I want to be the first to admit to all of you that I really screwed up in my first year of college.
I was a good student in high school. I had no major behavioral marks on my record and graduated with a GPA of 3.8 in the top percentile of my class. I did well on the ACTs and had been involved in many, many extracurricular activities. Up until the middle of my junior year, I was taking all honors classes for english and social studies and at that point, I transferred to an online public charter school, the largest in Georgia, and switched to AP classes in those fields as well as a few electives.
Without going into detail, I ended up at a community college in New York where, for the last year, I have supposedly been studying business administration. I’d always wanted to study journalism – I am a writer and, more recently, an artist – but my parents disagreed with my desire to be a journalist and to make a long story short, I traded in my dream field for the opportunity to come to New York because, as my logic went, at the very least I might hate my major, but in my spare time I could still write and create and I would have networking opportunities like never before.
The problem there is that I could never find the motivation. I tried really hard through the first semester but ended up having to drop my classes. I came back with a reduced schedule and on academic probation but have ultimately just not been going to class. I’ve been skipping them so that I could work during the day as at least then, I can fund my art. I have made a lot of friends in staff and administration and as I hear it, I’m going to be kicked out at the end of this semester in a few weeks and while I have no idea what the full extent of the repercussions to that will be in regards to ever returning to school, I do intend to return next spring. When I do return, it will be on my terms: I will be studying journalism or possibly fine arts and I will not ever return to another community college nor a CUNY. I’ll probably go part-time as well, just to ease into it.
Going forward, I would like to know what it is that I am looking at in terms of being readmitted to another school considering that I have this huge blemish that this year has been. There’s really nothing I can do to turn this sinking ship around and while I would imagine that it’s going to involve a lot of explaining on my part, your advice would be greatly appreciated.
You have to prove to the college you have changed. Maybe you just need some growing up to do, however I would see a therapist or psychiatrist maybe it’s something more serious going on (in you head). Readmission isn’t as hard as you think, colleges know this happens to freshmen.
You need to look at the policies for transfer admissions at the college you want to attend. Many colleges require transfers to have a 2.0 GPA as a minimum. Colleges with open admissions might take you with a GPA below a 2.0, but those tend to be community colleges.
Unless you attend for-profit college, which will get you a fairly worthless degree, you really have very few options. You can stick it out at community college. Prove you can do the work and get passing grades. I am afraid you don’t just get to go to college on your terms. There is a reason for academic probation. Colleges have minimum standards, even community colleges. There are not special rules just for you.
And there is something you can do to turn the sinking ship around: go to class. Do the work. Study. Get decent grades. You have a dream, but it isn’t going to be handed to you. You have to work for it, just like everyone else. To me, it sounds like you want to get right inot the fun juicy stuff wihtout having to bother with any of the slog. I am afraid that sort of scenario rarely plays out IRL.
Maybe you should take a semester or a year off. Work, travel, think about what you want to do. Or maybe go to trade school, and continue to write on the side. As far as college goes, your options are pretty much limited to community college, becasue you are now considered a transfer student and any college you apply to will have access to your previous college enrollment. Good luck.
Who was paying for your education? I assume it was not you if you were working to fund your art work. Therefore, before resuming school I think you should repay your debts. If you were taking other people’s money to pay for your classes, then skipping classes while working on the side to pay for your pleasure - that is tantamount to fraud really even though you probably don’t see it that way. But no reasonable person would ever do that with his own money.
So the concrete demonstration of change sufficient to warrant re-admission should be repayment of financial aid and then resuming community college, attend the classes, do the work, and get the grades up to get back on track.
I doubt you will return on “your terms” as you say. You appear to have been living on your terms and other’s money for awhile already and unfortunately set yourself back.
Actually, WISdad23, other than about $2,100.00 in fees and $600.00 in fees, I paid for this year out of my own savings account that I started when I was sixteen, with my first job. Granted that my tuition was not that expensive (maybe $10,000.00 or so) and I have since paid all of that money back, very slowly. I am in no debt. So if I defrauded anyone, it was myself. I received no financial aid from the school that I attended and owe them not a damned thing.
But thank you for your “encouragement” and “advice.” I feel sorry for your own students.
Well, I stand corrected obviously. Nevertheless, your situation begs questions. If you are paying your own way, why major in what your parents want when it is not what you want? If you cannot get motivated for class when you are paying your life savings for school, then what will be motivating? When you returned on academic probation, i.e. having been given notice of performance, and still reuse to attend class how will you respond to guidance at the next school? If you are a prospective admissions officer you would obviously be wondering these things.
I want to apologize for responding so aggressively as well. I understand how these things can look from the outside perspective and there were a lot of things that have weighed heavily on me this past year (mental health, loss of relatives, family and personal illness) that I don’t always mention, and I do regret not having handled it better. Unimaginably so.
To answer that question, I think it was a way to appease them at the time and maybe I didn’t make that decision with the seriousness that it warranted. I thought, and still think, that it made a difference in them being okay and supporting my relocation (from rural Georgia). I know that doesn’t seem big, but my parents are small-town people and very southern. To this day, they still feel like I abandoned my “heritage” by leaving and at times throughout the college search process, things were really tense between us. It did make it somewhat easier at a crucial time. It isn’t a good reason, I know. And that isn’t to say that they haven’t helped me with money. Early on, they did send a couple hundred dollars a month just to help me get by while I established myself and they were even kind enough to pay my rent one month while I was between work, which I am so grateful for.
Ultimately, I think what I would say to a future admissions counselor is that I am truly ashamed of how things played out this year, for a lot of reasons. I would reiterate all of the major personal events, but also emphasize that I made a lot of poor, very irresponsible decisions and that I was never happy or confident in them and that a lot of times, it wasn’t that I couldn’t handle the results of those decisions, but that I didn’t. Whether the choice was made subconsciously or consciously, I didn’t. I would ask them what it is that I could do, if anything, to demonstrate that I am ready to continue with my education and remind them that I do sincerely believe that education is the key to a good future. I would also ask them to take into consideration my accomplishments during high school as proof of what potential I have.
I know that it’s going to be a difficult road. I expect that. I also expect that the mistakes I’ve made this year are going to haunt me for many years to come and have cost me a lot of opportunities in academia, now and in the future. But the ultimate vindication would be that, in four years, I’ll have the bachelors degree that was always my goal and I’ll have it in a field that I enjoy and find useful. And I won’t have done that for anyone else other than myself.
Why pay out of state fees for community college? I could see doing that if it was your parents money and they were okay with it, but from your own pocket, that doesn’t seem like a good use of money. In Community college, you don’t have to declare a major. Many people do general Ed if they plan on transferring. I suggest you complete general ed in your home state at a local community college. You say you are able to meet people and be sociable, so do that at home where you have support. Save your money. Complete two years of CC, then transfer to an OOS school if you must. But again, paying for it on your own means that in-state is much more affordable. How were you planning to pay for tuition once you transferred?
Many people come on CC and don’t want to explain a story. That’s your right of course. But often what happens is that it’s hard to give good advice without the whole picture.
“I’m going to be kicked out at the end of this semester in a few weeks and while I have no idea what the full extent of the repercussions to that will be in regards to ever returning to school, I do intend to return next spring.”
So as I understand, you don’t want to return to your current school – correct? Do you have another school in mind? If so, contact that school to find what their transfer policies are.
Odds are, they will require you to raise your grades at a community college first. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, as a good student (normally) you should have no problem doing well at a community college - and you could even do some writing at the community college as well (school paper, etc.) That way you’re killing two birds with one stone: regaining your academic good-standing and establishing a portfolio. Both will serve you well in the future.
Good luck – try not to get discouraged – and know you can completely overcome your bad first year. It may take a year at a CC or another open admissions school. But it’s totally doable by someone with your intelligence, growing maturity and a sense of focus.
My college was an “experimental” CUNY. We often were used as a sort of test lab for different programs and so we have a very non-traditional model, which was what drew me to the school initially. Part of this was that we were offered five majors and required to declare by the second semester of the first year. The closest thing to general education was the liberal arts major, which I did explore but ultimately didn’t care to switch to – maybe that was a mistake.
The one decision that I stand by is my relocation to New York. I fully believe that I made the right decision in that respect, but for personal reasons more so than academic reasons. In respect to my work, I have accomplished much more than I ever thought possible and have had the opportunity to work with many museums and artists, both large and small. My work has been validated in a way that it would never have been if I were still in my tiny town. I was also fortunate enough to meet someone who has really become a force for good in my life and if it were not for his love and his encouragement and his reminder that I do have so much potential to continue my education, but in a field that I feel passion for, I doubt I’d be considering a game plan for the future right now.
I have planted my roots in New York and won’t be leaving. I officially become a resident in July, after one year and New York now offers free tuition to all middle-class residents so that is no longer an issue. (I want to add that I understand that it is not nearly as straightforward as “be in this income bracket and live in NY and you can go to school for free” – there are several other requirements which I meet/would be willing to meet).
katliamom, I really appreciate your encouraging response. I have a few schools in mind and I plan to begin contacting them this month to kick off that process. I’ve decided to return to online education because that tends to be a bit more flexible and I would like to continue working.
Again, thank you so much! An encouragement boost is never unwanted!
I don’t know anything about your returning to school, and what that would require of you, but want to offer a suggestion. I would want to understand myself better. I really would. I did. I’ve spent years, off and on, in counseling both because my former profession essentially demanded it of me, but also because I’ve always wanted to understand myself, in order to be my best self, largely for myself…if you followed all that. I hope you will tend to these things for yourself to help ensure that you will do better by yourself in the future. Understand what all was going on with you, and what was behind your struggles. Go forward with that insight and some new coping skills you can apply, and you should do better. That will also help you in explaining yourself to colleges; not just that you intend to do better, but how you have addressed what was holding you back, and how you will do better, not just that you will. Best of luck to you.
Are you currently self-supporting? If you are making ends meet, perhaps you might want to postpone returning to school until you have a clearer sense of what you want to study and why. I struggled when I first went off to school, left school and worked for 6 years, then returned and graduated.
So you stand by relocating to NY. You went to a CUNY, so you are in NYC, where there are plenty of starving artists. It’s a very expensive place to live. Forgive me being blunt, and I promise I am trying to be helpful. You need to think about what you want to do with your future. Many students want to be successful artists. They go to RISD and FIT and other art and design schools and get degrees. Or they go to SUNY Purchase, or Hunter, or whereever, and get degrees.
It’s great that you have made some contacts. But think of who your competition is. If you want to stay in NYC you need to be realistic in how you achieve that goal. I am sure you have strong loving relationships right now, but if soemthing should happen and you need to have a degree to fall back on, the only way you will get that is by persevering at community college. Don’t allow yourself to be blinded by love and bright lights. Go see an advisor at your college. Find out how you can get past this and move forward. Come up with a plan and execute it. It doesn’t have to mean you can’t pursue your dream. Instead, it means you can be realistic about achieving it.