Am I totally out of luck? Can I transfer after dropping out?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>I will try to be concise here, but if you think more information would be helpful, please do ask and I can provide it.</p>

<p>I grew up in poverty, but did reasonably well in school and ended up attending a top-35ish private university in the Northeast. It was the only school to which I applied, and I was absolutely convinced that I would love it. It turned out to be a very poor fit for me in myriad ways, and my time there was mostly miserable. </p>

<p>I was set to graduate in May of 2010 with a bachelor of arts degree in a social science field. During the spring of my fourth year, my mother became very ill. I was unable to afford a flight home to be with her, so I stayed in school. However, I was incredibly distracted and ended up failing three courses during what was to have been my final semester. I was pretty depressed by the end of my final year, and my mother’s illness was really the final straw. I ended up 12 credits short of a degree. I left the school without formally withdrawing, mostly because I was so incredibly ashamed of myself. I’ve had no contact with the university since then.</p>

<p>During my time away from university, I’ve done quite a lot of reflecting about my aspirations. I’ve decided that I want to go back to school to get a degree in a science field unrelated to the one that I studied previously. I am hoping that I’ll eventually be able to get an M.D./PhD. Because of the three classes I failed, my GPA is not spectacular at all, in the 2.9-3.1 range, though I did manage a 4.0 in my major. I’ve also done a lot of maturing as a consequence of living in the real world, but I’m not sure how that is best conveyed in an application. </p>

<p>I know that it might be easiest for me to apply for re-enrollment at my original school, but I just don’t think that I can stand to be there long enough to start a degree program anew. I’ve considered returning to the original school, but if I’m honest with myself, I don’t see it being a better fit now than it was when I enrolled in 2006.</p>

<p>My school didn’t have a required curriculum, so I’m missing most of the prerequisites that other schools have. I will still be the first person in my family to attend college/earn a degree, but I’m not sure if that counts.</p>

<p>Yes, I know I’m an idiot for not just finishing my stupid degree. Thank you for any insight you can provide. I’m still pretty young (23) and I hope that there’s still time for me to make my life what I want it to be.</p>

<p>Here are my questions at the moment:

  • Because I don’t have a degree yet, I can transfer, right?
  • Will I be allowed to transfer to another school to do a degree in a field totally unrelated to the one I studied previously?<br>
  • Would I be better off finishing my 12 credits at a CC and then applying to postbacc premed programs?
  • What kind of schools should I be looking at if a transfer is possible? I know that with my terrible GPA I’m going to be pretty limited, but is (for example) the University of Minnesota totally out of reach?
  • MOST IMPORTANTLY, did effectively dropping out of school totally ruin my chances at getting into an M.D./PhD. program eventually, or will I be able to redeem myself?</p>
2

<p>I’m by no means an expert here, but I’ll pass on what I think I know. Many colleges have a cap on how many units you can have and still transfer in, which means that 12 units shy of a degree you may find many schools closed to you. You’ll have to check at the schools you are considering. As for finishing your degree at the school you left, I suggest you contact the school and see what can be worked out. A phone call or two to them would be helpful; colleges want you to succeed and I think you might be surprised how helpful they will be. For that matter, many colleges have arrangements with their peers where students can take advantage of the career resources at a university near where they live; talking with a career counselor would likely be beneficial at this point.</p>

3

<p>You are probably a bit too advanced to transfer to another school. Most require some minimum number of credits greater than 12 in residence at the school.</p>

<p>However, if your original school allows transferring credits in, and you do not need any courses unique to that school, see if you can complete 12 credits at some other school to complete your degree from that school, if you really do not want to return there for one more semester.</p>

<p>Please realize that a GPA of about 3.0 makes it unlikely to get accepted into any US medical school. If you have a 4.0 in math and science courses, you may want to ask on the pre-med forum if there is any possibility.</p>

4

<p>It seems to me that your quickest route to a BA/BS is to appeal your way back into your earlier college and complete the coursework. Once you complete your degree, you can apply to post-bac programs to take/retake the science premed courses. Grad/professional schools love non-traditional students, and if you can make a compelling story…</p>

<p>Another BS/BA alternative is a program such as offered by UM that targets adults: a continuing ed degree. But you will need to contact them an inquire how many transfer credits that they might provide you. </p>

<p>[Inter-College</a> Program - Admission and Registration](<a href=“http://www.cce.umn.edu/Inter-College-Program/Admission-and-Registration/index.html]Inter-College”>http://www.cce.umn.edu/Inter-College-Program/Admission-and-Registration/index.html)</p>

<p>Harvard, Columbia and Boston College are examples of other colleges that have adult-ed divisions (off the top of my head). But Columbia will only provide 60 units of transfer credits, so you’d be in NYC a long time.</p>

5

<p>Can I transfer if I’m willing to lose a bunch of credits?</p>

6

<p>You probably can, but the previous suggestions of transferring a few classes in to your previous college, or going there for just one more semester, seem much more reasonable. In any case, I recommend you finish one way or another. It will probably be of great help whatever you end up doing for a career.</p>

7

<p>Yes you can transfer. There are plenty of institutions out there that would admit you. However, it is very unlikely that you would be admitted to an institution that has a “top 35ish” ranking. It is most likely that you would end up at your local public university, and that you would have to complete at least two years worth of credits there in order to change your major as drastically as you want to. Double check the financial aid situation. You may only qualify for Stafford Loans now, which means that you will almost certainly be limited to studying part-time while you hold down a full-time job.</p>

<p>Twelve credits is only three or four courses. Pick up the phone. Call your old university. Find out what you would need to do in order to graduate there. If you can document your depression, you may be able to have a medical leave recorded retro-actively which could turn those failed courses into Incompletes. If your university offers any kind of grade forgiveness, repeating the courses could possibly result in the failures being converted to your new (and presumably better) grades.</p>

<p>If the reason why you don’t want to go back just for that semester is that you can’t justify shelling out 25k or more for 12 credits, I certainly can understand. In which case, look around for an affordable public institution that you can attend part-time while you work, and complete your studies there.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

8

<p>I’m going to offer a different aspect.</p>

<p>Colleges may be willing to forgive the GPA, but the bigger issue may be that you were depressed. Medical school takes a toll on people, and it can be indicated that you were not able to handle the situation in your life. You may have changed, but this crisis happened your final semester of college, and not freshman year. It’ll be difficult to get into a medical school because of that, I feel. I’m no expert, but that’s just my two cents.</p>

<p>And for transferring, if you get in, you can transfer. However, you’ll most likely have to do 2 more years of school.</p>

9

<p>“It’ll be difficult to get into a medical school because of that, I feel.”</p>

<p>The OP will be under no obligation to disclose his medical history. But even if s/he decided to, a history of depression would not keep an academically qualified student from getting into medical school.</p>

10

<p>I didn’t mean the depression, sorry. I meant the grades slipping because of it.</p>

11

<p>I would, as was previously suggested, try to go back to your UG school and see if they will let you finish your degree without having to repeat a lot of classes. If so, finish your last few credits there and try for a post-bacc program. It would be far more time consuming and expensive to try to transfer now (almost all colleges have a 60+ residency requirements) AND most departments require you take 1/2 to 2/3 of your major classes in their department (meaning you can’t transfer them in to count towards the major if the number of classes exceeds that 1/2 or 2/3 threshold).</p>