Not the Usual College Confidential Student

Parents Forum
1

<p>I have a cousin who graduated HS last week. She will attend community college this year, in part to remain close to her sick grandmother. The extended family is trying to help her come up with a game plan for the future, but her situation is very different than what the rest of us have gone through.</p>

<p>SAT scores: 750 reading, 680 writing…420 math.
She has done extremely well in the past with math tutoring. I suspect that with focused math prep the math score could rise significantly on a retake.
No real extracurriculars, but she works 40hrs/week in a fast food restaurant (where she is much loved by her supervisors).
I am unsure of her HS GPA or rank.</p>

<p>Her family situation has recently stabilized, (long story short, alcoholic father, messy divorce, mother was in and out of work. Her mother is now employed and has recently remarried a wonderful, wonderful man). My cousin herself spent several weeks her junior year in an inpatient facility being treated for bipolar disorder (from which her mother also suffers). She has responded very well to treatment. On the whole, she is an incredibly resilient, responsible, charming girl.</p>

<p>The current plan (her mother’s) is to spend two years at the community college. Her mother/my aunt feels there is nothing to be gained from retaking the SAT, and that time at the CC would be best spent trying to develop math/science skills. Her mother is, I feel, misguided (and as a chemist struggles with the idea that her daughter hates math). My cousin has a passion for and is gifted in writing, art, and languages…and has, I know, fought with her mother about college in the past (cousin wants to go to college, mother disapproves). I am certain she could flourish in the right environment - probably a liberal arts college near Richmond, VA. Cousin expressed interest in Randolph-Macon (and Randolph-Macon in her) before the decision to stay at home for a year or two. </p>

<p>Merit aid would be wonderful. I think she has a good chance at merit aid, if she can raise the SAT math enough and looks in the right places. Merit aid would also likely help my aunt warm up to the idea. Failing merit aid, she will certainly qualify for financial aid.</p>

<p>Questions:
-Is it possible to apply for admission as a freshman after spending a year at community college (in effect, treat this year as a gap year)? Or would my cousin have to apply as a transfer student? If she applies as a transfer student, should she wait out the two years before attempting to transfer (would there be any obvious disadvantage to trying to transfer for her sophomore year)?
-Suggestions for colleges…small, liberal arts, in northern Virginia (or within a reasonable driving distance)?</p>

<p>We welcome any advice anyone can offer on this situation. Thank you!!</p>

2

<p>If you attend school even a community college most likely she would be considered to be a transfer. One consideration on Gap vs. transfer is that often there is less money available for transfers.</p>

3

<p>My suggestion is that your cousin and her family could get the most useful advice by talking with your cousn’s therapist. Since your cousin is bi-polar, after she leaves community college, it will be important for her to make sure that she’s in a situation in which good treatment is available. Being bi-polar is a chronic illness, so making sure she can continue to get help is very important.</p>

<p>All colleges that I’ve seen say that students will be considered transfer students if they have taken 4 or more college courses (not including any that they took while in h.s.). Your cousin could check to see if that’s the case for the colleges she’s considering.</p>

<p>Some public institutions have merit scholarships for top community college transfer students from their state.</p>

<p>Your cousin also could consider not going to college at all this coming year, but spending the entire year helping her grandmother and doing volunteer work, perhaps something related to health care or the elderly (Since your cousin is choosing not to go away to college now in order to be close to her grandmom, I assume that your cousin has some general interest in the elderly or ill people, too.) </p>

<p>Your cousin’s 40 hour a week fast food job would be very impressive to colleges because she obviously is responsible and isn’t afraid of hard work. She probably also has learned a lot about herself and about working with other people as a result of her work. She should consider adding to her college applications a letter of recommendation from her employer.</p>

4

<p>I don’t know if you are familiar with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) website. (This is assuming that she attends a community college in VA.)
They have a list of community colleges and which schools take automatic transfers with gpa needed to transfer.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.vccs.edu/vccs.htm[/url]”>http://www.vccs.edu/vccs.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.vccs.edu/vccsasr/vccstran.htm[/url]”>http://www.vccs.edu/vccsasr/vccstran.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I would suggest looking at it to see the community colleges involved, plus the schools that are part of the transfer agreement.</p>

5

<p>Having just been through the transfer process with S, I would say that the cc plan is a good one. </p>

<p>She can do well in cc for two years and have a good chance at whatever type of 4-year institution she wants (small, large, LAC, uni). When applying as a transfer for junior status, many/most/(all?) schools don’t ask for or consider SAT scores or hs records. I hate to see someone focus on test taking and test prep just for admissions sake. That also keeps her focused on her weak points.</p>

<p>I strongly second meredesfilles suggestions. Those cc students who are in a state system which has automatic transfers have some golden opportunities.</p>

<p>I don’t have any expertise to comment on the mental health situation, but I’m also thinking that the time in cc gives her two years to benefit from the more stabilized family situation.</p>

6

<p>Having just been through the transfer process with S, I would say that the cc plan is a good one. </p>

<p>She can do well in cc for two years and have a good chance at whatever type of 4-year institution she wants (small, large, LAC, uni). When applying as a transfer for junior status, many/most/(all?) schools don’t ask for or consider SAT scores or hs records. I hate to see someone focus on test taking and test prep just for admissions sake. That also keeps her focused on her weak points.</p>

<p>I strongly second meredesfilles suggestions. Those cc students who are in a state system which has automatic transfers have some golden opportunities.</p>

<p>I don’t have any expertise to comment on the mental health situation, but I’m also thinking that the time in cc gives her two years to benefit from the more stabilized family situation.</p>

<p>While at cc, she should of course do her best. She should also develop strong relationships with some of her professors. There are some wonderful mentors in these systems and the close relationships will yield her strong recommendations.</p>

7

<p>As a transfer student, I’d like to weigh in and say that freshman admissions are, in general, much kinder than transfer admissions, at least at top schools (not sure how small liberal arts colleges handle it). </p>

<p>I would say that taking a real gap year to care for her grandmother, get focused after all of her personal and family challenges, perhaps do volunteer work as Northstarmom suggested, and study on her own or with a tutor for the math SAT. A year is not a very long period of time (from my nontraditional student perspective!), and in that year should could really gain in stability and maturity, not to mention math skills.</p>

<p>The only question I would have would be if her motivation to defy her mother and go to college might diminish over the year. Perhaps there are ways to ensure that this does not happen, by doing things to boost her motivation, like enrolling in a program for pre-transfer students at the community college (but not attending clases), going to SAT classes, hanging out with friends who are going to college, actively writing application essays, etc. </p>

<p>Best of luck—I’m rooting for her!</p>