it to ask about starting completely over? (I didn't take the ACT/SAT in HS for some reason. I can't seem to recall why.) </p>

<p>Thank you for all your opinions and support.
-Tori</p>

2

<p>Unfortunately, with college coursework, you really can’t just start over. If you were taking courses at a nonaccredited school then those courses would probably not count when you attempt to transfer units, but you should definitely review that with counselors at the schools where you would like to transfer. We all have to report the good with the bad grades. I’m not sure what schools you are looking into or what type of grades you actually received in the past, but going to a community college to get your grades up maybe your best option. Perhaps the schools you went to previously may have academic renewal, so you can look into that to see if you can get rid of some of your low-grades. Several years ago I took a handful of college classes and I really didn’t care about my schoolwork so my grades were really bad. Last year when I decided to return to school I put forth a lot of effort and my GPA has gone from a 1.7 to a 3.48, and by the end of this semester should be around 3.60. I did have to retake a couple of classes but in the end it’s definitely worth it.</p>