| I feel like the advisers at my community college would make me feel like an idiot if I even brought up the possibility of applying to a more "ambitious" school, or even a not-super-selective but out of state, school.
Last quarter, I excitedly went to our advising center brimming with questions, as I had just begun really looking at different programs. I was told that my 3.52 gpa was "excellent!", and that I would have no problem getting into the state university.... end of story. The adviser was completely uninterested in hearing what other schools I was looking at, or talking with me about ways to search for transfer schools which might be better suited to my (very specific) research interests. It was a very discouraging experience.
I remember in high school, the adviser/ guidance counselor was ALL ABOUT getting students into good, or at least unique, schools. We were told to apply to those schools which, today, I feel like I would get mocked (or at least eye-rolled) by my advisers, teachers, and classmates if I mentioned I was considering or applying to them...
I suppose the mediocre advising I've experienced at my community college may be due to the probably larger proportion of students who do not consider academics to be their number-one priority. ...When the kid with the 3.5+ GPA who is considering how their choice of four year college is going to affect their grad-school options walks in... these advisers are perhaps caught off-guard and so they are too quick to declare "good enough!"?
I just wish I had people I could discuss my prospects regarding admission to the more selective schools with (without being made to feel like a pretentious idiot) besides this forum!
At least I found this forum. |