Chance Me with low GPA and 11 Ws +5Fs (CC transfer student) [VA resident, 3.1 college GPA, CS major]

Transfer Students
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: VA
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): Northern Virginia Community College
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Asian
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): First generation of college, non traditional student, student with multiple disabilities, low income, grown up in a divorced household, parent and grandparent were victims of Agent Orange before I was born.

Intended Major(s)

  • Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.1
  • Weighted HS GPA: N/A
  • College GPA (for transfers): 3.1 (11 Ws and 5Fs due to undiagnosed ADHD)
  • Class Rank: N/A
  • ACT/SAT Scores: N/A

Coursework

  • Typical engineering/cs classes for community college students.

Awards

Extracurriculars

  • Non-tech start-up with $160k revenue, $80k profit during COVID.
  • Solo-started a charity hobby project, raised $3k for a nonprofit to help with COVID.
  • NASA internship (probably going to get a return offer).
  • 2 NASA student programs (did really well in one and was the only team that got the max score, then received a fully-paid trip to a NASA research center in Cali for a week).
  • Short internship with a F500, helping a nonprofit.
  • Working in healthcare full time (at 5,000 hours now) while going to school full-time.
  • 2 hobby projects lasting a whole year to finish from the business with real rev/profit.
  • Handmade hundreds of products sold during COVID-19 (these products are very niche and hard to make - took a whole day to make each of them).
  • Incoming internship/research at F500 next summer or White House.
  • I can probably get a research internship at a national lab before transfer.
  • Incoming full-time engineer job at a big 4 aerospace company

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Essays: Not started yet.
  • LORs: I will likely receive strong LORs from my mentor, as well as from my math, counselor, and English professor.

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • My company is willing to pay for my tuition.

Schools

  • Safety: GMU
  • Likely: VT
  • Match: ?
  • Reach: Cornell CC transfer, Harvard Extension School, Columbia School of General Studies, Penn College of General Studies, Yale Eli Whitney Students Program, Brown Resumed Undergraduate Education Program, Purdue, Duke, UVA.
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Awards - Received a Microsoft scholarship

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How is it that you have an “incoming full-time engineer job at a big 4 aerospace company” without an engineering degree already? And if you have that already, why would you bother with college?

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Forgetting the rest (the ECs, etc) - I’d ask Va Tech or find the transfer stats.

I see just over 50% get in but how many in engineering and at what gpa.

You have 5 Fs and 11 Ws.

Not sure how you have a 3.1 or are getting good.

As for reaches, they are very alternative student focused so I can’t chance you.

Best of luck.

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If the English professor is Dr. Jill Biden, you’re golden. :grin:

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Closing for review.

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I asked the OP to clarify what seemed to be inconsistencies in the original post.

The response from @adhd_suck is that they have been at CC more than 6 years. They said they take classes on and off, so not full time. The engineer position is a tentative offer and the OP needs to finish a clearance process starting.

Reopening thread.

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It is not related to what I study at school or want to do for the rest of my life. I’m a CS student and the field is getting really competitive. I need a degree to get or keep my job in the future.

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Well…given your college academic history (even with extenuating circumstances which I think you will need to explain), it’s my opinion (opinion only) that your reaches are just that…reaches…even though they are alternate programs to the actual universities associated with them. But you never know if you don’t try.

Have you looked at any of the other VA publics? Old Dominion, for example.

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GMU is local to me and they will give me free tuition so it is my safety school. However, I really want to get into UVA since they will also give me free tuition plus dorm and foods. So I haven’t look into any the other schools in VA yet except VT. I heard that Columbia GS have a like 40% acceptance rate and a lot of ppls get in.

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How are you getting free everything from UVA (if you get accepted)? Perhaps this could be a help to other students.

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Just need to be poor enough to qualify for financial aids.

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I only have six more classes to transfer to GMU as a CS student with an AS in CS. However, if I want to transfer to VT or UVA, they require me to complete an AS in Engineering, and I would need to take 11 classes. Once I get into UVA/VT’s engineering school, I will then convert to a CS major. The six classes for my AS in CS overlap with the classes for AS in Engineering, so I would earn two degrees. I wonder, if I get the AS in CS first, can I start applying to Ivy League schools right away, or do they have specific class requirements? Or do they want me to pursue engineering like VT or UVA?

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Why would you want to do CS at the Ivies - especially an adult, extension version.?

Also - and this is Columbia, check the others -

Please note that the School of General Studies does not meet the full demonstrated financial need of all students.

I think you will be fortunate to be wherever you can finish your degree.

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The extension school from Harvard is a mistake but the other ones are perfect for me as a non traditional student. I figured I already spent so much time in college, why not go for the best ones at this point?

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Columbia GS allows part-time enrollment, and I’m really fortunate to have my employer paying for my college. However, I’ll probably have to delay joining the school for two years because I need to move to another state for work, and then request an internal transfer to the state where Columbia is located.

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Your post is very confusing. Perhaps explain your logic here:

So you could be a CS major at GMU, with just six more classes, which is at least another semester —and I’m not sure if you will keep your full time job, so more likely another full year of college.

But you’re considering instead taking eleven more classes (which will take at least another year, but more likely 18 months or longer if you keep working full time) just to be able to transfer to UVA or VT so that you can double major. It sounds like you can’t transfer in as a CS major, but you think you can transfer in as an engineering major, then just switch into the CS major.

Can I suggest that the simple option seems to be to go to GMU and get your degree. You appear to already have a strong resume. You must be aware that at your age, employers care far more about your work experience then where you got your undergrad degree. Your plan seems incredibly convoluted and time consuming.

Then you ask if Ivy League extension schools want you to apply as an engineer. Why? Extension programs just want you to apply for whatever you want to study, right?. I don’t understand why you’re applying to Ivy League schools at all when the extension programs afaik, aren’t known for CS or Engineering. Do they en offer ABET accredited programs? But you also want to apply to general studies programs at Columbia for reasons that are unclear. Living in NYC is very expensive.

“I figured I already spent so much time in college, why not go for the best ones at this point?” The best one, for you, is the college that gets you the degree you seek. Your work experience is of FAR more interest to employers than an Ivy League extension school degree. Take the path that offers you the most affordable degree in the least amount of time, using as many of the current credits that you already have.

I very much get the sense that you’re hanging on to a misguided idea that the Ivy League name is going to propel you into some kind of amazing job opportunity. It isn’t. The things you’ve already done seem to be serving you well. By all means, get a BSc in CS, but you’re already on a great path with your work experience. You don’t need to jump through hoops to finagle a degree from Columbia General Studies. I don’t think employers will care, tbh.

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You have been taking classes on and off at a community college for 6 years, and you’re still 11 courses short for an associates degree in CS. An AS is around 20 classes, so, after 6 years, you have taken fewer than half of the required courses for transfering to VT or UVA. How long do you realistically believe it will take you to do those 11 courses that will allow you to transfer to VT or UVA?

Based on this info, I do not think that VT is a likely. In fact, I think that VT is high unlikely, at least not for a few years. In fact, I really don’t think that even GMU is a safety by any means. You will not be accepted if you applied now, and those six additional courses will likely be pretty challenging, based on your past academic history.

Admissions to the rest of your reaches are even less likely. As a rule, colleges admit transfers based on their performance in the college from which they are transferring. Having 11 Ws, five Fs, and a college GPA of 3.1, is not the academic performance that the colleges in your reach list are looking for.

Perhaps those programs for non-traditional students. However ,as @Lindagaf wrote, those degrees, like Columbia GS, are not really helpful for your career. I do not believe that any engineering company will prefer a person with a General Studies degree from Columbia over a person with a CS degree from George Mason.

Do your best to finish those six additional required courses, transfer to GMU, finish your CS degree, and get on with your life.

You seem to be under the impression that your goal should be “a degree, any degree, from an elite university”. No, your goal should be “a CS degree from a reputable university”. An undergraduate degree is nothing more than a part of your life that helps you reach your real life goals. It is not, and should not be, a goal in and of itself. What you need is a degree that will help you in your career in CS.

As you are standing now, the degree which will take the least time, is the programs that you are most likely to be able to attend, and the programs that you are most likely able to graduate, is GMU. That is your best choice now.

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