Hello. As you saw in the title, I’m curious how to restart college?
My 4th semester is starting in 14 days. I was majoring in Chemistry but I didn’t like it very much and decided to switch over to Computer Science. I wanted to kind wedge my way into the Game Dev area, but that’s an attempt for 10 years down the line.
Anyways, I already completed 37 credits. I have already Calculus 1 under my belt along with Bio 101 and Chem 100. I have a 3.1 GPA and no plagiarism events or anything of that nature.
I go to a community college. I’m already around 10k in debt (including funding for my 4th semester). So not too bad, right?
The reason I want to restart is that I would save money by taking the classes I need. However, another dilemma is that, for example, a college like MIT states that it will not accept any students with more than 2 years of college. Would it count the time I had in college before the reset?
I want to try and restart because I want to raise my GPA, for a better transfer chance into a school I want, and because it would save me money instead of going to a 4-year school and take all the classes I would need to take (with my major switch).
Also, most likely doesn’t exist, is there a loan forgiveness thing of where if you restart college they will forgive the loan?
I assume not, but follow up question, can there be penalties if I choose to reset?
If there is such an option to reset, would it matter to other schools that I went to college before hand?
Tl;DR, I want to start over as a freshman to pay less for classes at my community college rather than paying much much more at a 4 year school.
3.1 isn’t a bad GPA. You’re much better off finishing your degree with a strong major, and you’re in a much better place than most students at elite schools. Sure, they’re at Stanford, but if you calibrate their student loan payments, it’s not much of an edge, if at all. It doesn’t matter much where you go to school for CS. Technology is highly employable.
Well, the point was is that I have to transfer after this semester. I can only take one CS class right now (and maybe fit 2, if not 1 CS class in the summer. That’s at most 3 classes. If were to restart, I would be getting at least 6 or 7 classes done(CS only, I already have math covered, taking Calc 2 this semester). That would be just another 10k for the 4 semesters. I want to try this instead of transferring and paying out the nose for the extra semester (or 2)
Speaking of which, I am thinking about transferring to the University of Waterloo. Is it a good idea? Do you think I stand a chance of getting in?
Also, when you say finishing my degree with a strong major, do you mean the Chemistry major or the one I switched too (CS major)?
There is no reset. Loans don’t reset. Grades don’t reset. Any college that you transfer to will ask for all your undergraduate grades. All you would do is extend your total undergraduate time
Are you Canadian / permanent resident in Canada? if not, the cost is probably prohibitive for you.
Agree with @collegemom3717, you can’t just say, “I want to erase everything I did, and just restart”.
On your college applications you have to provide them with all transcripts.
If you attempt to dismiss any previous coursework, the colleges do find out. And then they expel you.
As far as loans are concerned, loans never go away. Once you take a loan, it’s with the understanding that you have to pay it back. You had to sign a number of forms saying that you understood the terms of the loan. They cannot dispense loan money to you without your signature, and without your understanding of the terms.
Well, cost aside, I don’t really care about the loans I have right now. I was just hoping to be able to restart. I don’t care if college see my previous history, as long as they don’t count it being more than the extra 2 years I would normally spend before transferring.
It is possible that the public universities where you live may not object to excessive credits from community colleges for transfer students (e.g. California public universities cap community college and other lower level college credits at 70 credit units for the purpose of transfer eligibility limits and credit toward the 120 credit units needed for bachelor’s degree graduation).
Most 4 year colleges only take about 60 credits. They want you to take 60 credits at their college too. Why? To ensure that the degree that you get means something…that you have taken all the classes in your major that all the other graduates have taken.
I would look for your state/province University first. They will take the most of your CC credits and will provide a good value college for you.