I’m not @Gumbymom . Apply and see. But please understand, the weaknesses in your application will not be overlooked by these T25 colleges. This includes your GPA and all your W and failed courses. And let’s add…if you haven’t completed 2 years worth of courses in 6 years, you weren’t attending full time every term.
But you can’t get accepted if you don’t apply. Personally! I think you need a more robust list of affordable sure things for admission, and that’s where the transfer advisor at your community college comes in. Go there. Get some info where there are good articulation agreements, and be candid about cost restrictions. BTW, in both of your chance me posts, you wrote N/A for budget. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say you need full funding?
Perhaps it would be helpful for you to complete and earn your AA degree and have that certification under your belt.
“Perfection” is an excessive/unreasonable goal, and sets one up for disappointment. As for learning from top people in their field, there are excellent teachers in many environments. You describe wanting a small learning environment where you can work closely with your mentors. Perhaps rethink your academic goals to transfer to small learning environment, but get that AA!
I’m not aiming to become an expert at the undergraduate level. I simply want to establish the best possible foundation at this level and try my best to cover any potential minor knowledge gaps or holes even if they are small.
Are my chances good for getting into a top-tier university like Oxford for grad school if I transfer to a state university like UVA and perform well there? Would they overlook my failing grades from when I was at a community college?
I feel that perfection is akin to an art at the highest level. It’s as if you’re pursuing something out of passion and falling in love with it. That was my experience of being competitive in that video game. Everyone at the peak is so talented and knows what they are doing, which in turn makes the game more enjoyable and fun for me.
You completely misunderstand what graduate school is all about. And what they are looking for.
Covering minor knowledge gaps or holes- total waste of time. Grad schools won’t admit you because of your comprehensive knowledge and lack of holes. They are looking for people who can think analytically and use their problem-solving skills to attack new information, not regurgitate old information.
"I will always have that doubt in my heart that I could do more if I had gone to the top university. I would come to regret and likely wouldn’t move on from that for the rest of my life. "
I know someone who thinks like you do. He is brilliant. He is working at my local Fedex/Kinkos. He has been unable to move on… and therefore is stuck. It is so sad to see someone with so much potential who is unable to let go of his demons.
I want to live and contribute my life to humanity and the world. I want to be the best at whatever I do in the future, and that will enable me to have the most impact for society. I’m also striving to do research about the galaxy, with topics like black holes or prolonging human age. With these advanced topics, I need to have the best foundation before I can work on any of the advanced stuff.
Do you have any idea what you plan to major in?? These sound like grandiose pie in the sky ideas without direction. What are you planning to major in??
Isn’t that pretty similar to my flan? That is why I’m pursuing the highest education to do something new. However, I need a strong foundation with a lot of domain knowledge to tackle something new. If I cannot even fully understand something at the basic level, how can I proceed to the next few levels? I would have so much technical debt, and at a certain point, I would reach my limit and hit the wall.
If you “hear” many of the posters here rolling their eyes at your responses, its quite likely admissions people and grad school department admissions will too. How SPECIFICALLY do you plan to “contribute to humanity”?
“I want to be the best at whatever I do” is quite a lofty goal. What does that even mean? How about trying your personal best and enjoying what you do?
And how is that going for you? I don’t think you saved any time with your insights because you’re still stuck at a CC with withdrawals and F’s.
Have you spoken to your physician about your ADHD? Your focus is on the wrong things. It really doesn’t sound like you have saved any time by spending days and days learning how to make a dessert and how to advance in a video game.
Most admitted Ivy League students aren’t spending thousands of hours being easily diverted by a dessert and a video game.
Before you waste another six years of your life “valuing insights”, please go speak with your mental health professional. Your parents went to fifth grade. So what??? That’s not a problem for them. I know of several historical figures that didn’t have any formal education.
Your parents lack of a formal education shouldn’t be a problem for you. Since it is a problem for you, you really need to speak to a mental health counselor.
Your academic record shows that you can’t complete a task. Every Ivy League will see that on your record. It doesn’t matter how much you want it because you are wasting your time perseverating on it.
What you call a strong foundation with a lot of domain knowledge I’m calling an avoidance tactic.
There’s a dentist in my neighborhood who saved a friends life. He’s not the best at what he does… he’s just a random guy with a small private practice who drills teeth and checks gums. My friend was there for a routine checkup, and the dentist noticed something troubling when my friend spit out the gunk in his mouth.
Three days later- a diagnosis of leukemia, caught very early.
You do NOT need to be the best at what you do in the future. You need to be educated in something or other, and then work very hard to become adept at what you do. Not perfect- but competent. This dentist will never be famous, and likely won’t be “recognized” for his contributions to humanity. He never went on to become a peridontist or get advanced training. Just a strip mall dentist’s office. But he knows what it’s supposed to look like when you swish and spit… and when he sees troubling spit he recognizes it as abnormal.
You can spend the rest of your life regretting that you’re not exceptional or perfect- or just get on with life and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with doing a good job in an ethical way.
I don’t think I wasted my six years. I admit I should have taken gap years fully instead of enrolling in classes and then dropping them or forgetting to drop, which resulted in Fs.
I didn’t have any mentor, and I’m a first-generation student. I didn’t even know about the SAT or have early exposure to college at a young age. I’m not blaming my parents. Everyone is different, and they have their own struggles. I’m very fortunate to be able to pursue college and higher education, so I’m very grateful. Since high school, I have been working my best to catch up. I had my own “startup” with products that sold worldwide, with revenue in the six figures. The business was also profitable. I was able to develop a lot of skills from this experience, including designing my own products and having them made in China.
Later, I spent time learning about making flan. There were also two more recipes that I worked on, and one has proven to be a successful model in the US, with revenue and profit in the seven figures that I can replicate since it is still niche and limited to a state, and the market potential is large. The other is in the early stage of development.
From these two experiences, I developed a lot of research skills that enabled me to later find many opportunities and secure internship interviews left and right, even while still in a community college with lower-level classes and in a middle of a tech-layoff market.
I think my experiences were valuable during those six years, and I also did some other things that made me more than $150k then lose it, but it is not a good thing to discuss for college, so I didn’t list it. However, this experience was a very big learning lesson for me.
To summmary, I was really focused on my ECs and I cannot win at everything. It was impossible to do all of these ECs and school at the same time.
Are you medicated for ADHD? And if so, who prescribes the meds and do you have monthly or at least conversations every 3 months? I think that is important.