Community College Transfer

Transfer Students
1

<p>School: Westchester Community College (reputed to be one of the best CCs in the country, although with the amount of money floating around in the WC, that goes without saying) </p>

<p>GPA: 3.92 (60 credits) </p>

<p>Stuff:

  • Nancy Jo Abeles honors scholarship winner in the amount of $3000
  • Accepted submission to Verdandi literary magazine
  • Staff position on “The Viking News” college newspaper.
  • Phi Theta Kappa member (NHS for community colleges)
  • Graduate of the Honors Program (3 more Honors courses taken than what was necessary to earn that distinction)
  • Contribution to ETC online magazine
  • Care package organizer for Virginia Tech following school shooting
  • Philosophia Society member
  • Volunteer work at local Unitarian Universalist congregation.
  • 100,000+ word contribution to a major encyclopedia entitled, “Day-by-Day: The 1930s.” (Took me nearly a year working full-time to complete.)</p>

<p>Possible Majors: History, African-American Studies </p>

<p>Hopeful: SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Geneseo
Reaches: NYU, Columbia </p>

<p>Note: My actual transcript is a bit of a mess. Despite the high GPA, there are three ugly blemishes: Two semesters directly out of high school where I never attended and earned F’s. Also, a semester in the middle with all W’s where I decided to take a semester off even though I had A’s in all my classes at the time of my withdrawal.</p>

<p>So my transcript looks something like this: F’s F’s A’s W’s A’s A’s A’s </p>

<p>HOWEVER, the F’s were replaced by taking the Honors version of the course I previously failed. According to the honors director, I am the only person in the history of the program to do this. Also, after the semester of W’s, I took a much more strenuous courseload (3 Honors courses out of 5, instead of 1 in the previous semester, so there isn’t much question as to whether I withdrew because of the heavy courseload) </p>

<p>My CC is known for sending students to NYU/Columbia on a regular basis, meaning that in any year, AT LEAST one person is accepted to those schools. </p>

<p>Will my messy transcript doom me? :waits for onslaught of cynicism:</p>

2

<p>I have a messy transcript too(3 W’s). Just write a note explaining the W’s.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>You are very lucky. I don’t think most schools do that…</p>

3

<p><strong><em>bump</em></strong>*</p>

4

<p>See if your CC offers a “forgiveness policy” in which they actually remove the F’s. My CC does it and I remember my PSY professor saying its available at all colleges. If not, ask to talk to the dean of students or something along the lines of that. Keep in mind YOU attend their college. You pay them to get an education. You rule them.</p>

<p><em>nod</em></p>

5

<p>SAT or ACT?</p>

6

<p>I never could figure out the point of being a member of PTK and not being involved. All it says is that you had a 3.5+ at one point in time and stayed above a 3.0. It’s not like NHS where you have to have other criteria.</p>

7

<p>I dont think NYU CAS would be that huge of a reach, but Columbia definately is. I agree, try to talk to the dean (if your school even allows that, mine didn’t) and try to get those F’s taken care of. If not, use the supplemental essay to explain how you replaced them with honors courses.</p>

8

<p>Hey, thanks taro for the suggestion. </p>

<p>Columbia, obviously, is a much higher reach than NYU. But for some reason in 2004 more people from WCC got accepted into Columbia than NYU: (<a href=“http://www.sunywcc.edu/academics/honors_program/graduates.htm[/url]”>http://www.sunywcc.edu/academics/honors_program/graduates.htm&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

<p>My only explanation is that Columbia admissions officials really, really like WCC.</p>