Advice on Best Possible Course of Action for College Transfer

Transfer Students
1

Hello All,

Sorry for posting this in advance if something this specific has already been touched on, however, I feel my case is unique enough to deserve a separate post.

Anyway, here is my situation (I’m going to try to keep this relatively anonymous while still providing enough information for counsel to be possible). I applied and attended a local state school after a poor prep school environment ultimately resulted in my rejection from my choice school and subsequent depression that kept me from applying anywhere else until I was forced by my parents to attend a school with rolling admissions. In July 2017 I applied to my state’s best public school and was accepted without even having to write an essay. My first semester was decent but far below my standards as I was not taking it seriously and did not want to be there (it is a bona fide party school). The first semester I received a 3.6 with 17 credit hours and all academic courses. Then, during winter break I was involved in a serious wreck that resulted in the death of my best friend, and being airlifted to my state’s largest hospital and having an exploratory laparotomy and my clavicle plated. Needless to say, despite my effort, I was unable to attend the Spring semester. After being forced to face my mortality as well as the death of my closest friend, I went to Japan to see the world and simultaneously receive college credit with my university (as well as taking an online class, in which I received A+). The experience was great (I climbed Mt. Fuji, only 6 months after an extremely invasive procedure that left me bed-bound for weeks), but due to my negligence of the pass/fail cutoff at my university, I ended up failing one of the two courses and passing the other. This greatly affected my tiny credit pool and has left me with a university 3.7 but an overall 3.1. This fall semester I attempted to return to college but was extremely frustrated by a 1 credit lab that gave me a C mid-term grade for very tedious, strict, large-university specific reasons. At the time I had all As or higher in every class (15 credit hours) and an abysmal C for reasons outside of my control. Due to my frustration, the lingering affects of the wreck, and a lack of a proper social group, I made the childish decision to withdraw from my school and immediately move to a local liberal arts school that I would 100% be accepted into (my mother was a valedictorian of a certain year; my sister got in with a GED and a 1600 old sat before withdrawing). However, I missed the deadline for the monetary deposit and was unable to attend for the spring semester. I currently am still sitting on a 2000 SAT from 2016, and have yet to retake the test. At the present moment I am not enrolled with 36 college credits (20 university GPA 3.7, 6 Abroad GPA 1.4, 10 AP Credits (4 Calculus 6 English). It is currently March 17th, so most transfer windows have passed. If anyone could give advice on my best course of action to attend a decent college at this point (top 70ish?), I would be in debt to you. I’m not against the idea of applying as a new freshman in 2020 but this would put me extremely behind. I’m not sure how I’m going to return to a university I will be challenged and feel at home with with a lack of recommendations, and a poor, outdated SAT. I don’t have time to take another before most secondary deadlines 4/01-5/01 (NYU, Case Western, Amherst, etc.), despite my ability to perform much better (consistent 1550+ on Khan Academy and Princeton Review practice tests). Similarly, I only have 1 semester, 3 summer credits, and some awful abroad grades paired with a fall term withdrawal. I believe I have a great story but I’m not sure how to properly implement it efficiently into my transfer applications. I don’t want to return to the state school for an entire year before transferring if possible, but if all other pathways fail, that will be my only option. If anyone knows of the best way I can use my time to return to college success I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for reading.

2

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to apply as a Freshman because you already have attended college. That means you are going to be a transfer student and you will have to provide all of your transcripts.

The one thing you have not discussed in your post is what your major is to be and what your career goals are. These make a difference in the kind of university which you should apply to. Your overall GPA should not impede your transfer application but you need to be realistic about getting into a highly selective university. Highly selective universities are usually even more selective for transfers and they don’t offer as much financial aid either.

It might be a good exercise to figure out what you want from the next university you attend and then seek out several which are affordable and can give you the major you want and the opportunities on campus that you need for your career It is possible that some of the schools you choose will have rolling admissions for transfers but if not, you might consider a year at a community college or just taking some time to work until you apply in the next transfer window.

3

What a college considers the most in assessing a transfer application is the transcript(s) from college. In your case, it’s not looking good. In fact, it’s abysmal. You cannot start over as a freshman because you are not. A lot of kids who mess up want to start over in college but it does not work that way. Colleges will want your entire college history when you transfer and when you go on to graduate school.

At this point, the best thing you can do is to find any college that you can afford and will take you, even as a non matriculating student and show what you can do academically. You need to show that you can do a whole year of college level work, with a full slate of classes and excell. Once you have that, you can consider where to go for matriculation.

At this point as you are no longer a nouveau college student, showing a direction in your courses would help too. Do look at nearby colleges and see which ones will let you take a strong grouping of courses. You may not have to apply if you attend as a non matriculating student. My son did that at a local college and after pulling straight As on those courses in one semester, they offered him admissions which he took and they gave him a degree just one term later. He had returned to school after many years of absence and a crazy quilt of courses and colleges and grades.