I’m a college freshman that had a 3.8 GPA, graduated high school at the top of my class. Due to outside circumstances my fall GPA is low. With a winter session course I could raise it to a 3.3. But aid doesn’t cover them, so I’d be paying $1,200. Is it worthwhile?
Sure there’s spring semester, but some people are telling me colleges use fall to determine admission, and will request an update at the end of spring to verify you’re upholding the standards they admitted you by.
Any advice? I’m applying to Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Smith College, Howard, Spelman, GA Tech, UVA, Virgina Tech, Drexel, Northeastern
Since you are trying to transfer with just one semester of college completed, your HS record will be important in the transfer decisions. Is your 3.8 HS GPA weighted or unweighted? What was your course rigor like, and test score (even if applying test optional, which not all schools on your list are)?
What are the circumstances that led to a low first semester college GPA? You don’t have to answer here, but you want to be sure (as will the colleges) that those issues won’t happen again.
Is it an option to wait another year before applying to transfer so you can strengthen your GPA? Are you applying for financial aid? If so what is your college budget?
Did you apply to any of these schools as a HS senior? If so, what were the results?
To update, I missed the deadline for wintersession courses. To answer your questions:
My HS GPA is weighted, HS doesn’t do unweighted. I exhausted all AP offerings, graduated at the top of my class
Not submitting a test score. I’m black and went to a Title 1 school, they’ll understand. I’m applying for transfer, doubt they’ll care anyways. None of them require it
…
Junior transfers are so pointless, I want the actual college experience.
Would like for the school I choose to be at most 20k after aid. My mother has to pay for my two younger siblings college soon. She makes about 120k as a nurse, but we’re in Westchester NY. Very very expensive.
You can calculate that yourself, core courses only on a 4 pt scale. Many schools will look at your unweighted gpa only.
Ga Tech requires a test score. Plus it won’t come in at your price range, so I would drop that from your list.
This will limit the schools you can apply to. In addition to Ga Tech, Drexel, Va Tech, Spelman, and Howard don’t meet full need, so they likely won’t be affordable. You can put an app in of course, but in general they give less aid to transfers than incoming first years.
Lastly, you didn’t answer if you applied to any of those schools last year, but if any denied you, one semester of college grades (assuming somewhere around 3.0 GPA) is not likely going to result in an acceptance. Good luck.