<p>I dropped out of HS to start Community College right away. Eventually working full time, going to school, and being a little immature and not studying as much as I should have resulted in my GPA being a 2.7.</p>
<p>I have 22 credits left and it’s been a little over a year since I’ve even taken a class. I had to move to my grandparents to take care of their farm since my Grandma had cancer and my grandpa broke his back. I also work 50 hours a week at a different farm.</p>
<p>I really want to go to Carnegie Mellon for CS. I know they are highly ranked for their CS program and will be a challenge to be accepted. I’m not set in stone for this University, but I see myself in a good University like this. However, I kinda screwed myself (i think).</p>
<p>I am much more mature and settled down than I was a few years ago and I know I will get much better grades this year. I think my GPA will be around a 3.2 when I finish. I am wondering if I should retake classes to improve my GPA in order to hopefully be accepted into a better college. What are your opinions on this?</p>
<p>I can’t seem to edit my post but I wanted to add something. My mom told me that it could be possible to forget about this community college, go to a different one and actually get straight A’s, and then when applying to a 4 year I can not mention the previous CC. Would Universities check to see if I attended a college before the later? Would they be able to check at all? This sounds semi-devious for some reason, but it could be a full proof option.</p>
<p>Your mom is wrong, and not showing all college work will mean your degree could be revoked at any time. Retake classes and move on honestly. Can you afford CMU? Getting much aid as a transfer would be tough.</p>
<p>I looked into this myself and it’s quite strict to retake classes. Like a C- or lower are the only ones you can retake. If you retake a class you got a C or higher in, it will either merge with the previous grade or won’t do anything at all. It’s a load of BS in my opinion.</p>
<p>Well if I can’t start over, and if I can’t retake all the C’s and B-'s I got, then basically I’m stuck for good?</p>
<p>There are many colleges that take transfer students with a 2.7 gpa, but of course it will require more work on your part to find one that will fit your needs. Prestige is probably something you have to compromise on, though. But a solid CS degree is still in your future if you want it.</p>
<p>With a 3.4 ish GPA, what are colleges that are well known for good solid CS programs that seem like a better fit for me then? I’m looking for quality education. That’s why CMU stuck out vs all the others. Team spirit, from what I heard, is nearly nonexistent at CMU and there is more one on one time with the professors. It seemed like a perfect fit for me, but now I know it’s too far of a reach.</p>
<p>I really only know California colleges–but Santa Clara University is a possibility especially if you have a strong upward trend in grades and you write a great essay that seems to fit the feel of the college’s overall mission of whole-person education. Located in Silicon Valley, the internships and jobs can’t be beat.</p>
<p>Santa Clara totally sparks my interest. The catholic part of it throws me off as I’m not a religious person at all, but I’m sure I could deal with it. It being real close to SF is great too. </p>
<p>If you can think of any other California colleges for CS, please let me know 
Thanks for the help you’ve given!</p>
<p>Don’t let the Catholic throw you–it is Jesuit, the “liberal” free thinkers of the Catholic faith and there are students of all faiths on the campus. </p>
<p>The nice thing is that I think moreso than many other colleges, privates like SCU really <em>do</em> look at the whole application–the whole person–and looks to see how the student might fit into the big mosaic on campus. That’s why a good personal essay is a must to explain where you’ve been and where you are headed and to share anything interesting or hardships you have overcome. Put the really personal stuff in the “supplemental essay” portion not the basic transfer essay section. Be sure to explain this part of your personal story in a very engaging way in about one page single-space (condense, get to the heart of it).</p>
<p>SCU is really the best private in the Bay Area for CS excepting perhaps Stanford. CalPoly is about three hours south, but is impossible to transfer into as OOS. Surprisingly, SJSU is very good for engineering and CS though is also overcrowded and might be impossible to get in to as well. You may want to check out another Jesuit school in the area - University of San Francisco.</p>
<p>I would think that most State universities would still be within reach for you. You’ll just want to pick one with a good CS program. They may not be as prestigious but prestige only gets you so far. A good college will give you the skills you need to succeed at what you want to do, and that’s true from community college all the way up to Ivy league.</p>
<p>But if you do want to improve your GPA and you think you can handle the workload, retaking failed classes and/or spending another semester or two at a CC will improve your GPA and might help you get some prereqs out of the way.</p>