Troubled transfer student in need of advice!!!!!

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi,
I am new to the site so please bare with me. I would love some input and suggestions on my problem. I will make it as short as possible.
This fall semester I will be graduating from my local community college with a 3.3 gpa. I am looking to transfer to a university to complete my bachelors in either early childhood education or special education.
My problem is previous schools I went to, I did rather poorly. Failures, withdraws, basically a train-wreck. These grades date back to either 3 or 9 years ago. Basically I got my stuff together, started working hard, and I really would love to take my 7 year career as a nanny and turn it into a professional teaching degree. My "dream" so to say is to teach pre-school or kindergarten.
The problem im finding is how on earth am I going to get accepted to the schools. My average gpa of ALL my college courses attempted will sit around a 2.3-2.5, which is enough to get into the schools im applying to. However, almost all, from what im reading, the schools require you to have a 2.5 to get into the upper division education programs, which I will be borderline.</p>

<p>It kills me that my past is coming back to haunt me. As requested, I will send all my transcripts to all the schools.</p>

<p>Side notes, I am also a veteran and an adult student...if that matters any.</p>

<p>So my questions, with my previous failures, turned into what I consider a nice gpa, can I get accepted into state or private schools around the chicagoland area. I do not care if I get into any top schools, nor do I plan to apply to any. I just want to go to a school that will get me a degree that allows me to teach young children.</p>

<p>Second, how will they calculate my gpa? Will they even care about my one semester failure of a semester 9 years ago?</p>

<p>What about to get into the educational department/programs? Do they take all my courses I have ever taken to see if I make the 2.5, or just the courses that transfer over?</p>

<p>Do any schools admit students into the college, take a few courses, then try to apply to the education department?</p>

<p>Are there any waivers or probation I might be able to get into?</p>

<p>At this point, other than doing great my last semester, and writing great essays, is there anything I can do at this point?</p>

<p>Thank you for reading and any advice or suggestions is welcomed!</p>

2

<p>Look into the college’s “Academic Renewal” policies. Most colleges will allow a student to petition to have some grades waived for purpose of having a high enough gpa to do upper division work and/or graduation purposes. Usually it will be a chunk of time (one or more semesters in a row) that will be waived for purposes of calculating the gpa. Each school has its own policies of how it is done, so read up to find a policy that is friendly to your situation.</p>

<p>You can look into Academic Renewal at your current school–but it may not “transfer” to your new school. And if you can get accepted into your new school without an AR, then it is not necessary right away. However, at your new school make sure there is an AR policy so that you can get set up to graduate, etc.</p>