Ok, for some reasons i got screwed up for the 1st semester.
And i recovered from that and got a 3.8 this semester.
However, given the amount of credits i’ve taken and the level of courses/major I am going to take, I thought that it would be hard for me to continually get 3.8 or above for the rest of my college years which i predict that i will get a cultimate GPA of 3.4-3.6 at the end.
I get high expectation of myself and aim for the top 15 engineering schools worrying that 3.4-3.6 may be too low for me to get into these schools since i am an international student.
And i hate the fact that i ended up with Penn State due to bad luck. (no offense to psu and i really like this place) that a lot of my friends in HS went to nyu/columbia/rochester with the same stats.
So, now what i am thinking is to drop out, reapply for any school and start all over again and try to transfer in sophomore year to a better school than Penn State and try getting gpa above 3.6 then apply for the top schools in the country.
What do you say? I have no financial problem and just want to get into a good school.
Those grades will follow you wherever you go. Grad schools will see them, because you will be required to send transcripts from everywhere you have attended.
How would you transfer to a better school than PSU with what, ~2.9 cumulative?
no, my thinking is that i drop out, reapply for any college for freshman which would reset my gpa to 0, and get 3.7 and above and transfer from the new school with the new cultimate gpa.
I dont care to waste a year, i mean… Everyone gets a second chance right? I dont think Grad school would care about my first year / first semester getting a 1.95
You generally can’t reapply as a freshman. You have a year’s worth of college credits and will be considered a transfer almost anywhere. You’d get a new GPA wherever you went next, but those original grades don’t go away. You have to send them to the new school and then to grad school.
So do you mean you want to apply as a Freshman at a new school, without mentioning the fact that you ever attended Penn State? Pretend it never happened? If that’s what you mean, I don’t know if you can pull it off. On the one hand, I don’t think colleges investigate if you have ever been anywhere else. On the other hand, that’s pretty sneaky and it could come back to bite you. I wouldn’t do it.
@sbgal2011 So, you are telling me that I am basically doomed trying to get into top grad schools? I got 1.95 for my freaking 20 credits in my freshman year.
@bodangles, I didn’t know that but it doesn’t surprise me. In this day and age, it’s very difficult to hide things like that. To the OP, I’m not telling you that you are doomed. You can go on to do well at Penn State, go to grad school somewhere, and launch a successful career. Ultimately, how well you career progresses will be a result of your job performance, not your school history.
If you prove yourself to be a valuable grad school prospect by keeping up your grades, kill your GMAT, GRE, LSAT, whatever – you’ll be fine. But the others are right. There’s no erasing your 1st semester grades.
Lots of students, especially engineering students, fall flat on their faces the first semester of college. Stop worrying about this. Provided the rest of your college career is decent, by the time you do decide that you need to go to grad school, you will be able to get in somewhere that is appropriate for your longer-term goals.
Agree, your grades will follow you making it exceedingly difficult to transfer into a top tier school. You cannot reapply as a freshman. I’d suggest that you should stick at PSU and continue to improve your GPA there and maybe aim for top grad programs.
Many, many students have such a hiccup either first or second semester freshman year you’ve already shown you can shine by your second semester grades. Continue your upward progression and you’ll be just fine. You’ll have no trouble getting into grad school or getting a job because of that first semester.
I’m convinced kids who fail and recover early are ultimately the ones who are the most successful. Keep doing what you’re doing and move on. There is no do over and these days no way to make those grades not follow you.
You can’t just “start again”. You may benefit from improving your command of English. A GPA isn’t something that can be purchased, thrown away and re-purchased. Money and the ability to pay for an extra year or two won’t buy you a new GPA. I imagine that your friends had a better record or were stronger academically. If you struggle at Penn State a school with what you perceive to be a better name is not the answer. It appears that perception is very important to you. You are looking for ways to give the appearance of being a stronger student than you are. Your efforts would pay off more if you focus on becoming a better student rather than appearing to be one.
Many US tax paying residents of the US would love to be at Penn State, by the way.
You mention not having financial difficulties. I bet not. But your money can’t buy you a perfect GPA. If you can’t earn a high GPA at Penn State then it is unlikely you will do well in a top “name” engineering school. Your striving for perception isn’t helping you get a good education. Focus on becoming a better student and good things will probably follow.
And about this: " just want to get into a good school."
You are in a “good school”. As noted above, many US tax paying residents and many Pennsylvania students are rejected from Penn State. You have a slot. I’d be pretty grateful for one if I were an international student.
Perhaps the other schools picked up something about your lack of ethics in your essays and steered clear.
Frankly, Penn State for engineering is on par with the other schools you mentioned, so maybe some research is in order.
As for being doomed, the best option you have available is to re-take the courses for which you received a bad grade (school rules may limit your options here somewhat). Typically if you get below a C on a course, you can re-take to improve the grade. That is the only legal, ethical way to improve your GPA other than to grind it out.
I, too, did poorly my first term of college. Distractions get in the way. Even back in the day, though, you could not simply start over. Keep pressing on with the good grades and consider retaking the worst of them.
The other obvious bit of advice is…do not take more than 15-18 credits per semester. (no more than 15 the first semester)
I know someone from Rutgers who got straight C’s freshman year, but picked up the slack and foot straight A’s for the rest of college. She got into a top 10 med school this year. Colleges will look over one bad year.