I am an international student who will be transferring from a Community college in California (transfer to uni for spring 2020). I will receive my Associate Degree in communication after the summer. In total I will have exactly 60 transferable credits however I haven’t taken math 117 and English 111 so I can’t transfer to any CSU and UC school in California so my only options are either private universities or out of state. Which is alright but I have absolutely no idea where I can’t to possibly transfer anymore.
My GPA is only 3.26 and even if I can possibly raise it to maybe 3.3 or MAYBE 3.4 after my summer classes I am still laying pretty low. I haven’t done the SAT or ACT yet so I can’t go after that. But I feel that I will have no chance to get into any university that I actually genuinely want to get admitted to.
I need some universities that I actually have a chance with, what are some good ones admitting students around the GPA that I have?
These are the only ones I am interested in right now but I have a 3 out of 10 chance to get admitted to most of these:
What do those four schools have in common, that you prefer them over hundreds of others?
Could you afford to full-pay for private U’s like UMiami or USF? (I would guess that there’s not a ton of need-based aid for international transfers, and your GPA probably isn’t high enough to be competitive for merit.)
Why is it not an option to continue at your CC for another semester, take the two classes you still need for the CA publics, and raise your GPA a little more before transferring? You could then apply to schools with spring admissions (like Oklahoma) and also apply to the CA publics.
Oklahoma’s transfer acceptance rate is almost 80%, so that seems realistic - look into the GPA threshold for the particular major/program you want.
If communications is the field you want to pursue, look into schools that are not super-competitive, but are known for their programs in this area. Ohio University, for example, or U of Missouri a.k.a. Mizzou
USF and UMiami have previously helped International students with their tuition so that’s one of the reasons that I am particularly interested in those schools but yes I’m unsure how my low GPA could give me any chance for any aid if getting admitted.
The reason I don’t want to stay one more semester and finish those classes is because I would have to register for 12 units anyways (as an international and to get support from my government I need at least 12 units) so I’d have to take some unnecessary classes and as an international I would pay around 5000 just to get two more classes (+ living which is around 700-800 each month). I would rather save those money. I am aware that I would have more options with those two classes finished however public Californian universities aren’t more helpful with tuition for internationals so I wouldn’t really win anything on staying longer at CC.