non traditional transfer students:

comfortablycurt
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:58:28 +0000

I’m definitely a non-traditional student. I dropped out my sophomore year of high school, and got a GED. I was a straight A student all the way through eighth grade, and manage to keep a B average the first half of my freshman year, but I more or less quite going the second semester of freshman year, then dropped out during my sophomore year of high school. It wasn’t at all due to any type of inabilities to do the work, but rather a lack of motivation and an indifference towards school. At the time, I just really felt like I had better things to do…partying, hanging out with friends etc… Now I’m 26, and in my first semester at a community college. I’m doing some remedial math right now, because I never took anything beyond pre-algebra in high school. Right now I’m in elementary algebra, so I’m playing the catch up game with math right now. I’m taking geometry and intermediate algebra next semester, and college algebra over the summer, so I’ll be ready to start trig next year, and then go on to calculus. I placed into english 101, so I don’t have to do any catching up in that area. Those are the only two classes I’m in right now, but I’ve got about a 98% average in both, so I’m doing well.

Next semester is going to be much busier. In addition to the two math classes, I’m also taking english 103, and intro to chemistry, plus taking a student success skills class, as well as the mandatory orientation class. I’m planning on majoring in physics once I get my math classes caught up, and transferring to a 4 year. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get into U of I Urbana-Champaign. Going back to school was a very good change for me…it’s leaps and bounds better than what I’ve spent the last several years doing.