Transferring to a selective school from CC

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hey all.</p>

<p>I just finished my first semester at community college, and I've had mini-crises about a B I got in comp II (It was the kind of class where the teacher rarely gives As, but it wasn't for the sake of student development). I find this to be particularly ridiculous as I am a former policy debater/current coach and the subject of CompII at my college is Argument. </p>

<p>Anyway. I go to community college because I didn't do very well in high school. My high school stats.
2.3 GPA
5 AP classes: 3, 4, 4, 4, 4 (scores).
30 ACT (34 eng, 28 rd, 30 math, 29 sci)</p>

<p>Okay, This semester I earned a 3.813 GPA. (I was so ****ed about the B). I didn't apply anywhere out of high school except Iowa (I'm from Iowa City), and I didn't get in. </p>

<p>Now that my grades are better (I took as rigorous a schedule as I could, 17 credit hours most top level courses (the highest offered at Kirkwood)) </p>

<p>I'm evaluating my options for transfer, my top choice is either Northwestern or the University of Chicago. I think I'll apply to Northwestern, U of C, Grinnell, Cornell University, Carleton and Columbia (NY).</p>

<p>I was already skeptical about the reality of applying to top tier schools from community college, but the B makes it a lot worse. </p>

<p>What are my chances? Other things-I'll get fantastic recommendations, Probbable Economics and Philosophy/Literature double major. I'm also hopefully going to take upper level econ or lmath next semester at Iowa. This is for the fall 11 or 12. Many activities, competent letter. I mean, primarily my three questions are as follows;</p>

<p>1) What are my chances with schools like these from CC. 2)What should I be doing? 3) Will a B (particularly from CC) affect my potential matriculation at selective schools?</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

2

<p>Can’t speak for the others, but Grinnell’s admin is highly accessible. I would call and set up an appointment/interview with the admissions staff, talk about your specific situation and see what they have to say. At worst, they refuse to talk to you or give you useful information (very unlikely but you are no worse off than you are now) and at best, you make a great impression and they encourage you to send in your application. And if the other schools will talk to you in advance, so much the better.</p>

<p>Be aware that in some years, Grinnell has taken no transfers at all because their acceptance rate was higher than expected. At small schools, even an extra 25 students can have a big impact on housing, etc…so you may want to add a few additional schools to that transfer list, especially a few that are a little less selective.</p>

3

<p>My fallback school is Iowa. I would love to get out of Iowa City, but the only way I can justify paying for it is if I get into a top tier school, especially one with a good financial aid package (which I’d qualify for pretty heavily)</p>

4

<p>Don’t bank on financial aid as a transfer student – you might get burned.</p>