<p>I should say off the bat that I wasn't originally planning on going to North Carolina for school. I took my Freshman year of classes at a community college near my house but I had some grades from yeaaars ago that are affecting my GPA in a negative way. In the past year I've taken 45 credits and gotten mostly A's (all A's in my last semester since I got super motivated) and my GPA is 3.478 or something like that.</p>
<p>I've got some extra-curricular activities. I was part of the Alpha Gamma Sigma honors & service club at my college and I did community service/service learning within the school, taking notes for a student with special needs for one of my classes. </p>
<p>I'm going to the University of Arkansas next year, for my sophomore year. Then I intend to try and transfer to UNC for my junior, senior, and any post-graduate education I may pursue. </p>
<p>My major is English, with a minor (maybe dual-major, I haven't decided yet) in Theater Arts.</p>
<p>So, my biggest question is, I guess...</p>
<p>What sort of GPA should I aim for in order to transfer in as a Junior? Also, should I overload on extra-curriculars? </p>
<p>I'm going from California to Arkansas, then will be (hopefully) going to UNC still as a California resident, so I will still be considered out-of-state. Any suggestions? Is there any hope for me?</p>
<p>Edited to add:</p>
<p>I'm moving to North Carolina because my fiancee was originally going to move down to Arkansas, but there are so few job prospects and all of his family is in NC that it makes more sense for me to move there than for him to move down.</p>
<p>pandabritt, out-of-state is more competitive.
I would suggest to keep at least a 3.5GPA, which is about the average in UNC transfer applications.</p>
<p>Well, right now I have a 3.47 but at the time I apply I'll have over 3.6+. I'm mostly concerned about their interests in extra-curricular activities. How much should I volunteer? Should I join honors societies and volunteer at places or is a competitive GPA acceptable?</p>
<p>And I WILL be transferring in as a junior, and I recall hearing that it's less competitive for that. Not sure if it's true, though :)</p>
<p>Make sure you spend a lot of time on the admissions essay. Also have one of you English teachers help you with it.</p>
<p>I've recently had experience with similar (almost identical) circumstances. I have 2 Fs on my transcripts and a bunch of Cs/Ds, went back and retook everything below a B and have made straight As for 4 semesters at a community college.</p>
<p>I got accepted because they want to know what your grade trends are. They don't just look at GPA, they look at how well you've done lately.</p>
<p>Yeah, I talked to someone at admissions and they mentioned the essays wouldn't be up until sometime next fall? </p>
<p>I'm pretty sure the grade trends I have now are pretty encouraging and if I continue with the straight A's, it should be good.</p>
<p>I have one C from 4-5 years ago and a couple of B's, but mostly A's, so if they look at the more recent grades (which are a lot more impressive than the grades I took when I slacked off), hopefully that'll work.</p>
<p>Did you take all the classes they suggest you take? I'll be behind on one language course (I don't have any yet, I would only be able to squeeze in 2 by the time I start)</p>
<p>I didn't have any language courses. I had a 3.75 transferring in. President of Phi Theta Kappa honors society, but no other extracurriculars. Worked full time. Spent about 20 minutes writing the essay :)
I think you'll be fine.</p>
<p>carrotzl: State residency isn't a factor for transfer admissions</p>
<p>Does my residency status affect my chances for admission?
No, for transfer students, residency status only affects the cost of tuition. For more information about residency, click here. </p>
<p>I had absolutely no ECs. I'm talking none. I worked full time just because I had to to help from becoming homeless but that's it.</p>
<p>I suppose the only difference is that I went to a NC community college and got my Associate Degree. They like that a lot.</p>
<p>I'd say if you avoid cake classes like Basket Weaving 101 it doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Just take classes that sound impressive on paper (i.e. my Advanced Physics looked impressive but let me tell you I haven't taken a class that the professor basically gave the answers on tests like this one).</p>
<p>Well, I'll be taking some languages and some other GE classes (plus some more specific to my major, like upper level English classes), but I could never take some intensely technical class because...I realllly suck at math.</p>
<p>But the responses I've gotten here have been pretty encouraging. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get onto the honors program at my university until AFTER I've applied because of their stupid policies, but...that just means I'll have to write an AMAZING essay I guess :]</p>