Starting over after college

happymomof1
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 03:56:51 +0000

What do you want to do with that biology major?

There are several ways to approach this. I know people who have done each of these:

1. Return to your original university and pick up the coursework needed to finish up the second major. Often this will result in a second diploma for that major and year of graduation. Upside, only one transcript to worry about. Downside, anyone seeing that particular transcript also sees your old, bad grades.

2. Find a handy cheap place (home-state public U often is the choice), enroll as a transfer student, and complete the requirements for a degree there. Upside to this, your GPA from University#2 will probably only reflect the grades you earned there. Downsides include loss of credits on transfer and the possibility that you might have to take way more classes than you had hoped if you need a bunch of different Gen Eds or distribution requirements, and ending up with that second transcript you have to keep track of for the rest of your life.

3. Pick up the specific courses that you need at a community college and/or cheap public U in non-degree status. Even if you need to be an official transfer student for some reason, you could collect the classes you need and leave without a degree. Upside, possibly the quickest route (you only take specific classes that you want and any missing pre-reqs for those classes). Downside, no degree earned.