Precarious College Situation

Transfer Students
1

<p>I’m actually here looking for some guidance on my rather murky college prospects, if there are any prospects.</p>

<p>I graduated high school back in 2005 (which now seems like a lifetime ago), with a B average (I guess you’d say a 3.0, my HS didn’t really keep track of stats like class ranks and a specific GPA), and 1220 SATs (back when it was on a 1600 scale), from a highly competitive HS in Southern New Jersey. I was an athlete (XC & Track), which was far more important to me at the time than school. I got offered partial and full scholarships from schools like Delaware, Kutztown, Susquehanna, St. Joe’s, and the like. I ended up at Kutztown (because of the team, class didn’t matter then).</p>

<p>I came back in the fall, and changed majors again to Professional Writing after serious consideration, but little good came from all of this. At the end of my junior year, I was kicked off the XC and tracks teams, about as close to an alcoholic as you could be without probably being one, and flunked out.</p>

<p>As it is now, I came back home, and started working at the local running shop in my town, selling running shoes and fitting people for shoes, getting back in racing shape after a year off, and getting my life back in order. I have what you could call a renewed approach to everything. Between various family, health, personal and social situations having been resolved, I’m in a much better place than I’ve probably been in more than 10 years. And my journey thus far has left me much wiser about what I can and can’t do, and should and shouldn’t do in many, many situations.</p>

<p>I’m now at a local community college, taking a class I’m acing for the first time in ages. I’d love to go to a school with a great writing program, I want to learn from the best, but I have no clue what my options are at this point. I flunked out of Kutztown (not exactly an academic juggernaut), and left with a GPA just a shade under 2.0.</p>

<p>The school I’d love to get into the most would be Maryland (my grandfather used to take my around campus as a little kid, and to this day we have season tickets to Maryland football and basketball, he also gave a lot of money to the school and park of the Alumni Park is named for him, if that helps), I half grew up down there. But I’m willing to go anywhere I have to, and am fully aware that a school such as that is probably way out-of-reach, I really have no idea what is in reach.</p>

<p>My desire is a career as a sports writer. I’m a sports junkie, and writing is something that comes very easily to me. Plus, every teacher or professor I’ve had has told me I should write, so I guess I must be doing something right. I was the Sports Editor at the Kutztown Student Newspaper for just one semester, and loved it. It was the one thing I did commit to in the last months I went to Kutztown.</p>

<p>I’m just looking for some direction, whether there are community or county colleges that are feeder schools to places with great programs, or anything really. I can go anywhere in the country (my parents worked for airlines, so travel is no problem). I would suggest that my running could be an asset somewhere, but I don’t know if I would have eligibility left, since it would be my 6th year technically by the time I’d get anywhere. Any help would be much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>You’re looking at going to school full time, so one thing I can suggest is that you take on more community college classes next term; maybe even moving up to a full time load. Get a full semester under your belt, doing well in all your classes, and then apply to Maryland and to the other unis you have in mind. </p>

<p>If you liked Kutztown, you should also reapply there. </p>

<p>If you can show the schools that the student you are now is no the student you were then; that your problems are in your past, and not in your present; then you stand a chance of being admitted. This is despite the fact that your overall GPA, due to your time at Kutztown, may be too low. </p>

<p>I’d suggest you try applying to Maryland after one semester at the community college. Take advantage of one of your essays to tell your story. Use your cc transcript as proof of your academic potential. See if you get in. </p>

<p>If you don’t, then you continue on at the cc, get your associates degree with strong grades, and apply again. </p>

<p>I believe you will get in someplace good. I don’t know if it’ll be Maryland, but it could be. It’s worth trying for. </p>

<p>As for the running - I’m not sure. You may want to speak to the coach at Maryland and discuss your situation.</p>

<p>Some schools that I think you may want to look at, as they have good writing/journalism programs and they aren’t impossible to get into, are: Kent State University, Ball State, U Missouri Columbia, U Kansas, Kansas State, Marquette, U Iowa, Ohio U (Athens), U Montana, U Arizona, U Oregon, Iowa State, U Oklahoma, U Utah, and Arizona State.</p>

3

<p>It’s unclear how much time you actually spent at Kutztown. How many terms were you actually there and when were they? How many terms at the community college with what GPA?</p>

4

<p>I have a few friends who flunked out of college or left their colleges with grades around a 2.0 and switched somewhere else, so it is definitely doable. Public universities, especially smaller regional universities, are much more forgiving to this sort of thing. Two of my friends didn’t have to write any special essays or anything; they simply applied with their grades and transferred. It’s actually not as hard to ‘start over’ as people make it seem, unless you are aiming to transfer to very selective schools. In a lot of cases as long as you have a 2.0 and are in good standing at your former school, you can get back in.</p>

<p>Maryland, however, is a bit more selective than the schools to which they transferred, so I would try to at least get a semester of CC proving that you have brought your grades up. Also, if you are still in New Jersey, look at public regional universities that are nearby who are not overly selective.</p>

5

<p>what about journalism schools. like northwestern or mizzou</p>