A CS degree from most any accredited school will get you where you want to go. I suggest enrolling near where your job takes you. Your plan as described above sounds unnecessarily convoluted.
Would you like suggestions in the state you will relocate to for your job?
My community college has transfer agreements with GMU, VT, and UVA. For GMU CS transfer, students need to finish an AS in CS to transfer. For VT & UVA CS, students need to do an AS in engineering at my community college in order to transfer there to pursue a CS degree.
I only have 6 more classes to finish the AS in CS if I pursue GMU, but I need 11 classes if I want to pursue VT or UVA. GMU is my safety school in case I donāt get clearance and cannot work at my incoming engineer job. However, if I do get clearance, then I would have to move to NM, and the closest school is NMSU. I donāt know if they will let me transfer with an AS in CS or AS in engineering from my community college. In case an Ivy League school accepts me, then I would delay my education by 2 more years and work at my aerospace company for 2-3 years, then do an internal transfer to a company location that is close to the Ivy League school and enroll part-time (the company will pay for my education) or full-time (Iāll take out loans or get a scholarship).
I have a few personal reasons I want to get into an Ivy League school. Itās because my parents didnāt finish 5th grade, and I want to break that cycle and make them proud. My impression of Ivy League schools, or Harvard, is from a course called CS50. Prof. David has so much knowledge and passion. This class inspired me to get into Harvard and challenge myself more. To be honest, I havenāt done a lot of research, but the extension school doesnāt look good, but the other non-traditional student programs look legit. Thank you for the heads up! I didnāt know they might not even have a CS major.
I was thinking, since I already got a job offer from one of the most prestigious companies in aerospace, I donāt have to worry about a job anymore with clearance on hand. And I can take school slowly. At this point in my life, I have made a lot of mistakes and become insecure because of it. Getting into a prestigious school would help bring some honor back to myself and my family. So, it is more of a symbolic thing than about money.
You still have a lot of classes.
If you have a great job, follow it.
Thank you for kicking some sense into my head. Getting into an Ivy League school is deeply personal to me. I am very lucky and humbled to have received a job offer that will give me clearance, that guarantees I will never be jobless. At this point, as you said, Iām not going to school for a job, but just for the sake of it. I have ADHD and I cannot stop thinking about it. I keep thinking that I will regret it for the rest of my life if I donāt get into a top school.
Iām from an Asian background and Iām a shame to my family for staying at a CC for so long. Without a top school to my name, I will never be able to look up.
Your thinking needs adjustment and updating.
You have a good job, in an industry that is the pride of our country, with excellent benefits.
You have overcome many obstacles already.
Your hard work got you there, not the name of a school.
I encourage you to seek the advice of a mental health professional. Your proposed course of action is motivated by your own fear of not meeting your familyās expectations. You canāt change them, but you can change yourself with help.
You have many reasons to be proud of yourself. Does it all mean nothing unless the piece of paper says Harvard or similar? No. Talking to an expert will help you find satisfaction for yourself with what you have achieved.
Youāre at least 24 or 25. Getting a degree is a wonderful achievement but itās not a be all and end all. If your goal is ABET accreditation as an engineer, thatās a great goal. Go to college for the right reasons: to further your career, not to wave a piece of paper in front of your family.
Edit: your family has their own issues. Youāre not responsible for trying to hide their fifth grade education (which Iām sure they didnt choose for themselves). Stop allowing them to make you feel shame on their behalf. You are not here to fix their problems.
The programs you are planning to apply to at these Ivies are their non-traditional programs. Do you understand these programs? It doesnāt sound like you do.
I also deal with ADHD and I know all about repetitive thoughts. Whatās important to remember, though, that itās just your brain misbehaving, itās not a clear view of reality. Itās not your conscience or planning thatās telling you āimagine if you attended Harvardā, itās that part of your brain that is messed up because of ADHD. There are different methods and tricks to stop those repetitive loops in your brain, and that is something that you should look up and try.
To be absolutely honest - the shame is entirely theirs, not yours.
It was the responsibility of your parents to make sure that your ADHD was diagnosed and treated, and they dropped the ball. You have done the best that you could do under the circumstances and your best included getting a well-paying job.
If you needed glasses and your parents refused to get you diagnosed with myopia and refused to get you glasses, would you feel ashamed of not doing well in school? That is the same thing.
They may not be entirely at fault - they may have been too busy working, not been familiar with the entire concept or AHDHD, etc. However, that just means that their neglect was because of ignorance, not because of malice, but it was still their neglect, and you are where you are because of their failure.
You do not owe it to your parents to attend a prestigious colleges, or even try to attend a prestigious college. You owe it to yourself to find the best way to make sure that you will have a secure financial future. Trying to find a way to attend an āeliteā college will not help you secure your financial future, and may actually endanger it.
I will repeat: You. Have. Not. Failed.
Now go and start planning how you will do those six additional courses to secure your transfer to GMU!
Also - everything that @Lindagaf wrote.
Demographics
Intended Major(s)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Coursework
Awards
Extracurriculars
Essays/LORs/Other
Cost Constraints / Budget
Schools
Transferring to an Ivy is not easy
Most top 20 schools have lower enough acceptance rates that they are not matchesā¦for anyone.
Iām not sure I see much change in your post here from the last one.
Top 5 are included in the top 20. Right? What schools do you really think are matches.
Or to CAL as an OOS student. Or to MIT.
And I still think this will be an issue.
I can transfer to a CCC and establish residency in the state. I only need to wait for a year, and during that time, I can pursue an internship at a big bank, which is perfect. Then, I can transfer from CCC to Cal.
What are you going to do? Apply to CA schools or VA schools. If you apply at the same time, you will NOT be an instate student in both states. Wonāt happen.
And plus, this would then mean you would be transferringā¦twice. IIRC there is a maximum number of credits for CA transfers. @gumbymom or @ucbalumnus
Am internship at a bankā¦doing what?
Iām an independent student so it is only a year wait for me. I can do a swe internship while waiting for in state status. I believe most of my classes will transfer to the CCC. Then I only need to do a semester or two and I can apply to Berkeley as Cali resident.
Many people on Reddit subreddits related to transfers have told me that my ECs are insane. I can still do more ECs. What will it take to get me into an Ivy League school?
Here is the link to OPās original thread: Chance Me with low GPA and 11 Ws +5Fs (CC transfer student) [VA resident, 3.1 college GPA, CS major]
UC Transfer GPA by major information for CS at UC Berkeley was 3.81-4.00. A 3.3 GPA will not be competitive and the only UC within that range is UC Merced. ECās do not make up for a lower academic performance.
Wishing you luck but it does not seem like a well thought out plan.
Edited: If you all your credits were taken at a community college, then the maximum credits that are transferable is 70 semester/105 quarter units to any of the UCās. If you have credits from a 4 year university, these could be added to the maximum and possible put you some of the limits as a High unit Junior transfer.