<p>Inspirational stuff guys. I only have a 1 question; it seems a lot of you are transferring into the top schools or aiming incredibly high. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I don’t have a sterling 4.0 CC GPA or flashy test scores.</p>
<p>If someone could glance that over and offer me some advice I’d greatly appreciate it. I was a terrible student in high school. I had no motivation. Teachers would often get very frustrated with me as it was clear that when I paid attention I could keep up with the best of them. Before my family fell apart I was an honors student in Middle School until moving to a poorer district. I’ve slowly but surely pieced things back together and my GPA is continually improving. </p>
<p>A big thank you to all of you who have taken the time to share your stories! It gives me hope :)</p>
<p>Interesting topic. I didn’t do bad in high school but I didn’t do outstanding either. Point is that I did not meet expectations due to many reasons. Currently I am at a tier 4 school which is well respected in my state but not elsewhere. There were many reasons I ended up here but a full ride and some out of pocket money were the main ones.</p>
<p>Currently I have been accepted into University of Georgia and Georgia Tech as a transfer. One of the people at the University of Maryland told me not to worry and that I will get in. I really want to go to a new environment for college, preferably out of the southeast but my question is this to you guys:</p>
<p>In your high school years, how big of a role did environment play?</p>
<p>If you want to know my stats then you can message me.</p>
<p>Pierre12, in case you’re still following this thread, I just want to highlight to you that this is more of an ‘inspirational’ thread. It’s not about dissuading or preventing kids from taking the “tough walk”, it’s about motivating those who are on this path, while showing them it’s never too late to pursue anything. </p>
<p>Of course it may occur to any high school students that they’d rather work hard now, rather then face the challenge later. whatever it is, I hope that you’d filter your opinions before you post next time.</p>
<p>in that moment when you were doing outstanding in college and when you were just doing it all and making great grades, when you applied as a transfer did you ever get the “can this really happen” feeling?</p>
<p>If so did you get over it and did it really turn out for the best?</p>
<p>I basically have made it through Highschool wit a B Average right now its a 2.6, mainly because i have just been an underachiever, my sat scores were just below average 1450 and i have so far been accepted into 3 decent schools Houston,Tech, and Baylor being the best one. </p>
<p>so you know grades arent truly everything, while Tech and Houston may not be top schools both of the buisness schools are respected in Texas , Baylor on the other hand is a great school i really wasnt expecting to get in</p>
<p>but the bottom line is you dont have to be a Straight A student to get into a Decent college</p>
<p>I think there are many exceptional cases in which people with less than stellar past educational performances can turn it all around. I just received the acceptance letter of my dreams 4 days ago and I still can’t quite believe that it happened.</p>
<pre><code>My high school career was a mixed bag. Freshmen and sophomore years were excellent. I always made high honors and was taking some accelerated classes. But junior year everything went downhill. My home life started to deteriorate, and my job and social life took precedence. I ended up dropping out of high school and transferring to an alternative program in the area. Unfortunately the alternative program bored me to tears. Academically I was not engineered for the type of program where we were still given weekly spelling words. Ultimately I left and tested out for my GED.
Fast forward three years of working 70 hour weeks in the health field. Upon the birth of my son I realized as far as my college dreams were concerned it was now or never. I enrolled in a local community college and loved it. While the curriculum may not have been as challenging as other schools, my professors were amazing, and any truly driven student can find a way to go above and beyond the scope of what was assigned in class.
After 3 semesters and a 4.0 GPA my adviser really wanted me to put in applications at schools that I never would have considered myself, with my spotty history, a candidate for. Of those on the list, Bates college was the most realistic, as I have a 2 year old and moving across the country would be rather problematic. Unfortunately Bates was one of the few schools I came across who would not a GED. I still met up with one of the transfer Deans at our schools transfer fair. She was amazingly nice and helpful and while she confirmed that they did not currently accept GED’s she would speak to the Dean on my behalf.
</code></pre>
<p>A month and a half later I received an email stating they would allow me to apply. Anyway before I ramble on too much more here, I jumped through all the normal transfer hoops and I got in! I still can’t quite believe it. While I certainly will be older than a vast majority of the student body (I am 25) the educational opportunity is really all that matters to me.</p>
<p>I think if you want something badly enough and are willing to extend yourself above and beyond that many colleges respect and applaud that. They want to know that you really want it and that you are willing, despite setbacks to do what it takes. I say go after your dreams, at the very least you can say that you tried:)</p>
<p>Pierre, no one’s saying to take the easy way out, do bad in high school, and bank on college success to go to a top school. In fact, I wouldn’t even call that the “easy way”. In my opinion, it’s a lot more difficult to bounce back in college and get into a top school than to do well in high school and get into a top school. There are millions of kids with top high school grades, but a lot of them drop off once they get to college for an assortment of reasons.</p>
<p>I think it’s best to be mature and give props to those who overcame their obstacles and the lure of the college scene to prioritize during a difficult time, get outstanding grades, and transcend to their dream college.</p>
<p>In a way for me, getting top grades in college was easier because I had less distractions, was in a better environment, had more to do and I was around kids who were not into the whole high school drama thing.</p>
<p>Accepted into four tier 1 universities so far out of a tier 4 school.</p>
<p>It can happen, now waiting to hear from the top level schools.</p>
<p>2.8 GPA in HS -> 4.0 GPA at Loyola Marymount University -> 4.0 at SMC (hopefully -> 3.8+ UC Berkeley)</p>
<p>This isn’t a success story. This can be anyone’s story so long as the institutions are fixed. In High School I felt like I wasn’t smart enough to do anything. That’s what the counselor’s implied; it’s how the system was set up (honors programs, math class placement, etc, etc). This isn’t me “pulling myself up from my bootstraps.” This is me recognizing how the institutions have failed me, finding confidence in and learning lessons from my Christian faith, and believing in myself. Anyone can do this but the system tries its best to make sure people don’t.</p>
<p>“This can be anyone’s story so long as the institutions are fixed.”</p>
<p>What do you mean by that?</p>
<p>Well, I didn’t do the best in high school. Didn’t take advantage of all the opportunities. As for high school, nice to see that it doesn’t even matter that much now.</p>
<p>piscesgurl:
I loved reading your story, and I loved your quote about your community college experience: “any truly driven student can find a way to go above and beyond the scope of what was assigned in class.”</p>
<p>Community colleges are great places to find something you’re interested in, work really hard at it, and someone will notice. That’s usually the perfect recipe for top colleges to look at you seriously.</p>
<p>@Pierre12, you’re clearly young if you think that anything about my story is “unbelievable”. I don’t harbor any anger toward you. I feel sorry for you that you live in such a state where you think people have any reason to lie on this board. But I’m going to update my story for all of you. When I gave you guys that last story about my life, it was November last year and the puzzle pieces were starting to come loose. </p>
<p>Now, it’s March and nearly April and everything fell back into place. </p>
<p>I moved into a room in a house with 3 other college student room-mates. I finally bought a car and I’m on the road again. I’m going to a better community college for my last semester. Why last semester? Because I got accepted to UCSD! Another time I cried, when I saw my acceptance, because even though I had TAG, my major was impacted which raised the GPA requirement and gave no guarantee of acceptance. </p>
<p>I don’t even think you guys can comprehend how badly I did in high school. My junior year was a 1.47. But community college gave me the chance to turn that around. And no matter what anyone says, it’s not “easy” to do well in community and turn things around. A college semester course is the equivalent of a high school one-year course and maintaining a 3.5+ GPA at a community college is about the same work as achieving a 4.2+ or higher in high school. It’s all relative. Remember that in college a 4.0 is the highest you can get, so anywhere between 3.5-4.0 is what you make of it. </p>
<p>I’m going to ride my UCSD transfer until the wheels, engine and doors fall off. This site was a tremendous help for me. Two years ago, I NEVER would’ve imagined I was on my way to UCSD. Never in my life. I was on my way to “building a career” working retail sales at Best Buy. </p>
<p>Now I’m on my way to one of the most prestigious science schools in California.</p>
<p>My parents were against me going to community college and instead they sent me to a tier 4 university. I must admit that life here is not so great. In high school I had a 3.2 when I was applying to colleges, was going with a sharp upward trend and I even learned English late in life. Compared to other Asian students, I was a joke.</p>
<p>They had the top GPAs (4.0)
Top SAT scores (2300-2400)
Wins in science and math competitions
and majority of them went to schools in the better parts of the town.</p>
<p>I went to school in a part of town where crime and other things were common. Even though my school was a selective academy, most of the kids there were just slightly better than other kids in the county in that they were not gang members or drug dealers. Most of the classes I learned nothing in, some of the classes were good but in most classes the students were disruptive and the job was tough for many teachers.</p>
<p>In college it was a different environment, I actually learned something and as a result I was able to make the best of my opportunities. </p>
<p>In general: High school was a joke for me.</p>
<p>To the user above me: congrats on your acceptance to UCSD.</p>
<p>I was accepted into Boston U, UConn, UGA and Georgia Tech. The two colleges in GA I will not attend because I do not like life in this state too much.</p>
<p>I’m in my first semester at a community college in my area because I couldn’t afford any of the schools I got into and if this thread isn’t a load off my mind, then I don’t know what is! I have As in all my classes now and that should keep up after finals (I’m taking 5 classes at 16 credit hours. My math prof. doesn’t require that we take the final if we get higher than a 92% in his class and I have a 103% and my Eng., “final” is just a PowerPoint presentation. I love it!). </p>
<p>I don’t know where I want to go because I’m so cash strapped but I plan on applying everywhere I can from UPenn and Penn State (because they’re so close), Case Western Reserve University and Kenyon College to Ohio State University and Miami University just so I have a wider selection than the three schools I applied to in high school.</p>
<p>I didn’t do terribly in high school–I had a 3.2 because of MAJOR slacking freshman and sophomore year (no Fs but, like, 4 or so Cs and more Bs than As). Not to make excuses, but I blame my school. Waiting until junior year to tell kids how important high school grades and the SAT/ACT are for college and the application process and yada ya is TOO LATE. I mean, it’s insane that there were kids in my senior English class in January still hadn’t taken the ACT or SAT. But junior and senior year I had 4.0s. Oh, and a 23 ACT score. Not terrible, but that’s a combination of a few things. I never retook it. </p>
<p>My biggest worry, though, is money. How would you judge your finaid awards?</p>
<p>@piscesgirl: I’m glad you see it that way. When people ask me how I work as hard as I do, or how I’m as successful as I am, I tell them some variation of what you said. “If you want something bad enough, not only will you work for it, but you’ll enjoy working for it. Every day will be better than yesterday. Because every day will be one day closer to being there.” Your son will be grateful you worked as hard as you did, in the future, when he doesn’t have to worry about money for college and you can give him the things you may or may not have had when you were younger. </p>
<p>@meShannon: Honestly, the money will take care of itself. When I was applying to UCSD and other colleges, I was worried about money too. I’m paying for school on my own. My mom doesn’t have the resources to help me so she can only be here for me with moral support. If your grades are good enough, and I’m not talking 4.0 either. If you can at least land a 3.0, the financial aid will take care of you. How much aid you get in Community College is a good indicator of how much aid you’ll get beyond that. What state are you in? Google that state plus the words “college financial aid” and you’ll definitely get some sites that show you what types of programs are offered. For example, Georgia has Hope scholarships that you don’t need a good GPA to get access to. They’re slightly merit but mostly need based scholarships that pay for school. California has Cal Grants which can pay as much as $7000 toward tuition, fees or book supplies. The federal government has the Pell Grant which is up to $5550 a year and usually, whether you get that or not is a good indicator of what type of gift aid you’ll receive from your school. </p>
<p>In the end, I only won one scholarship for $4000 a year from National SMART and I was given a UCSD need based scholarship of about $2777 a year. My total gift aid is about $22,280 which only leaves me needing about $5000 a year to pay for UCSD and not have to work while I study. </p>
<p>To everyone here posting, I’ll give you this advice:
Find what you love to learn.
Surround yourself with people who believe in themselves and you. People with like minded goals.
Love being at the library until your homework is done. Find ways to reward yourself. “If I finish these chapters before 7pm, I’ll get myself frozen yogurt.”
Ask your professors what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. There’s NOTHING bad about asking your professor what they expect of you. You WILL maximize your success if you do this. Office hours are VITAL.
Ask yourself what’s different about your life, and someone’s life who’s going to a top school. Do you party or drink a lot? Do you think people who got accepted to Stanford or Georgia Tech out of high school live that same type of life?
This is the most important: Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something. That’s the biggest crock of lies that can ever be told. I went from being on the verge of homelessness to holding an acceptance letter from UCSD in my hands. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple was homeless, sleeping on the floors of his college buddies’ dorms, crashing classes that he enjoyed without being enrolled when he was 19. When you look in the mirror, when you analyze your life, when you think about what you’re worth, realize that you CAN get somewhere and you CAN be someone. You’ll never know your worth if you never step on the scale.</p>
</p>