<p>I find myself between a rock and a hard place. After two full years at the college game, I sit here two schools and three majors later still searching for enlightenment. I was an A student in high school (graduated 2004), 1490 SAT, and finished in the top five of the class at a prestigious private high school. Mistakes on part of both the guidance department and myself led to the annulment of nearly 14 applications in the spring of 2004. The main reason for this was failure to take SAT II exams, which were required by almost all (including many heavy hitters such as Columbia and Yale.)
Settling by default to Canisius College in my hometown of Buffalo, I chose pre med as a major, lasted one semester, and decided it was not for me; even though I held a 3.0 gpa for the first semester. The second semester was going to be a transition to a new school and a new major. I wanted to take engineering at the University at Buffalo and began to take physics classes while still at Canisius. This semester was a bomb. The next fall turned into another bomb and soon I’m at a new school in a new major and a really bad GPA.
I looked elsewhere and decided to start taking history classes. I find some enjoyment in these and begin to turn my grades around slightly. After summer classes to catch up, I was back on the upward swing. Then in the fall of 2006, while in my junior year at UB, I fell deathly ill. For two weeks I was hospitalized for rare complications of rheumatic fever and critical heart failure. I had to withdraw from the semester that I had started with as much drive as I have ever had. I had to move back in with my parents and cannot work. Now with a few months before I am to immerse myself back into school, I have contemplated what by every right should be impossible.
I have always deduced that I should be at a more prestigious center of learning. I had my sights on Ivy League coming out of high school. Not taking the opportunity then is something I will regret all my life. Unless…
Unless there is a way that I can prove my case to one of these schools. I will shoot for some reach schools including Columbia, Brown, and Penn, but would really just like to find a progressive liberal arts school somewhere on the East Coast. If I can convince the admissions offices of these institutions that I am far and away more able than what I have shown thus far in my college education. This sickness was an eye opener. I feel I have been in the dark for three years now and still yearn to find that proverbial light. Mind you, these years have not been directly attributed to laziness. I worked too much, for one. Working 6-7 days per week. I have also had other family problems that I have had to deal with and now my own health condition that has changed my life forever.
I feel there is some hope for me. I feel that if I apply to ten schools, eight or nine will not even entertain the thought. But I need to rely on those one or two schools to understand my position. I’m asking as a serious question…is this possible? Am i crazy for thinking this could be pulled off? As the biggest weight bearer of them all, this next spring i know for a fact I can pull off a 4.0 or very close to it. Pointing to this, and to high school, and my SAT, I believe I have a case. Tell me if I am crazy.</p>
<p>Your story is unbelievably moving and I believe you will have your chance. I would apply to a very highly regarded small liberal arts college like Amherst. I think a school like that would be very interested in you. I would attach a cover letter in which you explain what course your life took, how you got to where you are today and the direction you see your life going. I would write a personal statement that gives the admission officers a real glimpse into the type of person that you are. I would pick a school such as this and I would apply early decision.
Amherst has in recent articles indicated that they are moving away from SAT scores as a tool for college acceptances. You will need to take the SAT II’s for Amherst at this time.
There are also many other small liberal arts colleges that have the prestige you are looking for</p>
<p>i agree with collegebound- look at smaller LAC schools who will view your application holistically and with a more ‘humane’ view, rather than some of the large universities who will focus on pure numbers.</p>
<p>Casey,</p>
<p>I hope that you are feeling better and that you’re on the way to a full recovery. I just want to take a moment to recap and test for understanding</p>
<p>fall 04 (freshman year) Canisius College
pulled 3.0 gpa</p>
<p>Spring 05 took a tumble finished with 2.5 gpa</p>
<p>Fall 05- transferred to UB</p>
<p>over the course of the year, obtained a 2.0</p>
<p>fall 06 (took a medical leave of absence) now interested in transferring again.</p>
<p>The down side is that because you are a junior with 2 years of college under your belt, your high school SAT scores and GPA are going to hold little weight and will no longer matter. </p>
<p>If you are considering another transfer, most schools are going to want a compelling reason (not i was going through adjustment issues) to admit you (admission to Columbia, brown and Penn are going to be extremely slim). </p>
<p>My advice is this: take the rest of the year off, maybe 2. Go to work/ volunteer, do peace corps or something constructive with your time. After being out of school for a year (or 2) you now have an interrupted education) consider applying to colleges that are geared toward adult learners like Columbia’s school of general studies, Penn has a school, Georgetown, NYU, Brown (resumed Undergraduate Education) and a host of others. This still means that you will have to write a compelling essay ; give your mea culpa with out whinning but most of all write about what you have learned from the experience.</p>
<p>link to brown</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.brown.edu/Students/RUSA/[/url]”>http://www.brown.edu/Students/RUSA/</a></p>
<p>link to Columbia
<a href=“http://www.gs.columbia.edu/home.asp[/url]”>http://www.gs.columbia.edu/home.asp</a></p>
<p>Nyu</p>
<p><a href=“Undergraduate Admissions”>Undergraduate Admissions;
<p>there are plenty of others. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>be well</p>
<p>It seems that you have had an unfortunate combination of poor health, bad luck and poor decisions. If you had applied correctly as a high school senior you might have had a chance for 1 or 2 acceptances out of the top 10 ranked schools. Now you probably do not have even a remote chance.</p>
<p>I think you need to re-examine your priorities rather than dream of admission to some elite school. You need to make some firm decision about a major and potential career. Then you need to apply yourself towards those goals. If you do well at UB, in a couple of years you can think about graduate school and have a reasonable new chance of admissions to a more elite university. </p>
<p>Of course this is just my opinion. I suspect you will take a different direction just be sure you don’t continue down the same path where bad luck and poor decisions intertwine and become indistinguishable.</p>
<p>I have thought about your situtaion after my original post. Right now, you will not be able to get into a more competitive school with your grade point average. Here is what I would suggest.
You should contact one or two of the admission officers at a small liberal arts college. One that is more apt to look at you holistically. You should explain your situation and ask for their advice about what you can do to get accepted. They will likely indicate that your grade point average is not competitive. I imagine they will recommend that you will need to enroll somewhere else and get a B+ average and then reapply. I think that if you were to develop a repour with an admissions office and they were to guide you, that they might be more open to accepting you in a year.
I would not suggest this with Amherst as I originally indicated as I reread your grade point average and it would not be competitive enough. Amherst looks at the whole student and is highly regarded which you said you want. The thing about Amherst however is that many of the applicants are in the top of their high school classes and have very high standardized test scores, even if the school is considering not focusing on them.
I would look at Bates, Colby, College of the Holy Cross</p>
<p>I really appreciate the time you have put into thinking about this. I like the sounds of plan B, getting my grades up first, but I am more than halfway to a diploma at UB. Before this recent bump in the road I was in actuality able to graduate a semester early if i wanted to. Amherst recruited me for football out of high school and was my first choice, so it was funny you originally reccomended it. I realize also that I need to lower my sights a little. A 15 credit, straight A semester this spring will bring me to a 2.64 GPA, still not good enough. It almost seems futile, but I really have nothing to lose by trying. Also, I feel that if I try hard enough I just might tip the scales in my favor. There is always the prospect of just riding out the storm at UB and shooting for a prestigious grad school. This also seems intriguing, but I feel i need to act as soon as possible. Still thinking too much…</p>
<p>Also, the issue really does not come down to prestige. I just want to get the best education I can, which i know I’m not getting at UB. I want to be immersed into rather intellectual surroundings and feed off the brains of the fellow knowledge hungry students around me. I don’t get that feeling at UB and I never felt it at Canisius. I strive for knowledge and the best education I can get, no matter what I have to do to make up for past shortcomings.</p>
<p>Admissions officers look at high school record and test scores to predict college success. Now they don’t need them because they have your college record.<br>
I think your bouncing around hurts you more than your GPA. You established that pattern before your illness. It will take more than your word to convince an admissions committee that you’ve changed. Do something to demonstrate your new-found maturity and responsibility. That could be finishing where you are, productive employment, or a period of committed service. And when you write your essay don’t say “the only reason I wasn’t here years ago was my GC,” or “I want to change schools because I really am much better than everyone else where I am.”</p>
<p>On a note that may be more to your liking-- find out if any of the schools you’d like to go to accept visiting students. The standards for visiting aren’t quite as high as they are for transfer. Maybe they would allow to transfer if you shine as a visitor. At least you would have a chance to spend a year in a more demanding school. Caution-- 1) don’t assume you’ll be able to transfer: and 2) take responsibility to make sure the paperwork is done right at both ends-- you may have to finish your degree where you are now.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are after prestige, although you say,
</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that you don’t find an intellectual atmosphere at UB or that you cannot find knowledge-hungry students there. The fault lies with you, stop blaming the school you are in, and stop chasing prestige. You will do miserably at Columbia, Amherst, etc., if you were not able to do well at Canisius or UB till now, no matter what excuses you have. You are planning to get straight A’s this semester. That is the only positive idea in your posts. Still, it is a plan. You need to show top performance by getting better grades (all A’s) than the knowledge-shunning peers at UB, get your bachelor’s degree there and then go on to graduate school if you are thirsty for more knowledge.
Stop dreaming about changing school, change yourself. Get going, do well at UB, enjoy your life there. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>CollegeBound2007, your post was a bit harsh, but nevertheless I agree with you.</p>
<p>cccasey, you have my sympathy for what you’re going through; however, realistically you have no chance of transferring to any of the top universities or liberal arts colleges. GPA means alot when transferring, and unfortunately you have a very weak score. They will look into your situation, but I highly doubt it would excuse the poor grades. Even if the students at your current school are a bunch of pot-smoking numskull it shouldn’t have affect your score so negatively, or prevent you from challenging yourself intellectually. You might have a compelling cause for transferring, but you give the admission office no good reason to accept you. They can’t be sure that you could handle the workload at their school; your academic history is the biggest detriment to your admission. My advice, and it’s the same as everyone here, stick it out with your current school and try to get into a good graduate school later on.</p>
<p>Just curious, how can guidance counselors at a “prestigious private high school” not know that SATII tests are required? Not to mention why the reading of 14 different applications didn’t point that out? Water under the bridge, but I’m just wondering!</p>