Unique case - UChicago transfer chances, other colleges to consider?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! Sorry this is so long but my ~uncommon~ case calls for it (and I tend to be verbose). Planning to send in transfer applications next fall/winter (entrance fall 2020). I’m super taken w UChicago (quirky, policy on free expression, might find peers there, meet full demonstrated financial need), but I don’t quite know how they’d see me as an applicant. I’d really appreciate if anyone has any expertise/insight!

TLDR: 15, will be 17 upon entrance. did a legit year of college at 13, got depressed and got bad grades, now “homeschooled” at cc + piecing life back together. abstract thinker, into spirituality/philosophy, decent (creative) writer, side interest in comedy.

GENERAL

  • currently 15 y/o, will be 16 during applications, 17 upon college entrance
  • currently “homeschooled,” will have associate’s (in general studies, probably) from cc by winter 2019 or spring 2020. also did a year-long stint at a “real” college - more on that later.
  • prospective major: philosophy, but also into psych, lit - and where they cross

SCORES/GRADES

  • SAT: took as 12 y/o. 2020, 660R 670M 690W. will retake bc CollegeBoard erased my scores, can probably get 1500+
  • GPA: 3.3 from previous college when I was 13, 4.0 at current cc
  • 2017: instead of 8th grade, attended special program (only one nationwide) that allows 13 y/os to attend college full-time. would’ve received bachelor’s there, if not for difficult transition/depression. straight As besides an F, D+, C-. 36 credits earned.
  • summer 2017: French 201 at community college
  • fall 2017: enrolled at public high school - terrible horrible transition back. spirally badly into worse depression, skipped school practically daily. all Fs and a B fall semester. my mom says I probably don’t need to include this in apps (bc of later homeschooling), but something tells me I do…
  • spring 2018: switched to “homeschooling” (technically, but no home instruction). Sociology 101 at cc
  • summer 2018: Astro 101 w/ lab
  • fall 2018 (now): College English and Calc I, anticipated As
  • spring 2018 (anticipated): at cc, will take honors cultural anthro, regular western civ/modern world, acting for non-theatre majors

ECS

  • leadership program at cc (mostly conferences, seminars, certificate/dinner upon completion) - joined bc curious abt concept of “leadership”, potential to meet ppl
  • student senator at cc (attend meetings with faculty, voice any student concerns)
  • math tutor at cc, 5 hr/wk
  • volunteer ESOL teaching assistant at cc, 2 hr/wk
  • not sure if this counts but I write a joke daily. at one point I was convinced I’d go into comedy, but now it’s to challenge myself to think differently
    also, I haven’t been doing these regularly yet, but in the next month, I plan to gradually build them into my routine:
  • resume teaching myself Latin (I have a few months of Latin-learning already under my belt), immerse myself in French language media
  • work on a treatise on parenting/summation of what I’ve learned thus far in life - a cross between research paper and creative essay
  • resume reading books / watching movies, quit reading Internet articles / watching youtube
  • learn to do voices/accents (to appease the comedian in me)

ESSAYS

  • looking forward to them; writing is a strength of mine :slight_smile:

Any thoughts on UChicago or even recommendations of other schools (esp safeties/matches) to check out would be greatly appreciated!

2

This is the first post I’ve seen headlined ‘unique’ that actually looks pretty unique :wink:

…and I’m going sideways on it right from the start…

  1. Half of your “ECs” are things you plan to do. The reasons for providing ECs to a college are to show what you put your time and energy into beyond your required schoolwork. It is an opportunity to show commitment over time, leadership, responsibility, your strong interests, etc. You are taking 1-2 academic classes / term at CC. I took 2 CC classes as one point- when I was working full time. You should have a ton of time on your hands- what are you doing with that time?

  2. Are you registered as a ‘homeschool’ student, who is taking CC classes as part of getting a HS diploma?

  3. So far, you have not had happy experiences with full time structured schooling. We can infer that you are super bright, but the challenge of that is that external structures often don’t fit neatly. UChicago has a lot of language that appeals to you- but in practice it is a very structured academic environment (ditto Stanford and Columbia).

As an alternative, go look at the St John’s website: https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate

It’s not as famous a name, but I wonder if it doesn’t sound more like the kind of learning environment you are looking for. The students there are plenty smart, so don’t be put off by the relatively high acceptance rate! UChicago had a similar one until a few years ago, when they started a massive marketing campaign for the explicit purpose of driving up application numbers (and therefore down acceptance numbers, thereby increasing the ‘selectivity’ ranking). Before that, the applicant pool at UChicago was very self-selecting, so the admission % was much higher.

Also look at Reed College, and I’m sure other posters will chime in with suggestions as well.

By now I’m sure you can appreciate the importance of getting the right ‘fit’ for you!

ps, fair or not, parents of HS age or older children (ie, the ones on this site) who read that a mid-teen is writing a treatise on parenting will chuckle or roll their eyes. Parents of older kids do the same when first time parents hold forth on parenting theories. A lot changes once you are on the other side :slight_smile:

3

*btw- “meets full need” often includes the $5K / year in debt that you are allowed to take out in your own name- there are only ~15 colleges that meet full need & no loans at all, and then only for families within specific income guidelines. You’ll have to compare the packages when acceptance season comes around.

4

Get a Fiske Guide to Colleges now. Try to learn about holistic admissions, what it means they look at. As @collegemom3717 said, you have limited courses and ECs and don’t seem to realize all your academic records from the hs period will need to be included, as well as any colleges attended. See how the Common App phrases the question. Adcoms at holistic colleges will look at the transcripts and see the letter grades. And rigor. Or not. And make certain you have the courses they recommend for applicants (how many years of core classes in various fields.)

Are you currently “enrolled in a degree granting program?” It means, are you on track for some college degree, based on how you registered with the comm college? If so, you may very well be a transfer. But you need to look at how various 4-year targets define this.

Those ECs boil down to senator, tutoring, ESL- all at the cc. What do you do otherwise, in the community? The leadership program may be considered academic, we don’t know.

Get the Fiske Guide. Then go to the college websites and look at the stats ranges for the current class. There will be colleges that admit based on your grades and scores, easier to get into. If your parents are together, you need to run the Net Price Calculator to see if you get aid, how much. Learn about the Fafsa and other aid applications, which colleges require which.

Posters can name all sorts of colleges for you, but your college directions need to be what you carefully explore and where you have a shot at an admit.

Don’t rush this. If you aren’t meeting the course recommendations or need time to grow and expand the ECs, think about giving yourself that time.

5

I agree with above comments that you should find the right match school for you and your unique personality and learning style rather than attempt to attend the “highest ranked” school. This is because of your background of attempting a regular school and then finding it a poor match and “spiraling” into depression.

As someone who also was accepted into college early and attended late, I strongly recommend taking your time. Intelligence is one thing. Maturity is another – and I don’t mean to imply that you’re not mature in many senses beyond your age. You clearly are. However, you are still subject to the physical maturity of your own body, and your brain is part of that. It will not fully mature until you are at least 24-25 years old. Like it or not, that’s the case. For someone as smart as you, it may be longer. Many extremely intelligent people mature asymmetrically – meaning that in one area they are over the top beyond their years. In other areas, they are much younger and struggle. Waiting to attend college may be a good move for you. Many supremely intelligent people attend college rather late.

If you don’t want to do that, then you may want to look at the early college programs. I’m not sure how they are financed but Bard Simon’s Rock is probably the most famous. It’s a college that specializes in super smart kids ready for college as early as age 16. Google “early college” and you will find a list of them on Wikipedia.

I agree that you may not like the extremely structured schools of Columbia and U of Chicago, nor the intellectually quirky but competitive climate of Swarthmore. If you were my child I’d be scouring the books and internet for schools with the following qualities–

  • Loose academic structure with few core requirements (Columbia and Chicago both highly structured)
  • A student body that is not competitive amongst itself, but supportive instead (Chicago is v competitive among students)
  • Smart ambitious students nonetheless.

That list would include –
Hampshire College
Bryn Mawr
Mt. Holyoke
Earlham
U of Rochester
Vassar
St. Johns of Annapolis and Santa Fe
Reed
Beloit
Haverford
Hamilton College
Evergreen
Marlboro
Quest
Colorado College – block program and that may suit your style of learning
Mills
New College of Florida
Hendrix
Pitzer

6

That’s Quest U in Canada, not Quest College FYI

There are many other schools other than those mentioned.

7

It sounds like you have had a lot of emotional struggles. I hope as you pursue a 4 yr college that you find one that will allow you to thrive and succeed!

I’m sorry you had so many struggles at a young age, but I am going to try to save you additional heart ache. You really need to reevaluate where you plan on applying. Unfortunately, your situtation is not that unique and the fact that you attended those programs and enrolled in college courses and did not thrive there at a young age is not going to be to your benefit. Those grades and your mishmash of courses are the main part of your application. Sadly, those are huge weaknesses, not strengths. Schools will give no bonus pts for young age.

You need to understand that there are kids who are SET qualified who have gone on to take upper level college courses during high school with 4.0 GPAs, tippy top test scores (all the way back to 12 yrs old), and stellar ECs. Many will have earned competitive academic awards. Those are your peers who will be applying to schools like Stanford, Columbia, and UChicago

You might find your best plan is to apply to the 4 yr colleges that have articulation agreements with your CC. Your CC will have a transfer coordinator who would be a good person to contact. That person could help you select the courses you should take in order to have the strongest application possible.

8

Curious as to which college has a special program for 8th graders allowing full time enrollment ? (BU ? Simon’s Rock ?)

9

My guess was the DYS campus on U of Nevada Reno.

10

DYS ? Do it yourself ?

11

http://www.davidsonacademy.unr.edu/

12

@allyphoe : Thank you !

Stanford Online & Boston University also offer interesting options.

13

@blubeari Is this tl;dr summary mostly accurate?

8th grade (13yo): Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 - 3.3 GPA from 36 credits at [my guess is Davidson Academy]

Summer before 9th: 1 CC class (prob equivalent to HS French 3)

9th grade (14yo): Fall 2017 - Spring 2018 - a disastrous public school fall semester, followed by a spring semester with 1 CC class (Intro Sociology).

Summer before 10th: 1 CC class (Intro Astronomy)

Sophomore year (15yo): Fall 2018 - Spring 2019 - 5 CC classes across 2 semesters: English, Calc, Anthro, Modern World History, Acting.

If so, I don’t see any particular advantage to considering you a junior, rather than a sophomore. You need at least 3 more classes in English, 3 lab sciences (bio, chem, physics), 1-3 history (I’d suggest a 2-semester US history sequence and the remainder of the 2-semester world history sequence, rather than just a semester of US, but your CC might do things differently), and another semester of French to meet most selective colleges’ recommended high school coursework. So another 10 classes. Plus some philosophy and psychology courses to fill out a reasonable range of electives.

It’s possible some of your 8th grade classes could count towards those requirements, but my personal opinion is that an extra year with a full course load of core classes would serve you well in the admissions process.

14

Regardless of where (does DA have a boarding option? I was wondering if it was Mary Baldwin’s PEG), I agree with you @allyphoe that this student has major academic weaknesses. However, the issue this student is going to face is that their college transcripts will follow them. Couple that with the very low threshold current workload, this student needs to refocus and regroup to find schools that will accept them whenever they apply.

I think your suggestion of postponing graduation is a good one.

15

Thank you all for your opinions! I appreciate your honesty and I hope to grow from it!

@allyphoe Mostly accurate, except Astronomy was a lab science, just not of the usual bio/chem/physics (should I take the entire triumvirate as well?). Do my “8th grade” courses count as anything? The more “legit” ones I took were: Experimental Economics, Psych as a Natural Science (lab), Psych as a Social Science, French 101/2, Precalculus, a few applied violin classes.

My (and my parents’) reasoning for treating this year as my junior year is that I’m sort of outgrowing the CC. I’ve gone to events and tried to make friends (not much luck), and I’ve gotten a bit disenchanted with the classes. In about another 3-5 classes, I’ll be done with an Associate’s degree from the CC (they’ll transfer over the credits from “8th grade”). If by then, I’m still not ready for college apps, I’m kinda out of options as to where to take classes. Once I can drive, maybe I’ll audit some classes at my state college?

@collegemom3717 SJC seems promising, so thank you for that! (Though I don’t quite understand how it’s less structured than UChicago and the others - it seems like everyone takes the same rigorous liberal arts/classics core.)

I’m a little discouraged about all this because I feel like I don’t quite fit anywhere or in any category. “Homeschool” is particularly alienating. The leeway I’ve had is overwhelming because there are just too many ways I can go. So, I end up choosing nothing rather than something to do, and I end up depressed. I’ve made lots of progress on the mental health front, so I’m returning to the idea that structure is better for me. Historically (with the exception of the times mental health got in the way), I’ve done well with the “textbook, letter, paper” model. And, I really don’t mind a core in the sense that I want to learn everything anyway!

All in all, I think I need to buckle down and study. (For now, it’s at the CC, but I don’t know yet about later when I have an Associate’s.) Then once I have that foundation down, I’ll build up the ECs. In terms of the social life, I don’t know how/where to find peers yet.

Thoughts?

16

Do you have a commutable 4-year school that accepts dual enrollment students? That would be my suggestion for where to go when you outgrow the CC. Otherwise, I’d look at some of the other “usual suspects” for homeschooling, including online courses.

IMHO your 8th grade classes “count” in the sense that Calc I means you wouldn’t necessarily need to take additional math classes (although I’d recommend Stats for someone interested in psychology) and that French 3 means you only need an additional semester of French. You might get transfer credit / advanced placement for the others. But for application purposes, you need a rigorous 11th grade, not a rigorous 8th grade.

17

@blubeari Most competitive colleges are going to have minimum core requirements. Think in terms of 4,4,4,4,4 (4 English, 4math, 4 science, 4 foreign language, and 4 social sciences.

Yes, your 8th grade courses are going to be a factor bc all college transcripts are permanently attached to your name. They look mostly like a math credit, social sciences, and 2 foreign language credits. But, you have a lot of gaps in the 4 x 5 core.

We are a homeschooling family. My kids have sought out friendships outside of school scenarios. Youth group, city choir, community theater, etc are all places to form friendships.

ETA: I meant to add that you are correct that your ps transcripts are going to have to be reported.

18

Also, if your mental health issues weren’t school-related, and if they’re well-managed now, a return to a traditional school setting might be worth considering.

19

We’re also a homeschooling family. My kids developed friendships with all kinds of other kids. Some they met through homeschooling, but others were through sports, volunteering, and area activities like theater, music, and community classes. It helps to participate in a variety of things.

What state are you in? Different states have different homeschool regulations. In our state there are a specific number of courses in specific subjects that homeschoolers have to complete to get their high school equivalency. We were required to turn that in with college applications (proof of high school graduation or the equivalent). Have you met your state’s requirements?

You’ll also need several years of core classes to have a chance at most competitive colleges. I’d aim for 4 years each of history/social science, English, math, lab science, and foreign language. How many years of each do you have now?

20

I don’t think you have enough credits to be considered a high school grad, much less a college transfer student. Try staying where you are or finding a place with an articulation agreement if you can’t enroll in a regular high school; that record is going to be hard to overcome.