Navigating admissions process as first gen, no family

Applying to College
1

Hi everyone!

This is my first post on CC, but I have been reading the forums for a few months.

I have a couple things I’m wondering about in the transfer process. A lot of users on here seem really on top of things so I thought feedback would be valuable here.

I’m a 20 year old student who has been completing general education classes through a local community college, using distance learning. I’m a first generation student and grew up in the foster care system. I’ve been doing online classes to allow me to work. I have a 3.4 GPA, 1360 on the SAT (self-studying to improve math), and will have about 60 college credits done at the end of 2019. I started community college with no family or adults basically (aged out of foster care and signed myself up) and have been doing everything solo and just relying on taking initiative on things like paperwork, FAFSA, etc.

I’m financially independent according to FAFSA due to being an “orphan/ward of the court.” My community college experience has been kind of isolated because I have been completing the classes for a liberal arts associate’s degree online/distance while working on organic farms in exchange for room and board.

I’m looking at the application requirements for a few colleges like Wells College, Mary Baldwin, Evergreen, and Mills College — just four year colleges that look like good fits but are not too competitive to get into. Wells and Mills, and several others I’m interested in sending transfer applications to, mention wanting letters of recommendation. Also, I looked up fee waivers for college application fees, and what I read said that I would need to fill out a form and get it signed by, I guess, my community college counselor. I’ve never met with a community college counselor — I’ve just picked my classes online. I’m also not sure who to ask for LORs. I’m thinking I’ll e-mail the teachers who I have taken multiple courses from and who I have gotten positive feedback from — like my English Comp 1 and 2 teacher — and ask for a LOR… it just feels weird having never met face to face. Also, would a non-academic LOR be good? I am working for someone who would write a solid, personal LOR, but I don’t know if it would get thrown in the trash for not being from a teacher.

The process is kind of overwhelming. I will definitely call the admissions offices of the schools (I’m planning on applying this fall, for Fall 2020), but I was just curious if anyone had any perspectives or resources that they think would be helpful. My fall back plan is to just apply to a non selective four year SUNY college that my CC has a transfer agreement with, but I want to do due diligence and apply to other schools.

Thanks for reading!! :slight_smile:

2

Yes, your professors can write letters of recommendation for you. Email them, and start the conversation.

Your CC should have a Transfer Advisor. Contact that person for some help with this process. Often transfer advisors have good ideas about finding places that have scholarship money for students in situations like yours.

Wishing you all the best!

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NY resident?

You may want to try the net price calculators on the web sites of the colleges of interest to get an idea of what financial aid will be like. (However, be aware that some colleges’ net price calculators may not be as accurate for transfer students.)

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Often, when a student approaches a teacher or professor in person to request a recommendation, the teacher will ask the student to prepare an outline where the student describes who they are and what their goals are for college (and beyond). Even in situations where there is already an in-person relationship, this kind of information can help the teacher write a recommendation that aligns with the student’s goals.

These outlines are good places to explain things about the student’s life that the teacher may not have known and which might be relevant to a recommendation.

When you email your professors asking for the LOR, I think it would be a good idea if you included such an outline along with the request (rather than waiting for them to ask). Also be sure to mention the year and semester and the class number that you were in.

I don’t know about transfers, but for 4 year applications, LORs were expected to be academic but many schools also allowed for one non-academic LOR (like from an employer or coach). So definitely look for that on the transfer app.

Good luck.

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If you’re a NYS resident who’s considered an independent you should be eligible for the $5k TAP or Excelsior tuition grants. The $7500 federal student loan + a $6k Pell would give you close to $19k. @sybbie719, is that enough for any of the SUNYs?

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@austinmshauri Yep, I’m a NY resident. SUNY is definitely an affordable option!

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@seashell98

You have 60 credits. Make sure you can use those credits. SUNYs would let you. I looked and Evergreen would let you.
I would also think about " How would I pay to get to Evergreen" and where would I stay during breaks. Maybe ask the colleges about that.

Also think about where you would like to end up after you graduate.

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Note: if “Evergreen” is Evergreen State College in Washington, be aware that it offers no financial aid for out-of-state students (other than possibly small merit scholarships based on your college GPA). You can see its net price calculator: https://www.evergreen.edu/costs/netprice-transfer

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You have Mary Baldwin and Mills on your list, so you aren’t scared of the women’s colleges. Take a look at a few more of them. Bryn Mawr has specific interest in recruiting community college graduates. You are looking ahead to transfer in 2020, so there is time for more research, and time to pull your GPA up a bit higher which will give you better options for merit-based aid.

I don’t know if you can get your GPA into range for the Jack Kent Cooke transfer scholarship, but it may be worth a try: https://www.jkcf.org/our-scholarships/undergraduate-transfer-scholarship/

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Thanks so much for the responses, everyone!

@bopper and @ucbalumnus , you bring up good points about Evergreen. I have it on my list of schools to think about, because it is a liberal arts college with a higher acceptance rate and academics that look attractive, but the logistics of attending an OOS public college across the country are no joke.

@happymomof1 Thanks for the link to that scholarship! That is a great resource. And yes, women’s colleges are really neat.

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Don’t forget the essays

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@seashell98 , I understand that this can be a very daunting process your you but I have a few questions:
Is your local college part of the SUNY system?

If yes, were you accepted through EOP? If your school does not have EOP are you EOP eligible? If your current community college can determine that you are opportunity program eligible however, they do not have an opportunity program, you may be able to apply to SUNY, CUNY or an HEOP school (if they have transfer seats available) http://heopworks.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/2-heop-university-listing

You said that you will have 60 credits by the end of 2019. Are we talking about the end of the spring semester or the end of the calendar year?

When you complete these 60 credits will you also have your associates degree?

You need to complete your associates, this will make the transfer process much easier with a minimal loss of credits (because you will be transferring the degree). Every CUNY and SUNY schools have articulation agreements.

How long have you been in school? This could affect your tap/excelsior status.

SUNY/CUNY/NYS Schools are going to be the most financially feasible option. Between TAP, PELL Excelsior ETV and your loan your need should be met at SUNY. If you can get in a private through HEOP, you need will be pretty much met.

As a NYS resident, you still have time to apply for ETV - https://www.fc2sprograms.org/new-york/

You need to target schools that meet 100% demonstrated need if you are looking at school outside of NYS.

The schools that you have listed will not be financially feasible options. Since you are not adverse to a women’s college, you should look at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Bryan Mawr and Barnard (especially if you can get EOP which will covert to HEOP)

Hope this helps

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When you investigate transfer admissions, you need to know if at least in some cases full need can be met. Some institutions do not guarantee to meet full need for all admitted students, but will meet it for some. I expect you will need to cast a fairly wide net.

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You’re off to a good start. It might be easier to make a list of things you should consider doing. I think you might have missed a lot of the transfer app deadlines, unfortunately, but maybe you are preparing for next year?

  1. Meet with a free academic advisor at your college. You need to ensure you’ve been taking the right classes to transfer. If you haven’t been doing that, it can hold things up. Specifically, ask the academic advisor if you have the right number of credits. Some colleges will only let you transfer a certain number.
  2. Read all of post #11. Read it again. Print out post #11 and take it with you when you meet the advisor.
  3. Maybe post a specific thread in the Search and Selection forum, looking for more college suggestions, giving bullet point info. You will hopefully get more specific suggestions. My initial thought is that Evergreen isn’t going to work. Your GPA is decent, given your circumstances. Aim a little higher perhaps. Unfortunately, colleges will not care much about your SAT score. They are going to be much more focused on your current grades.
  4. As soon as you determine which colleges you are interested in, email the AO who handles transfers. Explain your situation. Ask if you can talk on the phone. You want that person advocating for you.
  5. Yes, ask someone you work with to write a LOR. I think in your situation it is warranted.
  6. If you are indeed trying to transfer for this coming fall, you need to move fast. You can call the admissions office and ask if it’s till possible to submit a transfer application. On May 1, NACAC will publish a list of colleges still accepting transfer apps. The problem will be money.

I agree that a college such as Bryan Mawr might be interested in you, as well as the other women’s colleges listed in post #11. You might want to call all of them. Best of luck, keep us posted.

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Also check out SUNY Forestry https://www.esf.edu/

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Hello @sybbie719 — thank you for the thoughtful response.

Yes, I am taking classes through a SUNY CC. I am not enrolled in the EOP program. I will have 60 credits by the end of the 2019 calendar year (so December, at the end of the fall semester). I’m planning on applying this year for fall 2020. I will have an associate’s degree at the end of this calendar. Thank you for the info about ETV.

I agree that 100% met need would be ideal. I don’t think I’m a competitive applicant for many of the schools that meet full need. I searched for a list of colleges that meet full need; the ones on the list I saw consisted of very selective, prestigious universities/LACs. My impression is that admission to a school that meets 100% of need — or Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Barnard, or Smith — is unrealistic for me.

My first couple semesters of community college were dotted with erratic Cs and Ds from the chaos of taking college classes online while basically homeless after aging out of foster care (one semester actually in a homeless shelter, the others working for room and board and a couple months living in someone’s car/out of a tent … that was weird. Also not sure if I should make any mention of this in my college applications— I feel, maybe irrationally, like there’s a huge stigma to homelessness — almost like a stereotype that once a person is homeless, they are forever a “homeless person,” and sort of barred from “normal life” — of course this is actually untrue, BUT I never know how to talk about it and 100% avoid mentioning it in my day to day life because I want to be normal, but I don’t know if that’s going to be possible in the college application process… kind of a mess.)

The uninspiring-to-B-student transcript, lack of ECs, and okay-but-average SAT narrows down my search a lot. A lot of my college search so far is trying to look for schools that both A. would realistically accept me and B. don’t have exorbitant net costs. (For example— College of Mount St. Vincent. Could I get in? Well, probably. Could I pay for it without getting into private loans? Probably not.)

Transferring to a less selective college in the SUNY system is what I am counting on doing. I am in the process of looking to see if there are other schools I should apply to as well — I’m not counting on any other schools being financially viable, but it’s nice to try a few that may work out and just see… still trying to figure out which schools “may work out,” though.

(re: Barnard et al — the Seven Sisters look BEAUTIFUL and I love love love reading about them though.) I ran the net price calculators for Mills and Mary Baldwin and it gave me between $3-$6k left over after aid for those two. (I say “between” because it’s been about a month since I looked at it.)

Your post was really helpful. Tomorrow, I will delve into the ETV application.

@Lindagaf — sorry, I totally should have mentioned this in my initial post! Yes, I meant applying for fall 2020, not fall 2019. Thanks for the savvy and detailed response. Good idea about making a Search and Selection thread to get some feedback about schools I should apply to. My working list right now is all over the place. Thanks for the idea about calling AOs and for the good suggestions about what I need to be on top of in the transfer process. Am I wrong about the viability of applying to Bryn Mawr + similar women’s colleges? I looked at their admissions profiles and the average SAT/GPAs are much higher than mine.

Also, Evergreen is just thrown on my preliminary list from thumbing through Colleges That Change Lives, lol.

Thanks again for the helpful replies, everyone.

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I think the calling the transfer AOs at some of the meets need schools would be worthwhile. The standard for transfer GPA may be lower than for freshmen applicants. And your story is very compelling and may prove to be helpful - you have had to live this story, you can own it. It is a positive story because you have been succeeding with many circumstances stacked against you, and it may prove helpful.for consideration at one of the selective women’s schools.

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@seashell98

Will write a longer response when I get to work. Don’t take Mount St Vincent off of your list. Actually they are exceptionally well with homeless youth. The will give additional funding, they will assist with the sundry items you need for your dorm because they know that it is hard keeping things when you are constantly in transition and they provide housing when you are not in school including summers because they want to provide you with year round stability while you are finishing school. They also have a HEOP program

I understand if your school does not have an EOP program because there are a number of SUNY CC that don’t. If your school does not have one, you just need to be deemed ** eligible for the opportunity program and you can be considered for EOP / HEOP**

You have a compelling story which is a big part you who you are and how you are doing your well especially after the challenges. don’t be afraid to use your voice and tell your story. Don’t be afraid to toss an application at Smith, Mount Holyoke and Barnard. What is the worse that can happen; they say no You know it is a reach. Don’t be afraid to put yourself in the game, you could be pleasantly surprised.

What you can do is also google your community college + articulation agreements. You can even toss pasta against the wall and toss an app at Cornell, which has articulation agreements with pretty much every CUNY/SUNY CC in the state. You can check the CC link and they will even have an outline of the course work you need. They are certainly worth a shot.

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Reading through this thread has been very eye opening, such amazing advice! @treschicos I would also look into Iona College if you are down this way in the state. They are very generous with transfer aid and seem to be extremely flexible for students I know who have gone there.

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Yes, you need to tell them you were homeless. It says a lot about you that you took on the challenge and have stuck with it.