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Transfer Students
1

<p>I know some people here are familiar with me, anyway I found out some good news and some bad news today. The good news is that I got a 3.9 for this past semester and I'm being retained on my school's newspaper because they liked the articles I wrote for the sports section.
The bad news is that the house I've grown up in and lived in for the past 13 years is being foreclosed on February 1st because of my mom's self-destructive habits and her subsequent inability to pay the mortgage on the house.</p>

<p>Anyway... while this is an emotional period and I've had to deal with alot during the past 6 years, I'm not upset about it, I've got a weird plan though.
My mother's planning to move to Florida and move in with her friend and wants me to come along but I tried to explain to her that I can't come because by the time she moves the spring semester will have started down there and it just wouldn't look good to attend my 3rd college in 2 years. She doesn't really understand what I want to do and never really asks so I just try to simplify things so that she can get an idea of what my plans are. </p>

<p>I still really want to go to either Northwestern or Cal-Berkeley next fall, so to keep the dream alive I'm planning to live out of my car (the reason being I only have $1900 in my bank account and need to reach my ultimate goal of $8000 next year so I can move out of state and attend the school I want to without paying room and board), continue going to school and continue working my 34 hour job each week. 3 of my courses next semester are online and without access to the internet at certain times because of my school library's schedule, I'll have to be more resourceful and indulge in better time management practices. </p>

<p>Should I make all the schools I applied to aware of this? I'm planning to send them letters telling them to mail all future documents to my aunt's address. This sure is a crummy situation.</p>

2

<p>dam… i feel for you. i hope everything works out for you. I probably shouldnt give my advice though because i know nothing haha. but best of luck to you</p>

3

<p>i think you should go with your mom and call a school down there ahead of time to let them know of your situation. when you decide to apply to northwestern or berkeley, write all of this stuff in the “additional info” section. you can’t live out of your car. where will you shower? cook food? what if you get sick? how are you going to stay warm?</p>

4

<p>I applied back in September. I’m still trying to figure out the bathing situation.
food will be ok, I’m fortunate that one of my mom’s friends has helped me out by giving me money everytime he sees me. Hopefully he can help out, but if not its ok, I’ll try to spend as little of the money that I’m saving up on food and gas expenses.
If I get sick I guess I’ll just have to see a doctor. I’ve got a couple of heavy blankets that I’m planning to take with me.
This lifestyle doesn’t SOUND humane but I don’t think its really going to be that bad, it’ll just take a little bit of adjusting to. And its only for 6 months… after that I’ll feel comfortable about getting an apartment in the $1000 range</p>

5

<p>what strength of character… compare that to the facebook girls with status updates every 5 minutes “lolollll 4 paper to write for tomorrow HELPPPP”</p>

<p>best of luck</p>

6

<p>if anyone is deserving to get admitted into northwestern or berkely, it would be you. I cannot fathom the situation you are in. You are very strong. I don;t know what i would do if i was in the same situation… good luck and whatever you do plz be safe!</p>

7

<p>Create a website, tell the story, and solicit donations. I’d definitely donate…</p>

<p>…if I wasn’t a poor law student.</p>

8

<p>Congratulations on your grades and performance at the school newspaper.</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s a good idea to live in your car. Given the fact that you would have excellent reasons for having to go to 3 colleges in 2 years, I strongly suggest that you move with your mom or see if there is a way that you can move in with someone in your current location. For instance, perhaps you can trade childcare services for room and board. That may be a very good deal for some working parents particularly during these tough economic times when otherwise they may not be able to afford reliable, good help with their kids.</p>

<p>While it’s wonderful to have big dreams like Berkeley and Northwestern, my advice is to plan to go to such schools for graduate school, where depending on your major, you may be able to qualify for fellowships and teaching assistanceships to cover your costs.</p>

<p>There’s no indication that you’re a Calif. resident, so if you got into Berkeley, you’d have to pay out of state rates, which are extremely high. I don’t think that Berkeley gives financial aid to OOS residents either. Even if they do, Berkeley is not among the few schools – U Virginia, U North Carolina – that guarantee to meet 100% of accepted students’ financial need. Berkeley is very expensive for OOS students, and housing costs in the area are sky high. </p>

<p>Add to all of this the fact that you’d have to move from NJ to Calif., which also would be expensive even if all of your belongings fit into your car. Would your car even make it that far? </p>

<p>I don’t think that you would be able to qualify for in-state tuition/financial aid by simply going to Berkeley. Usually one has to have resided in a state for at least a year BEFORE starting a public university in order to get in state rates. With few exceptions (I think one of the Dakotas’ public universities is an exception), you can’t qualify for in-state rates by simply going to an out of state university.</p>

<p>Consequently, my advice is to find housing where you are by doing the kind of trade I suggested, continue to get excellent grades, and talk to your college’s career services center about graduate school. Start looking at the web pages of grad schools you’d be interested in, and also find out everything you need to do to get into a top graduate school and to get funding. This includes prepping for the GREs, graduate schools’ equivalent of the SATs. In general, ECs don’t matter for grad school. Grades and GRE scores do.</p>

<p>Since you live in N.J., seems it would make sense to look to transfer to Rutgers from your community college. Given your high grades, state residency, and low income status, I’d think that Rutgers might be your best bet at even getting some financial aid as a transfer student-- something that can be difficult at many schools.</p>

<p>I also suggest talking to admissions and financial aid officers at other N.J. public schools, and getting help from your community college, which likely works with students to help them get into N.J. public colleges, including getting financial aid. There may even be some special scholarships for transfer students from N.J. community colleges.</p>

9

<p>I’ve looked at the list of schools that you are planning on applying to. They all look like reach schools. Make sure that you have some safeties, which I think would be N.J. public universities. Also make sure that all of the places where you’re applying will meet 100% the demonstrated need of transfer students or (in the case of N.J. publics) would be affordable with a reasonable amount of loans. Not all colleges that promise to meet the financial need of freshmen also meet the demonstrated need of transfers. </p>

<p>I also suggest that you post on Parents Forum. There are lots of helpful, well informed parents there, and students needing advice are welcome to post there.</p>

<p>Good luck to you!</p>

10

<p>Damn dude I feel for you. You don’t get financial aid? I get like $13,000 a year and it’s for going to CCC, I’ll get twice that when I transfer to a UC.</p>

11

<p>at this point I don’t think Northwestern is in the cards because its such a reach for me. I think Cal-Berkeley is alot more likely but I know I won’t get in because I’ll have completed 59 credits by the end of the Spring 2010 semester and I have to assume some won’t be transferrable.
What I think I’ll do is move to California next August and enroll at another community college, possibly De Anza College in Cupertino. Then I’ll get another job or two there and I’ll reapply for Fall 2011. Its risky but I think I have the determination to make it work and I’d be saving myself tens of thousands of dollars, albeit losing a year in potential earning power. And I’d also strengthen my application because I can write a much more compelling essay by this time next year and will have taken 3 SAT Subject Tests (taking them in January) so I’ll possibly get exempt from the Berkeley History Requirement</p>

<p>Sound like a good plan so far?</p>

12

<p>To be honest, it doesn’t sound like a good plan. Living out of your car is not feasible, there are so many things that can go wrong it is not even funny. Somebody complimented your character, but I don’t think you are thinking things through.</p>

<p>You can’t live out of a car, you can’t just risk it all for that one dream school that might not even give you financial aid. Plus, you said earlier going to a third college would look bad, but now you are considering going to California to go to a community college? </p>

<p>Don’t live out of your car. If you can’t find acceptable living conditions maybe you should consider going to live with your mom. Include all the information about what happened in the additional information section of transfer applications like a previous poster said. The people who review applications are not stupid, they will realize that moving was out of your control. </p>

<p>If you do decide to go through with it, I wish you the best of luck and hope things work out. I don’t think it is a wise choice though.</p>

13

<p>Honestly, you think you can do it now, but give it two weeks living from a car and you’ll be crying for help.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear about all this though.</p>

14

<p>read this you might find it interesting if your considering living in your car while going to school</p>

<p>[The</a> Spartan Student: Walden on Wheels](<a href=“http://spartanstudent.blogspot.com/2009/10/walden-on-wheels.html]The”>Ken Ilgunas: Walden on Wheels)</p>