what do you all think (bad freshman semester, great grades since)

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello my fellow college confidentialites. I am writing this to ask your opinions on my transfering situation. About a year ago I started a theoretical thread with "what if i get these grades what can I do etc.) with the semester over and my first two year numbers finalized I wanted to get your all's take. </p>

<p>Currently I attend West Virginia University and I am a political science major. I had a horrible freshman semester here, got a 1.9, went out all the time didn't focus on schoolwork, joined a frat (bad idea for me) and everything went horribly wrong, i failed two classes. After that semester though my grades started to get much better, here are my grades after that</p>

<p>HS GPA 3.0, SAT 2010/2400</p>

<p>Current college GPA (3.65, going to try get it up to a 3.7 by the end of the year with my study abraod and internship credit)</p>

<p>Fall semester freshman year (10 credits earned)
-(105)Intro Anthropology (B)
-(101)University 101 (B)
-(102)Intro to American Government (C)
-(130)Intro to Philosophy (C)
-(105)Intro Social Work (F)</p>

<p>Spring semester freshman year (12 credits earned)
-(132)English Short Story and Novel (A)
-(210)Intro to law (A)
-(103)Global political problems (B+)
-(101)Intro spanish (B+)
-(111)Intro statistics (F)</p>

<p>Fall semester sophormore yeare (19 credits earned)
-Social work 105 (Repeat, A)
-Statistics 111 (Repeat, A+)
-English 101 (A)
-Comparative political instituions 250 (A)
-Service learning 293 (A+)
-Geology 101 (A)
-Geology 101 lab (A) </p>

<p>Spring Semester Sophomore year (21 credits earned)
-English 102 (A+)
-Political science 314 civil liberties (A+)
-Service learning 493 (A+)
-Organization communication 293 (A+)
-Theology of the apocalypse 293 (A)
-Political Theory 270 (A)
-Economics 201 (A)</p>

<p>Summer 2009
-study abroad in europe (european legal instituions 495 and international law 496)
---assuming i am going to get A's in both of those classes, probably an A+ in one)</p>

<p>Extra curriculars
-freshman year joined fraternity, wrote for frat newspaper (Fall 07-Spring 08)
-Spring 08 wrote for student newspaper
-Fall 2008 (volunteer at elementary school 4 days a week, worked with kids aftesrchool)
-Spring 2009 (did advocacy for student study abroad group)
-worked with two vietnamese studnets in an english conversation partner program
-worked with school for womans walk for water event
-invited to represent service learning department in wvu board of governors luncheon </p>

<p>Other aids
-great letter of recomendation from the vice-chair of my department
-great letter of recomendation from my political theory professor
-very good writer, not to brag and i know this post doesnt show it (im lazy right now) but i can write an extremely good essay, very wide vocabulary intricate sentance structures and all that stuff (again i know this post looks horrible but when push comes to shove i can write quite well)
-lived all over the world, (born in argentina, lived there for three months, lived in south africa for six years, israel for three years, miami florida for eight years)
-hispanic (dont know if this will help, don't think it will but hey you never know)</p>

<p>what i plan on doing before i transfer
-get an internship this fall at a think tank and get something published (full time)
-Spring 2010 maybe work as an intern for the american bar assocation or the district attorney or prosecutor in my home town</p>

<p>So that being said what do you guys think my chances are like for transfering and what type of schools do you all think i could get into</p>

2

<p>It’s my opinion that this point is going to work very well in your favor,
“[I am a] very good writer, not to brag and i know this post doesnt show it (im lazy right now) but i can write an extremely good essay, very wide vocabulary intricate sentance structures and all that stuff (again i know this post looks horrible but when push comes to shove i can write quite well)”
The IMPORTANCE of a well written transfer essay, cannot be over-emphasized as far as its impact on your overall application.
Also, I think that the fact that the courses that you failed freshman year were retaken and you subsequently received an A and an A+, respectively, shows great progress on your part.
Your extracurricular activities are varied and interesting, and all around you seem like a great candidate for transfer, but be sure to cast a wide net; that way you will have many options when the decisions are made available. </p>

<p>best of luck!</p>

3

<p>word up, thanks man, bumpitdy bump, any other opinions?</p>

4

<p>Man! Good luck to you!, Your applying GPA looks good ( are you SURE its a 3.6 though? two F’s can kinda mess that up)
I know colleges love to see upward trends!
What schools are you thinking of applying too?</p>

<p>Um by the way… Assuming you are going to get straight A’s is a bit of a stretch isnt it? I mean you got **** grades for a reason/</p>

5

<p>Your GPA doesn’t make sense to me. How can you have a 3.65 with 2 Fs and 2 Cs? I have a 3.69 with 4 Bs, 1 B+, 1 A-, and 13 As. I think you must not be counting the Fs for the classes you repeated, and you are counting your A+'s higher than 4.0. When you submit you transfer applications the schools you apply to are going to calculate your transfer GPA themselves, it won’t be based on the GPA on your transcript. They will not count your A+ grades as > 4.0, and the Fs will still be counted even if you repeated the class. So, you should probably start by recalculating your GPA to get a more realistic idea of what your transfer GPA will be.</p>

<p>But even then, I think you have a good shot at some top tier schools. An upward trend is always a good thing. Studying abroad is always good, and good recs and a good essay will help. What kind of schools are you hoping to get in to?</p>

6

<p>hola, thanks for all the responses. in regards to my gpa, the f’s that i got i d/f repeated so while the f still shows up on my transcript, it doesn’t factor into my gpa. while the schools i am applying to will recalculate my gpa, i am hoping that when they see my wvu transcript they will hopefully see those numbers as showing that i have turned a page in my life. As far as schools that i am applying to i am hoping to get into one of the big dogs, while it is a very very very very very (to the millionth power) shot i’ll probably apply to chicago and go up for the interview (i can interview really well and i have alot to say and a pretty interesting life story), besides that a couple of other high tier one schools, i’ll wait on listing them now because even if i stand no chance of getting into any of them, i’d like to keep my hopes up rather than see people say i have no shot (nothing against those people, i’m sure they have alot of good input, but i’m going to apply anyways because i’m hoping one or two will see my potential), but besides chicago a couple of other top dog big boys in academia! but thanks for the advice and any other responses would be greatlly appreciated</p>

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<p>oh and in regards to two posts ago about getting straight a’s in the two remaining classes, i only have two left and i’m pretty sure i can pull of two more a’s until i transfer, i’m a very dedicated studnet and all so i’m not too worried oh and people said the same thing about assuming to early when i posted something last summer and not to brag (once again) but i took seven full classes last semester, got straight a’s and 4 a+'s, so i’m not to worried about two more classes this summer, and i got bad grades because i was distracted and i think it is evident that my old mentality has been shed completely and been replaced with a new outlook on my academic life…</p>

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<p>It is really a shame that the Fs are so sticky. They never go away. Nice to see you are honest about them. Keep up the good work.</p>